Change Address in Google Search Console: Complete Guide 2025

Here’s our complete guide to using the Change Address tool in Google Search Console after migrating your domain name or changing website address.

In our last guide, we walked through the ins and outs of setting up 301 redirects in WordPress. If you’ve followed those steps after moving your domain, you’ve laid the perfect foundation for a successful migration.

But there’s one more crucial step to take.

You need to officially tell Google about your move. This helps ensure you don’t lose your existing traffic and that all the SEO value you’ve built up gets transferred correctly.

That’s where a handy feature in Google Search Console comes in: the Change Address tool.

This guide is a direct follow-up to our 301 redirect tutorial. I’ll show you exactly how to use this tool to make your domain move a complete success.

What is Change Address Tool in Search Console?

Think of the Change of Address tool like filing a change of address form at the post office. You’re giving Google a clear, official heads-up that your website has permanently moved to a new home.

Sure, Google is smart and will eventually figure out your 301 redirects on its own. But why leave it to chance? By using this tool, you can speed up the whole process significantly.

Here’s why it’s so important:

• It tells Google to crawl your new site faster. You’re essentially pointing Google’s attention directly to your new domain.
• It helps transfer your rankings smoothly. The tool helps Google confidently pass all the ranking signals (like backlinks and authority) from your old domain to your new one.
• It helps you avoid traffic drops. A clear notification can minimise the scary ranking fluctuations and traffic loss that can sometimes happen during a move.

Basically, it removes any guesswork for Google and makes the entire transition smoother.

Checklist Before You Start Changing Website Address

Before we jump in, let’s make sure you have a few things in order. You absolutely must have these done for the tool to work.

• You Must Own Both Properties: You need to have verified ownership of both your old domain and your new domain in the same Google Search Console account. If you haven’t, go add and verify your new site first.

• 301 Redirects Must Be Active: This is the most important part. You must have your 301 redirects live and working, pointing all your old URLs to the correct new URLs. As we covered in our last post, this is non-negotiable.
• Your New Site Must Be Live: Google needs to be able to access and crawl your new domain. Make sure it’s live and not blocking Googlebot in your robots.txt file.

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How to Use Change of Address Tool in GSC: Step-by-Step

Ready? Let’s get this done. The process is actually very simple. In this example below with complete screenshots, we are moving existing website StartGround (https://startground.com) to new domain / website StartCamp (https://startcamp.com).

Log in to Your Google Search Console account.

Choose Your OLD Domain. From the property selector dropdown at the top left, make sure you select the website you are moving from.

Go to Settings. You’ll see “Settings” near the bottom of the left-hand menu. Click on it.

Find “Change of Address”. In the main settings panel, you’ll see the “Change of address” option. Go ahead and click it.

Select Your New Site. A simple section will appear asking you to select your new site from a dropdown list of your verified properties. Pick your new domain.

Validate and Update. Google will run a quick check to see if your 301 redirects are working. If everything looks good, you’ll get a confirmation.

Click Confirm Move. All you have to do now is hit the “Confirm Move” button.

And that’s it! You have successfully notified Google of your domain change.

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What Happens Next in the Website Moving Process?

Now that you’ve done your part, it’s time to be patient. You won’t see changes overnight. Here’s what to look out for:

A Notice in Search Console: Your old domain’s Search Console property will now display a notice at the top, confirming that the site is moving. This is a good sign!

Indexing of Your New Domain: You’ll start to see pages from your new domain getting indexed. You can keep an eye on this in the “Coverage” report for your new property.

Search Results Will Shift: Over the next few weeks (and sometimes months), you’ll see your new URLs start to replace your old ones in Google’s search results.

Traffic May Fluctuate: Don’t panic if you see some ups and downs in your traffic. This is a normal part of the process. Keep monitoring both properties to see how things are progressing.

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How long should the 301 Redirects be Active?

This is a question I get all the time. Just because you’ve told Google you’ve moved doesn’t mean you can switch off the redirects.

Many SEO experts, including Google’s own John Mueller, recommend keeping your 301 redirects active for at least one year.

This ensures that any old bookmarks or links from other sites continue to work and pass along their SEO value. After a year, you can reassess, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

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Change of Address Tool FAQs

Here are some other frequently asked questions about Change of Address Tool in Google Search Console.

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Final SEO Tips After Your Domain Move

To sum up, using the Change of Address tool is an essential final step after setting up your 301 redirects. It’s the right thing to do to protect the traffic and rankings you’ve worked so hard for.

Just like with 301s, it’s all about giving both your visitors and search engines a clear path to your new content.

I hope this guide helped you confidently complete your domain migration!

If you found this tutorial helpful, feel free to subscribe to our blog. And as always, leave a comment below if you need help with anything or have any questions.