Archives for November 2017

How to Use Your Custom Email Address in Gmail (for FREE)

Most folks use Gmail as their default email address. And, that’s fine!

But what if you’re running a business? Would you still use a basic Gmail address for your brand?

Well, that ain’t so smart of you!

Did you know you could set up a custom email address with your domain name for free?

Yes, it’s free meaning you don’t have to spend a dime and it takes only fifteen minutes to set up.

If you’re interested, you should head over to my guide: How to Get a Custom Email Address for FREE.

But this post isn’t about just owning a free email address for your website. It’s about setting it up as a Gmail address — pretty much like how you would use your free Gmail address for personal use.

That’s cool, right?

Here’s Why Linking Your Custom Email Address to Gmail is a Smart Idea

Free Space: When linked to Gmail, your custom email address gets as much as 15 GB storage space, meaning you needn’t worry about running out of space anytime soon.

Search Feature: If you use Gmail, you know the Search Features are probably the coolest of all. It’s such a time-saver! Imagine searching for past emails from your customers or vendors. I know it’s a breeze. That’s exactly why you should custom email in Gmail.

Better Spam Filter: If you’ve been using emails extensively, you know spam is such a pain in the rear side. However, Google has probably one of the best spam filter technology so you needn’t lose your sleep over dealing spam emails. Yes, one more compelling reason why you should use Gmail as your custom email address.

Okay, I Get it. How Do I Setup FREE Custom Email With Gmail?

You’ll need just an existing Gmail ID or create a new Gmail address to set up your custom email address with.

That’s your call.

Once you decide that part, the rest of it is pretty simple.

Step #1: Log on to your Gmail account.

Step #2: Click on the Cog Icon at the top right and choose “Settings” from the drop-down.

Step #3: In the Settings, you can find “Accounts and Import” in the top menu.

Step #4: The “Send mail as” is what you’re going to configure in order to set up your custom email account with Gmail.

Step #5: Click on “Add another email address” and a window will pop up. It’s time to configure it.

Step #6: Enter your custom email address in the pop-up windows. Leave the name as is. Checkbox for “Treat as an alias” should already be checked. If not, make sure you to select it.

Step #7: When you click on “Next Step“, it will ask you to enter the following information:

SMTP Server: Referring to my earlier guide which features Zoho Mail, I’ll use the SMTP Server of Zoho Mail. You can use the SMPT Server of your email host.

Port: You needn’t really do anything here; Gmail automatically choose the port based on your host.

Username: Enter your custom email address.

Password: Enter your password for the custom email address.

Step #8: Before you click on “Add Account”, make sure the SSL (Recommended) is ticked. Now, click on “Add Account” and proceed further.

Step #9: Gmail will send you a verification link/code to your custom email address. Check your inbox to click on the verification link or enter the code manually and click on verify.

Congratulations! You’ve successfully set up your custom email address in Gmail.

Step #10: As an optional step, if you want Gmail to use your custom email address as the default, you need to click on the “make default” link. This essentially means when you create and send a new email, Gmail will use your custom email address in the “From” section.

That’s it! Now enjoy the Gmail features 🙂

I hope this guide helps you set up your custom email address on Gmail.

As a favor, you could share this guide with your friends on social media and spread the word around.

Let me know if you have any questions — share your thoughts in the comments below.

Can’t Afford a Custom Email Address? Here’s How to Get it for FREE

I’ve seen quite a few businesses using a standard gmail address to communicate with their customers. While it serves the basic purpose, it doesn’t really help their branding.

By using a basic Gmail address which doesn’t carry your domain name, you lose potential opportunities to advertise your brand.

Imagine offering your prospects and business partners your business cards which contain your website address but also a basic Gmail address. Looks a little odd, right?

Well, that’s exactly my point!

There are so many domain registrars that sell you domain names and hosting plans with free custom email addresses. But, what if you have bought just a plain domain name and still wants to create a free custom email address for your website?

Yes, you can pretty much do that, for free, thanks to free email hosting services offered by Zoho.

