We just changed a bunch of URLs… how long will Google take to swap them out?

Hey everyone,

We recently updated our URL structure to something more logical, which I believe will be worth it in the long run.

For those who’ve done this, what does the transition look like when redirecting a lot of currently indexed URLs?

Will Google immediately recognize the change and replace the old pages with the new ones, or should I expect some drops and a recovery period?

Would love to hear about your experiences!

@Ty
That’s rough. It makes sense for a completely new domain, though, compared to just changing a URL structure.

Has the new site regained some of the old rankings or are they totally different?

@Ty
Best of luck! :crossed_fingers:

When you apply a redirect, users are immediately taken to the new page, so the old page’s traffic is passed on to the new one.

markus3 said:
When you apply a redirect, users are immediately taken to the new page, so the old page’s traffic is passed on to the new one.

That’s not exactly true. There’s no guarantee the traffic will be retained.

@Johan
Oh, got it. I’m still learning.

It’ll take a while for the old URLs to disappear from search results, but as long as the redirects are set up properly, you shouldn’t worry too much.

How long it takes for Google to update its index depends on the size of your site and how often it gets crawled. I’ve seen migrations that took a couple of months and others that only took a week or so.

@Johan
Thanks, that’s reassuring.

We’re redirecting about 800 pages. In the migrations you’ve done, did the sites recover fully?