This is a step-by-step article that will help you change and configure your web address via Google Search Console without losing your SEO rankings in the process.
This will be especially helpful if you have moved the content of your website to a new domain name.
Step 1. Add new website address to Google Search Console
- To begin, you will need to navigate to the top left corner of your screen and select Search Property and Add Property.
- From there you will need to add the website version you want in section URL Prefix and select Continue.
- Specify the URL exactly as it appears in the browser bar, including the final / (forward-slash) mark.
- Verify the property by uploading the file on your server root path.
Step 2. Set up 301 redirects for the new website address
To automatically redirect visitors as well as Google-Bot to the new domain, when they request the old domain name, you have set up a 301-redirect for the old domain name.
If you have a WordPress site on the old site, you can use the Redirection plugin to do the redirects.
Step 3. Change web address via Google Search Console
To change the web address, you can navigate to Settings and choose Change of address.