Zoho Mail is primarily meant to serve as a robust email hosting service for businesses / organizations to set up @<your-own-domain> type email addresses. However, individuals can create a free @zoho.com email address, which is as perfect for personal use. Select an option from below based on your email usage.

In this post, I will walk you through the entire process of setting up your free custom email address for your website.

So, let’s get started.

Step #1: Sign up with Zoho.in

Step #2: Go to inbox and click on the confirmation email. You can do it in 30 days but it’s better to do it now.

Step #3: Click on Mail and Enter Your Phone Number and Create a Password. This is for verification purposes.

Step #4: Check your OTP on your mobile phone and verify your phone number on the website.

Step #5: Add your existing domain for Email Hosting with Zoho and create domain-based address. OR Create email account as <username>@zoho.com

Step #6: Click on Add Domain Link in the First Option.

Step #7: Click on Add Domain, Enter Your Domain and Click ‘Ok’.

Step #8: After the Domain is added successfully, I will ask you to “Verify Your Domain“. Although you can do it later, but it’s best to do it now.

Step #9: Click on “Verify Your Domain“. It will take your to Domain Setup panel. You can see a drop-down menu under DNS Manager. Choose Your the one where you bought your domain. In my case, it was Name.com.

Step #10: Zoho Mail will give you some code for verification purpose. You will need to create a CNAME in your domain to prove your ownership.

Step #11: After you’ve created a CNAME record with the instructions given by Zoho Mail, click on the “Proceed to Click on Verification” button at the bottom of the page. You will see a pop-up asking you to “Verify Now“.

Step #12: Once you’ve verified your domain, you’ll see a congratulatory message. Now, you can create a username for your domain-based email address.

Step #13: If you want to create multiple email address for different users, you can do so by following the on-screen instructions. However, if you want to create just one email address at the moment, click on “Skip” to proceed to the next step.

Step #14: In the next step, Zoho Mail allows you to create Groups, meaning a common email address such as hr@yourdomain.com. If you don’t want this, you can click on “Skip” to proceed to the next step.

Step #15: At this point, your email address is created but what about the email delivery? You need to configure your email delivery to start receiving emails, yes?

For this purpose, you need to configure the MX Records (Mail eXchange Records) under DNS Manager. Sounds complex?

Don’t worry, Zoho Mail got proper instructions to walk you through the process.

Essentially, you need to configure your DNS with the MX Records of Zoho.

Simply, choose your domain provider from the drop-down menu and Zoho will walk you through.

After adding the MX Records in your DNS, click on “Next” to proceed to the next step.

Special Note: Zoho advises adding SPF (Sender Policy Framework) and DKIM Signature to secure your email address against Email Spoofing. Either you can do it now or skip it for later. Again, Zoho will walk you through the process. So, there’s nothing to worry about.

Step #16: At this point, you email is fully setup. You should be able to send and receive emails using Zoho Mail.

However, if you want to use Zoho Mail using a third-party email client such as Gmail app, you need to configure the settings in the email client using the POP/IMAP.

How to Configure Your New Email Address in Gmail App

Step #1: Before you set up your new email address in your Gmail app, you need to enable IMAP on your Zoho Mail.

Open your Zoho Mail inbox (mail.zoho.com) in another tab. It will load the inbox for you. Click on the Cog Icon at the upper right corner. It will open the mail settings for you.

Step #2: Scroll down and Click on “Email forwarding and POP/IMAP” under “Access Old Version For“. It will open up in another tab.

Step #3: Go to the IMAP Access and Choose “Enable“. Also, you will find the IMAP configuration details there. You will use these details while configuring your email address in your Gmail App.

Step #4: Go to your Gmail App on your Android Device and Click on “Add account” option. It will take you to “Set up email” page. Click on “Other” option, enter your email address and click “Next”.

Step #5: Enter your email address again and click on “Manual Setup” option. Choose “Personal (IMAP)” under type of account, and click next. Fill out the password (Zoho Password) for your email address, and then click next. In the next page, you will need to fill out the Incoming Server name which is imappro.zoho.com. You will also need to enter the Port: 993 and SSL when in the subsequent step. Likewise, set up the Outgoing Server.

Step #6: Once this is done, send a test email to another email address to see if it’s working. If you’ve followed steps correctly, it should.

