Google keeps indexing old site after migration, new site indexed pages dramatically dropped

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john_doe_

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Hi there,

We owned 3 sites, a.com, b.com, a.cc, all were having almost same content, structure, and anything else, each run individually, no crosslink, no canonical.
Months ago, we decided to merge all into a.com, as a result, we've done:
- 301 redirect;
- set canonical;
- submit change address;
- no action on backlinks since there were almost 0;

Months till now, we found very weird situation:
indexed pages are still keep increasing on b.com, a.cc;
indexed pages got dramatically dropped from 100K URLs to 1K URLs, the time is coincidently matches with the date we do site changes;

At the beginning, we though it's' because of the thin content, but if that was the reason, it's not reasonable the indexed pages keep increasing on b.com and a.cc since they are having almost same content, structure....

Do you have any idea why? e.g. what reasons may trigger is problem and how to investigate, resolve?

1 more thing: after we set 301 and site changes, the backlinks to a.com dramatically increasing, most come from b.com and a.cc, do you have additional experience on this?
As far as I can remember, 301 and site changes won't be taken as "backlinks" from Google point of view.

Thanks.
JD
 
Last edited:
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Sounds like a classic migration hiccup. Google can take its sweet time letting go of old URLs, especially if the redirects aren’t super clean. I’d double-check your 301s, update your sitemap, and maybe even use the removal tool in Search Console for stubborn old links. Re-indexing the new pages manually can help speed things up too.
 
Because crawlable sites are getting past your 301s, it appears that Google is still recognizing b.com and a.cc as active properties. Could this be because of internal links, sitemap remnants, or missing wildcard redirects? Verify again that each URL 301s correctly by using a crawler such as Screaming Frog. Regarding backlinks, 301s shouldn't appear as new links in GSC, however they may appear that way in some programs. Google may have pruned your a.com after determining that the merging was thin or duplicate. Something is not sticking correctly, so check the GSC crawl metrics, coverage, and logs.
 
Sounds like Google’s still crawling and indexing b.com and a.cc despite the 301s and canonicals. Sometimes it takes a while for full deindexing, especially if those sites still respond with 200 status or partial redirects. I’d double-check that all pages properly 301 redirect to a.com and that no conflicting signals (like live sitemaps or internal links) remain on the old domains. Also, Google might still see backlinks from those domains as separate if the redirects aren’t consistent site-wide. Patience helps, but a thorough crawl and fixing any redirect chains can speed things up.
 
Sounds like Google’s still crawling and indexing b.com and a.cc despite the 301s and canonicals. Sometimes it takes a while for full deindexing, especially if those sites still respond with 200 status or partial redirects. I’d double-check that all pages properly 301 redirect to a.com and that no conflicting signals (like live sitemaps or internal links) remain on the old domains. Also, Google might still see backlinks from those domains as separate if the redirects aren’t consistent site-wide. Patience helps, but a thorough crawl and fixing any redirect chains can speed things up.
 
Have you double-checked that every old URL on b.com and a.cc is 301’ing one-for-one to its exact counterpart on a.com (and not all dumping to the homepage)? If Google can’t see a clean mapping it will keep crawling the “old” domains and bloat their index counts, while treating a.com like a thin-content site. I’d run a site-crawl (Screaming Frog/OnCrawl) to spot any soft-404s or redirect chains, drop a noindex on b.com/a.cc variants, resubmit a fresh sitemap for only a.com in GSC, then hit “Inspect URL → Request Indexing” on key pages. That usually tidies the mess up in 2–3 weeks.
 
john_doe_ said:
Hi there,

We owned 3 sites, a.com, b.com, a.cc, all were having almost same content, structure, and anything else, each run individually, no crosslink, no canonical.
Months ago, we decided to merge all into a.com, as a result, we've done:
- 301 redirect;
- set canonical;
- submit change address;
- no action on backlinks since there were almost 0;

Months till now, we found very weird situation:
indexed pages are still keep increasing on b.com, a.cc;
indexed pages got dramatically dropped from 100K URLs to 1K URLs, the time is coincidently matches with the date we do site changes;

At the beginning, we though it's' because of the thin content, but if that was the reason, it's not reasonable the indexed pages keep increasing on b.com and a.cc since they are having almost same content, structure....

