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Setup

We've launched a new site and need to perform a google name change, we've...

  • Verified the new site in Google Search Console
  • Setup a 301 redirect on the old site, to send traffic to the new site
  • Tried running the Google search console Name Change Tool

But the process fails on the last step, verifying the old site.

I tried posting to the google forums but they say my redirect is wrong.

Redirect permanent / http://www.example.com/

Once we get it working, I'll obviously provide a full compliment of redirects for all pages.

Questions

Whenever Google tries to verify, doesn't the 301 redirect kick-in causing verification to fail?

Does anyone know why verification fails or the correect steps to complete the name change process?

I'm obviously missing something basic sorry!

Cheers

CMSCSS
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  • Why has this question been down-voted for close? Sorry if it's really dumb but if I understood how it worked, I wouldn't post for help? Sometimes this is the strangest place on the internet. But if it is simple, how about posting an answer because I'm literally going crazy reading help articles, blogs, testing and getting nowhere. – CMSCSS Nov 03 '17 at 05:14
  • I don't think this was downvoted because it is too simple, but because the question is ambiguous, and lacks any specific information about your situation. – Sam Hazleton Nov 03 '17 at 20:20
  • Instead of trying to explain something you don't understand (which will invariably lead to confusion for all parties), you should include the procedure you are attempting to follow, the exact steps you have taken (providing code or otherwise), your expectation or desired outcome, and the exact actual outcome of the procedure. – Sam Hazleton Nov 03 '17 at 20:24
  • Besides the bulleted list of exact steps in my formatted post, how do you recommend I outline my exact steps? I always take the time to outline the setup, exact steps and questions and this post is no exception. – CMSCSS Nov 04 '17 at 00:21
  • Yes, you provided a bullet list of steps, but those bullets are descriptive of the goal you are trying to achieve in each bullet, rather than a list of physical procedures you actually performed. I'm only trying to offer some explanation for why this was downvoted. I can't speak for anyone else, but this was the problem that I saw. It would be difficult or impossible for someone to examine your procedure to verify that it was correct, or else identify the failure point, with this limited description. – Sam Hazleton Nov 07 '17 at 14:43

2 Answers2

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I've been told to ignore the Name Change Tool in Google search console because it will indeed fail depending on the site verification method.

For anyone else trying to do things by the book, ignore the Name Change Tool and setup up a complete list of 301 redirects for every link in Google's index.

CMSCSS
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For anyone else running into this, it's helpful if you use multiple methods to confirm/verify ownership. In fact, Google actually suggests that you verify using at least 2 methods.

In my case, my site was verified using linked analytics accounts, but I also kept getting a failure from the verification check.

I found a few google threads referencing the need for at least 2 verification methods on your new domain before the Verification Check will pass, but nothing concrete, however once I also verified ownership using the file upload method - the check passed and I managed to complete the Change of Address.

Frits
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