With this the Mail Client Configuration is over.

I hope you find this guide useful and create your custom email address easily.

Share this post with your friends on social media or share your thoughts in the comments below.

How to Disable Google AMP in WordPress without 404 Errors

Are you one of those who jumped on the Google AMP ride only to get hurt later? Do you want to opt out of Google AMP?

Well, I was one of those who were sold out on the AMP benefits and didn’t think twice before getting sites AMP’ed.

But soon, the novelty wore off and I could see a bunch of folks from the SEO fraternity ranting against the ills of Google AMP.

Why I Want to deAMPify my Websites

Here are some of the compelling reasons why content publishers like me would like to disable Google AMP

Bad UX: Google AMP strips your site off many features that you added to create a unique experience for your visitors. Worse, it offers only a standard template for AMP which means, on default mode, all AMP’ed pages look exactly the same.

Bounce Rate: By the very design itself, Google AMP, by offering a “Close Button” on the header of the AMP’ed page, encourages visitors to click back to the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). This is the biggest problem as most visitors will be tempted to go back to their search results rather than exploring more content on your website. Moreover, Google AMP strip your page off the “Related Posts” plugin. As a result, your visitors won’t be able to read more of the similar content you’ve painstakingly created for your visitors.

Limited Ad Integration: Many content publishers make a living out of ads on their blogs. However, Google AMP makes it difficult for content publishers to display ads on their AMP’ed pages, which affects the ad revenue.

All of these reasons (and more) have discouraged many bloggers to disable Google AMP on their site and switched back to normal mode.

Steps to Disable Google AMP in WordPress

There are several ways to disable Google AMP in WordPress. However, for the sake of brevity, I’ll keep it simple.

Basically, there are two steps to disable Google AMP in WordPress.

Step #1: Add the Following Code to the top of Your .htaccess file

Step #2: Disable Google AMP supported Plugins

Step #1: The code below essentially redirects all your AMP’ed URLs to their respective Non-AMP’ed or standard URLs. Add the code to the top of your .htaccess file and save your file.

Go to your desktop browser and check if the AMP’ed URLs are redirecting to their standard version.

For example, check if http://example.com/my-blog-post/amp/ is redirecting to http://example.com/my-blog-post/ automatically.

Once this is confirmed, move on to the next step.

Step #2: To disable Google AMP, you need to deactivate all AMP-related plugins you’ve installed on your site.

In my earlier Google AMP installation guide, I recommend installing both AMP by Automatic and Glue for Yoast SEO & AMP. Deactivate both of them, but don’t delete them just yet.

Your job is done, but you still need to allow Google bots a week or so to reindex your standard pages and remove the AMP’ed versions from Google’s search index. This can take a little longer if you have a huge number of posts.

To expedite the process, you can submit your sitemap to Google Console.

Not Familiar with FTP?

If you’re not familiar with FTP or .htaccess, you could go with the plugin way.

Step #1: Install and Configure the Redirection Plugin.

Step #2: Deactivate the AMP Plugin(s)

In Step #1, you need to install the “Redirection Plugin”, activate and then configure it in the following way.

Enter /(.*)\/amp in the Source URL
Check the Regex Box
Enter https://yourdomain.com/$1 in the Target URL (Make sure you change your domain name)
Choose “Redirections” under Group and Click on “Add Redirect”
Go to your browser and verify the redirections

In Step #2, you need to deactivate the two AMP plugins I’ve mentioned earlier.

That’s it. You should now wait for Google to no-index your AMP’ed URLs and reindex your standard URLs. Just give it a week or two.

Did you find this guide useful? Then please, share it with your friends on social media and spread the goodness.

Also, leave a comment below if you have any trouble getting along with the steps I’ve explained in this guide.

AMP AdSense Guide: How to Display AMP Ads in WordPress

If you’re planning to activate Google AMP on your WordPress site, there’s something you should know — you can’t run Google AdSense ads of all formats.

Google AMP is designed faster speed; therefore, it removes ads that are incompatible with the AMP standards. Normal Google AdSense ad code is essentially javascript that is not supported by the AMP project. Therefore, your ads won’t appear on AMP-enabled posts/pages.

