Do not migrate domains and delete Google AMP on the similar time

Migrating to a new domain name and deleting your AMP pages at the same time may not be the best idea. A Google SEO hangout with John Mueller described a case where a website was migrated to a new domain in September and AMP was discontinued at the same time and the website’s traffic has not yet recovered.

That came with 35 minutes mark into the hangout, where Stijn Berkhaus stated that they “performed a website migration to a new domain three months ago”. At the same time, he said that AMP was activated on the old domain but not on the new one. Now his website no longer ranks well in the top stories carousel in Google search. He said, “My old AMP articles always get ranked in Google Top Stories,” but the new site doesn’t.

And yes we know AMP is no longer required for top stories but at the same time, you still need to have a good page experience to be in AMP – which is what his website does, he said.

John said he believes the site should fix itself in about a month. He said it was complex to “do a domain migration and turn off AMP at the same time,” adding, “especially with something like top stories, it can be a bit confusing.”

He believes the site is on the right track, but John goes on to explain that the page experience data report shows actually had a lot of good results in the 1990s for major web vital signs and the site had field data.

So John thinks it will just take longer because it is a new domain and it will take more time. John added that a domain name can take some time for Google to trust, and quality signals just take time. He said quality signals “take a long time before we are fairly certain that we can trust them”.

John then concluded by saying if the site doesn’t make the top stories in a month, get back to him.

Here is the video embed:

Here is the transcript:

STIJN BERKHAUS: Hello. I did a website migration to a new domain three months ago. I just cloned the whole website. I updated all internal and external links and had them redirected to the new one.

I had AMP activated on the old one and my old AMP articles are always ranked in the Google Top Stories. So now my new one is not. I just turned off AMP on my new domain because I didn’t like it and it’s causing too much trouble. I don’t want to use it anymore. But AMP is not currently required to be included in Top Stories. So my question is why my new domain is not listed in Google Top Stories. I would like to add that I am at the top of the Google page for my main keyword, such as: B. number two. In addition, my articles are displayed in the Google News app and on Google Discovery. So I have pretty strong authority on my main keyword. So I don’t understand why I am not showing up in Google Top Stories. Can you explain that?

JOHN MÜLLER: I don’t know. It’s hard to say, I think if you’re doing a domain migration and turning off AMP at the same time, it can be a bit confusing, especially with something like top stories. But it sounds different, things are well received. So you’re probably on the right track there. The special thing about Top Stories is that it is an organic search function. And it’s not something the site gets just because it deserves it, but rather we’re trying to figure out what to show in a Top Stories section. And sometimes it can be more, sometimes it can be less, sometimes it includes content from individual websites or individual types of articles, and sometimes less.

What I would be considering here is on the one hand. On the one hand, to give him a little more time. The other thing is to double-check things around the Page Experience setting because as we mentioned in the blog post, when we turned it off, we essentially said, well, pages with a very good Page Experience score can essentially be viewed in, too Top stories. So it’s not that we would take any type of page and display it in the Top Stories, but rather we would use the Page Experience Score almost like a ranking factor to determine what we would display in the Top Stories section .

He goes on to explain that the page experience report shows data, actually has a lot of good readings in the 1990s for major web vital signs and the site has field data. So John thinks it will just take longer because it is a new domain and it will take more time. John added that a domain name can take some time for Google to trust, and quality signals just take time. He said quality signals “take a long time before we are fairly certain that we can trust them”.

John asked him to contact the base in a month if things didn’t improve.

Here’s how Glenn Gabe summed it up:

Would you like to change domain names AND delete AMP? Be very careful when combining multiple variables -> site changes domain names, drops AMP and loses all top stories for 3+ months (still not going back). @johnmu says give him more time. It could work by itself https://t.co/LziFz3e255 pic.twitter.com/sEYSVTM6Vl

– Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) January 3, 2022

Even more about @johnmu: There is no manual with Top Stories. It’s an organic search feature that can change over time. With quality signals, it can be tricky and it can take a long time for Google to collect them. Google needs to TRUST the website: https://t.co/LziFz3e255 pic.twitter.com/IEdsNvSHDX

– Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) January 3, 2022

Site migrations to new domains are scary enough, but dropping AMP at the same time is even more nerve-wracking.

Forum discussion at Twitter.