301 redirect to a new domain

I've used 301 to redirect my domain to a new one and let Google know about it through GWT. My older domain dropped significantly (some subpages went from #1 or #2 to out of 500) after that, and the new domain is almost nowhere to be found.

It this normal, or should the traffic come back instantly? I've done everything by the book.

The older domain is supposed to drop out of Google since a 301 redirect let's search engines know that you moved the site to a new address permanently. If the new domain didn't take its place, then you have a problem.

Anyway, the closest I've come to redirecting an old domain to a new domain was when I changed a site from www to a non-www (as you already know, these are considered two separate websites).

When I did this, I didn't see any significant drops in rankings as Google pretty mucb just changed the results to the non-www version. In fact, the only time I ever had an issue with my rankings dropping after a 301 redirect was when I disocovered a redirect wasn't working (this was when I changed the URL structure for a website). The rankings plummeted, but they recovered for the most part once I fixed the issue.

While it may be different for when you redirect a domain to an entirely new one, here's a short checklist for you to go through in the event that you lose your rankings:

1. Check the old URL for one of the subpages that lost its rankings and see if it redirects to the new URL.
2. Make sure you're checking the new property.
3. Check your rankings manually in Google and see if they line up with what the Google Search Console or whatever tool you're using says.