In fact, this is one of the major reasons why many webmasters are still not ready to switching to Google AMP. Many others are quickly undoing their AMP efforts in a bid to get back their traffic and performance metrics.

However, if you’re willing to jump on the AMP bandwagon and still want your AdSense to appear, you need to use an AMP-compliant version of your AdSense ads.

How to Make AdSense Ads AMP-Compliant

If you’re using any WordPress plugin that helps you insert AdSense ad code into your site, this guide might become easier for you to follow.

The best way to implement AMP-supported AdSense ads on your site is to add tag as recommended in Google AMP Project.

Here’s an example of the AMP Version of an AdSense Code

Technically, you needn’t create separate ads for your AMP-compliant pages unless you want to really track the performance of those Ads specifically.

I personally recommend the following approach:

Step #1: Go to the AdSense plugin you’ve installed on your site. Click to modify the Ad Code.

Step #2: Create an AMP version of the existing Ad Code and insert it below the standard AdSense code.

This basically means both versions of your AdSense code will work based on whether you’re viewing it on a Desktop Computer or Mobile Device.

Convert Your AdSense Code to Its AMP Version

Here’s what a standard AdSense code looks like. As you can see, I’ve created a responsive ad format. Therefore, the data-ad-format is “fluid”. I’d also recommend the same for your site unless you have found another way to make your ad behave responsively on your site.

Also, the data-ad-layout is “in-article” which essentially mean this ad is designed to respond well within an individual post.

The next two lines are essentially number related to your AdSense account. I’ve inserted dummy numbers in the ad-client and ad-slot areas.

Now, let’s take a look at a sample AMP-version of the above Ad Code.

The AMP version essentially uses the tag for compatibility on your AMP posts/pages. You can also see that I’ve defined a dimension for the AMP-compliant ad which basically fits into most mobile screen sizes.

Here’s how you should insert these Ad Codes in your AdSense plugin.

That’s all you have to do for your AdSense ads to appear on your AMP-compliant posts/pages.

Resources: Google AMP has a guide to help you with different types of AMP-compliant ads. You might want to check that out as well.

Did you find this post useful?

Please, share it with your friends on social media and help it reach afar.

How to Activate Google AMP on Your WordPress Site

Google AMP or Google Accelerated Mobile Pages is a project by Google to encourage web publishers to make their website AMP-compliant in order to help users with a slow Internet connection access their pages easily.

Google AMP vs Facebook Instant Articles

While Google AMP is focussed on helping Google Search users, Facebook Instant Articles aims at helping Facebook Mobile App users access content quickly.

When you perform a Google Search and see an AMP Icon prefixed on a Search Result, it’s an indication that the website is AMP-Compliant.

When you click on that result, you will see the stripped-down AMP-version of the result. Typically, the page will have a logo, a navigation, and the content.

Most importantly, it will prominently display a “close button” above your article, which when closed will take you back to the Google Search Result Page.

This is something a lot of web publishers are not very happy about but let’s delve deeper into that later in this post.

Facebook Instant Articles are different from Google AMP in that the Facebook project is designed only for Facebook publishers optimize their Facebook content. It’s important to note, Facebook Instant Articles are only visible on mobile apps, not desktop or mobile browsers.

Is Facebook Instant Articles project worth your efforts? This is beyond the scope of this article. So, I’ll save that for another post.

Both Google AMP and Facebook Instant Articles are designed to make your content load faster, improving the user experience.

Steps to Implement Google AMP on Your WordPress Site

Step #1: Install AMP by Automatic plugin

This plugin adds support for Google AMP to your WordPress site. Simply install and activate this plugin.

Activating the plugin adds an AMP customizer panel to your WordPress backend.

To see the panel head over to Appearance > AMP where you can customize the design of your AMP-compliant pages. Click on “AMP” and then click on “Design” to see options for changing Header Text Color and Header Background & Link Color. You can also switch between light and dark color scheme.

Once done, don’t forget to save your changes by clicking on the “Publish” button at the top of the AMP customizer panel.