Do you have any idea why? e.g. what reasons may trigger is problem and how to investigate, resolve?

1 more thing: after we set 301 and site changes, the backlinks to a.com dramatically increasing, most come from b.com and a.cc, do you have additional experience on this?
As far as I can remember, 301 and site changes won't be taken as "backlinks" from Google point of view.

Thanks.
JD
Click to expand...
This kind of issue often happens when Google hasn't fully digested a site migration. Even with 301s and canonicals, if the old domains remain crawlable and some signals (like internal linking or sitemaps) still point to them, Google may continue indexing them. Check in GSC whether a.com is receiving impressions/clicks for legacy URLs. You might also want to use the URL Removal Tool to speed up b.com and a.cc deindexing. The massive drop in indexed pages could be due to accidental crawl restrictions (robots.txt, HTTP headers) or Google's handling of duplicate content. To encourage reindexing and crawling, some use mobile proxies to simulate organic visits and reengage Google's bots on the new domain.
 
jas reed said:
Sounds like a classic migration hiccup. Google can take its sweet time letting go of old URLs, especially if the redirects aren’t super clean. I’d double-check your 301s, update your sitemap, and maybe even use the removal tool in Search Console for stubborn old links. Re-indexing the new pages manually can help speed things up too.
Click to expand...
Brand Meteor said:
Because crawlable sites are getting past your 301s, it appears that Google is still recognizing b.com and a.cc as active properties. Could this be because of internal links, sitemap remnants, or missing wildcard redirects? Verify again that each URL 301s correctly by using a crawler such as Screaming Frog. Regarding backlinks, 301s shouldn't appear as new links in GSC, however they may appear that way in some programs. Google may have pruned your a.com after determining that the merging was thin or duplicate. Something is not sticking correctly, so check the GSC crawl metrics, coverage, and logs.
Click to expand...

Backlink Guru said:
Sounds like Google’s still crawling and indexing b.com and a.cc despite the 301s and canonicals. Sometimes it takes a while for full deindexing, especially if those sites still respond with 200 status or partial redirects. I’d double-check that all pages properly 301 redirect to a.com and that no conflicting signals (like live sitemaps or internal links) remain on the old domains. Also, Google might still see backlinks from those domains as separate if the redirects aren’t consistent site-wide. Patience helps, but a thorough crawl and fixing any redirect chains can speed things up.
Click to expand...

cysco374 said:
Have you double-checked that every old URL on b.com and a.cc is 301’ing one-for-one to its exact counterpart on a.com (and not all dumping to the homepage)? If Google can’t see a clean mapping it will keep crawling the “old” domains and bloat their index counts, while treating a.com like a thin-content site. I’d run a site-crawl (Screaming Frog/OnCrawl) to spot any soft-404s or redirect chains, drop a noindex on b.com/a.cc variants, resubmit a fresh sitemap for only a.com in GSC, then hit “Inspect URL → Request Indexing” on key pages. That usually tidies the mess up in 2–3 weeks.
Click to expand...

GlobalProxy4g said:
This kind of issue often happens when Google hasn't fully digested a site migration. Even with 301s and canonicals, if the old domains remain crawlable and some signals (like internal linking or sitemaps) still point to them, Google may continue indexing them. Check in GSC whether a.com is receiving impressions/clicks for legacy URLs. You might also want to use the URL Removal Tool to speed up b.com and a.cc deindexing. The massive drop in indexed pages could be due to accidental crawl restrictions (robots.txt, HTTP headers) or Google's handling of duplicate content. To encourage reindexing and crawling, some use mobile proxies to simulate organic visits and reengage Google's bots on the new domain.
Click to expand...

Jas reed, Brand Meteor, Backlink Guru, cysco374, GlobalProxy4g, All of your inputs are much appreciated.
I will proceed a second time double confirm to all the singals.

