Change of Address GWT - Review Feedback Wanted

[purple]

I am currently 301 redirecting one of my sites to another I own.
I put the 301 redirect in place last week, and the redirect seems to work fine. So far google has not updated the serps, the old site listings are still showing.

I have noticed in Google Webmaster Tools a option to advice google of change of address.

I am looking for feedback from people who have used it, is there any pitfalls, how long does it take to work. I am not sure if I should just let the change happen without using GWT.

Any comments on Redirects and use of change of address would be appreciated

[webboy1]

I've not used the Change of Address feature in GWT personally, but have had lots of experience with 301 redirects. From reading GWT however, I doubt I'd have any hesitations about using the address feature if I were moving site. It doesn't tell you to use it instead of 301 redirects, but, according to GWT to "help us update our index faster and smooth the transition for your users".

Sounds to me like a decent tool and most likely worth doing, as long as all your 301 redirects are in place and, as it explains, that you've a new sitemap.xml and GWT account setup for the new site.

Having never used it myself I wouldn't go as far as saying 100% that you should use it, but on the face of it, I see no reason to no use it.

[purple]

Thanks ok I want to 301 redirect all old blog posts to new site how do i do this

I will then give GWT a go and report back how it goes

[tedster]

If your new urls for the posts will be the same filepath except for the new domain name, the 301 redirect rule will be relatively straightforward. The technical details will depend on the server where your old domain is hosted. We have both an Apache [webmasterworld.com] and a Windows IIS [webmasterworld.com] forum where the topics have been frequently discussed.

If you've added on new directory to the filepath, it's still pretty much the same. But if your new urls show significant changes, then you can have a frustrating tangle. So follow the K-I-S-S rule.

[purple]

Thanks tedster my 301 redirect was a simple one liner and it has worked a charm, google has already cached the pages on the new site. I still have ranking on the old domain, so guess will take bit of time for google to see the new site only.

New pages not ranking yet, so hoping the linkjuice and trust on those pages will transfer soon.

I used the change of address option on wmt

[g1smd]

Check that both www and non-www URLs on the old site are correctly redirected to the new site.

[purple]

the www and non www resolve to the new site thanks for the advice

[tedster]

And both types of urls should resolve to the same version of the new url - that is, always "with-www" or "no-www", no matter which version is the original request.

For more details, see our Hot Topics area [webmasterworld.com]. Look under DUPLICATE CONTENT >> --canonical issues--

[purple]

The new url resolves to the same "with-www" with "/" so no conical issues.
I have checked the resolve of various /index.htm /index.php etc they all resolve to same new url.

I am just waiting for the old url listings to show the new url.

As google has the new url crawled, should i expect the new url to replace the old url in the serps now?

[tedster]

Yes, but the change will probably be gradual, and not immediate or "all at once"