Step #2: Test Your Google AMP Compliance

Upon activating the AMP plugin, your WordPress site immediately becomes AMP Compliant.

Although the AMP Customizer panel already shows you the AMP-compliant version of your website, you can still check the same on your browser.

To see what an AMP-version post looks like, follow the steps below:

Visit any post on your blog

Click on the post URL on your browser

Add /amp at the end of your URL and hit enter. For example, http://example.com/my-blog-post/amp/

You should now see the AMP-version of your post.

Step #3: Save Permalinks (Optional Step)

As an additional step, you can head over to Settings > Permalinks and simply click on “Save Changes”. Please, note that this step is optional. Some users complain that they don’t see AMP version of their posts even after activating the plugin. Saving the permalink structure should work as a fix. However, for many others, this step is not required.

Viewing AMP-Compliant Pages on Google Console

As usual, Google doesn’t immediately crawl and index your AMP-compliant version. Depending on the crawl frequency of your site, Google might take a week to properly crawl and index your AMP-compliant posts on Google Search Results. You can also view them on your Google Console.

Here, Google will keep you updated on any potential errors found in your AMP-compliant posts.

If You Want to Add More Features to Your AMP-Compliant WordPress Site

The AMP by Automatic plugin is designed to make your website compliant with Google AMP. However, the default AMP-version strips your site off many of its features which may have added to help your website visitors.

That’s the whole point of the Google AMP project — to show a stripped-down version of your post so the content loads as quickly as it is possible on a mobile device using a slow Internet connection.

However, it doesn’t entirely serve your interest as a publisher.

You want to retain some of the features (such as Social Media Buttons) so the users are able to share content on social media.

Similarly, you want to be able to display ads (such as Google AdSense) to monetize your website.

Fortunately, there are many plugins to help you with this.

In this regard, the most popular plugin is Glue for Yoast SEO & AMP. However, for this plugin to work, you need to have already installed the Yoast SEO plugin on your WordPress Site.

Moreover, the main purpose of this plugin is to make sure the default AMP by Automatic plugin uses the proper Yoast SEO Metadata. So, if you’re already using both the SEO Yoast plugin as well as the AMP by Automatic plugin, it doesn’t hurt to install Glue for Yoast SEO & AMP plugin.

How to Use Glue for Yoast SEO & AMP Plugin

Step #1: Install and Activate the plugin.

Step #2: Head over to SEO > AMP to configure the plugin. Here, you can see that the plugin allows you to enable AMP support for other post types pages and media attachments. However, they are disabled by default. Enable them if you want to add AMP support to your pages/media attachments. Or, leave them as is.

Step #3: Click on the Design Tab. You can see that plugin offers you the options to use an AMP Icon and a Default Image. This essentially means your visitors will see the logo of your website on your AMP-version post/pages. Similarly, they can also see a default featured image when a post doesn’t have one in it. The tab also lets you customize the color of your header, title, text and post meta info. Change them as per your needs.

Step #4: The third tab allows you to add your Google Analytics ID, meaning you can keep track of the performance of your AMP-compliant posts/pages.

Once you’re done, don’t forget to click on “Save Changes” to store your customizations.

Adding More Features to Your Google AMP WordPress Site

If you want to add more features such as Related Posts, Footer Widgets, and Social Media Icons to your AMP-compliant site, you need to search for the appropriate plugins and install them on your site. Again, covering those is beyond the scope of this post. However, I’ll write a separate guide on that soon.

Should You Make Your WordPress Site Google AMP Compliant?

I think you may have read quite a bit on the benefits of making your website Google AMP compliant.

The strongest logic of all is that it makes your site SEO-friendly and that it gives a ranking boost to your site.

While that may not be entirely true, there’s something you should definitely know before jumping on the Google AMP bandwagon.

There are many SEOs that have shared their disappointments over how Google steals your mobile traffic and makes it difficult for you to revert your actions when you decide to remove AMP from your WordPress site.

I’d encourage you to read the following two articles in particular.

Kill Google AMP before it KILLS the Web

Google Helping Mobile Publishing? Some Publishers Are Not So Sure

An Alternative to Google AMP for WordPress

The prime objective of the Google AMP project is to help your site load faster on a slow Internet connection. More importantly, the website should be responsive, to begin with.