Now, at the time I run screaming frog: input site: b.com and start scan, the it scans the home page of b.com, returns 301, then the crawling stops, only 1 page crawled, no any of rest pages on b.com being scanned.
I believe our DEV sets 301 direct in htaccess file but not 1:1 URL mapping.
Could this be a reason?

The crawl request has been significantly increasing on a.com while the indexed pages dramatically dropped as said.
 
GlobalProxy4g said:
This kind of issue often happens when Google hasn't fully digested a site migration. Even with 301s and canonicals, if the old domains remain crawlable and some signals (like internal linking or sitemaps) still point to them, Google may continue indexing them. Check in GSC whether a.com is receiving impressions/clicks for legacy URLs. You might also want to use the URL Removal Tool to speed up b.com and a.cc deindexing. The massive drop in indexed pages could be due to accidental crawl restrictions (robots.txt, HTTP headers) or Google's handling of duplicate content. To encourage reindexing and crawling, some use mobile proxies to simulate organic visits and reengage Google's bots on the new domain.
Click to expand...
just wanted to know if there is a way to run batch URL removal?
And for now, I can only submit "temporary removal", at the time I try to submit outdated content and lead to another UI, after clicking "new request" and choose "To refresh Google's outdated result for a webpage that has changed", after input the URL, i was told the URL (b.com) is still alive & existing, but in fact, it's been 301 redirect to a.com
 
Last edited:
It sounds like Google hasn't fully processed the redirects yet- try checking for redirect chain issues and make sure all old URLs consistently return 301 without delay.
 
Looks like Google is still processing the merge. Double-check your 301s and canonical tags - any mismatch can confuse indexing. Remove old sitemaps from b.com and a.cc if still active. Redirects don't count as backlinks but do pass signals. Give it some time.
 
Rebel Phantom said:
It sounds like Google hasn't fully processed the redirects yet- try checking for redirect chain issues and make sure all old URLs consistently return 301 without delay.
Click to expand...

JessiPinkme said:
Looks like Google is still processing the merge. Double-check your 301s and canonical tags - any mismatch can confuse indexing. Remove old sitemaps from b.com and a.cc if still active. Redirects don't count as backlinks but do pass signals. Give it some time.
Click to expand...

Thanks Rebel and JessiPinkme, any method how to check 301 chain, consistency? As far as I can see, the b.com and a.cc are redirecting to a.com, and as said, in ScreamingFrog, once I input b.com in Spider mode and start the scan, the crawler only crawls b.com homepage, show 301 redirect then stop crawling the rest of pages on b.com
 
Looks like Google’s still processing the merge and maybe treating b.com & a.cc as separate sites due to crawl anomalies or delay in 301 consolidation. Check if redirects are consistent sitewide (not partial), and verify server headers sometimes cache/CDN causes weird behavior. Also, yeah, 301s shouldn’t count as backlinks, but GSC might still list them under links if the old domains weren’t fully deindexed. Give it time, and make sure old domains aren't serving mixed signals.
 
john_doe_ said:
Jas reed, Brand Meteor, Backlink Guru, cysco374, GlobalProxy4g, All of your inputs are much appreciated.
I will proceed a second time double confirm to all the singals.

Now, at the time I run screaming frog: input site: b.com and start scan, the it scans the home page of b.com, returns 301, then the crawling stops, only 1 page crawled, no any of rest pages on b.com being scanned.
I believe our DEV sets 301 direct in htaccess file but not 1:1 URL mapping.
Could this be a reason?

The crawl request has been significantly increasing on a.com while the indexed pages dramatically dropped as said.
Click to expand...
Yes, the 301 setup could absolutely be the issue. If your htaccess redirects only the homepage of b.com and not each individual URL to its counterpart on a.com, Google might treat the migration as incomplete and stop crawling further. That’s why Screaming Frog scans only the homepage and halts, no discoverable links, no crawl.
The missing 1:1 mapping breaks the signal chain, and Googlebot doesn’t try to explore further. Also, double-check the sitemap, internal links, and robots.txt just to rule out any accidental crawl blocks.
To help reengage crawling and indexing, some use geo-targeted mobile proxies to simulate organic user visits to the new domain. It’s often enough to nudge Google into revisiting and re-evaluating the site faster.
 
john_doe_ said:
just wanted to know if there is a way to run batch URL removal?
And for now, I can only submit "temporary removal", at the time I try to submit outdated content and lead to another UI, after clicking "new request" and choose "To refresh Google's outdated result for a webpage that has changed", after input the URL, i was told the URL (b.com) is still alive & existing, but in fact, it's been 301 redirect to a.com
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, Google doesn’t provide a built-in way to run batch removals via the “Remove Outdated Content” tool, each URL needs to be submitted one by one, which can be quite tedious. Some users automate this via scripts or headless browsers like Selenium, though it's essential to mimic human behavior closely to avoid detection.
When 301 redirects aren’t fully digested (as with b.com here), Google may still index old URLs if they remain crawlable. To speed up deindexing, some cut crawlability on the old domain, while others reinforce organic signals to the new one. This is where mobile proxies can help simulating natural access from different geos, which may push Googlebots to refocus on the target domain.
 
After merging sites to a.com with 301s, index drop on a.com and rise on others may signal redirect or canonical issues worth auditing redirect chains, canonical tags, and crawl behavior closely.
 
GlobalProxy4g said:
Yes, the 301 setup could absolutely be the issue. If your htaccess redirects only the homepage of b.com and not each individual URL to its counterpart on a.com, Google might treat the migration as incomplete and stop crawling further. That’s why Screaming Frog scans only the homepage and halts, no discoverable links, no crawl.
The missing 1:1 mapping breaks the signal chain, and Googlebot doesn’t try to explore further. Also, double-check the sitemap, internal links, and robots.txt just to rule out any accidental crawl blocks.
To help reengage crawling and indexing, some use geo-targeted mobile proxies to simulate organic user visits to the new domain. It’s often enough to nudge Google into revisiting and re-evaluating the site faster.
Click to expand...
But at the time input any URL starts with b.com or a.cc, the URLs can also be redirected.
So, the situations are:
  • in Screaming Frog, if type b.com or a.cc in URL under spider mode, only homepage will be crawled and the crawling stops.
  • if input any URL under b.com, for example: b.com/podcast/name-of-episode/, the browser will get 301 response and access a.com/podcast/name-of-episode/
As long as specific URL of b.com can be redirect, will this still be a problem?
Coz now I can see in SEMRush all links from e.g. b.com are reporting as 301 to a.com under "backlinks",

Would you please advise how to set 1:1 mapping as well? (we are using Cloudflare and the DEV confirms the 1:1 301)
Much Obliged
 
Last edited:
GlobalProxy4g said:
Unfortunately, Google doesn’t provide a built-in way to run batch removals via the “Remove Outdated Content” tool, each URL needs to be submitted one by one, which can be quite tedious. Some users automate this via scripts or headless browsers like Selenium, though it's essential to mimic human behavior closely to avoid detection.
When 301 redirects aren’t fully digested (as with b.com here), Google may still index old URLs if they remain crawlable. To speed up deindexing, some cut crawlability on the old domain, while others reinforce organic signals to the new one. This is where mobile proxies can help simulating natural access from different geos, which may push Googlebots to refocus on the target domain.
Click to expand...
under developing, thanks for this advice!
 
One more thing I'd like to mention is:
at the time we login to GSC > b.com or a.cc, test a URL e.g. b.com/category1/url1, the live test indicates the page is available to Google and Page can be indexed, <<<<though we've set 301 and if access the URL in browser, it will be redirected to a.com/category1/url1, but GSC live test is still telling it's available.
But if we check the "tested page", the code is patently from a.com not b.com, AND, the canonical URL is a.com/category1/url1/

it's so strange.
 
2 months past, now there are only 30 URL indexed...Google has keeping index the old sites for 2 months, we've checked almost everything we can check....
any further ideas please?
 
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