Assuming your website already uses a responsive design, the only thing you need to take care of is optimize your responsive version for faster loading on slower internet connection.

To make your website load faster, consider the following best practices.

Use a Clean WordPress Theme (I recommend Genesis Framework)

Use a Decent WordPress Host (I recommend Webfaction)

Minify Your CSS

Optimize Your Images

Optimize Your Code

Read this detailed guide on how to make your WordPress site load faster.

Want to Activate Google AMP? Consider This!

If your WordPress site gets a lot of visits from mobile users, but it’s neither responsive nor fast enough to load on slow internet connections, Google AMP is a wise choice for you.

However, if you think you’re a WordPress Superhero who knows their game well enough, consider the alternative to Google AMP if you can afford it.

Should you decide to install the Google AMP Plugin, be sure to keep in mind of the following points:

Have a header that points back to your main site
Make sure your menu is visible in your AMP version
Put a link of the post above the post, offering your visitors a chance to visit your non-AMP version
Integrate your ads into your AMP version
Make sure your Analytics code is properly installed

That’s it. If you have any questions or opinion about this guide, be sure to leave a comment below. Also, share this post on social media to let you know friends know about it.

How to 301 Redirect Your Old WordPress Site with Htaccess

If you have a self-hosted WordPress website, and you want to 301 redirect your old domain to your new domain (or any existing domain), you will need to follow the steps below.

The task can be divided into four major subtasks such as:

Task #1: Exporting (downloading) content of your old site (.xml format)
Task #2: Importing (uploading) .xml file to your new site
Task #3: Modifying your .htaccess file for 301 redirection
Task #4: Updating your property on Google Console (Webmaster Tools)

Exporting and Importing .XML Files in WordPress

Both Task #1 and #2 are very easy if you’re familiar with WordPress. However, I’ll quickly walk you through the process to make sure you get a complete view.

Step #1: Login to your old site’s Dashboard and click on Export under Tools.

Step #2: Click on “Download Export File” if you want to transfer all content pieces as shown in the screenshot below.

Otherwise, choose the kind of content you want to export and click on download button. For example, if you want to export only blog posts and the featured images attached to them, then you will need to choose “posts” and “media” separately and download two files. Please, keep in mind, WordPress doesn’t allow you to choose multiple options in one go.

Step #3: Login to your new site’s Dashboard and click on Import under Tools.

Step #4: There, you can see various options to import your XML file(s) you downloaded in Step #2. Click on “Install Now” under WordPress, and then click on Run Importer.

Step #5: Once you run importer, you will see the following page (see screenshot below). Simply click on “Choose File” button, and upload the .xml file(s) from your computer. It might ask you to assign your posts from your old site to new site’s author. Choose any names from the drop-down menu and click on Import.

Depending on the size of your files, WordPress will process your request and display status alert. For example, if you have around 50 posts, it should take about a minute.

At this point, you’re done with transferring content from your old domain to your new domain. It’s time for the 301 redirection.

Modifying your .htaccess File for 301 Redirection

There are some plugins that can help you do this if you’re not very savvy with using the FTP. If you have the working knowledge of FTP, you can do this with the following steps:

Step #1: Open Your FTP Client: I use Filezilla

Step #2: Go to Your Root Folder and Locate the .htaccess File.

Step #3: Download it to take a backup of the file first. If something goes wrong, you can always upload the original .htaccess file and restore your site.

Step #4: Edit Your .htaccess File: Replace the existing code with the following code:

#Use PHP 5.4 # Use PHP54 as default AddHandler application/x-httpd-php54 .php suPHP_ConfigPath /opt/php54/lib RewriteEngine on RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^myoldwebsite.com [NC,OR] RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.myoldwebsite.com [NC] RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://mynewdomain.com/$1 [L,R=301,NC] # BEGIN WPSuperCache # END WPSuperCache # BEGIN WordPress RewriteEngine On RewriteBase / RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L] RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d RewriteRule . /index.php [L]

# END WordPress

Important: Make sure you replace myoldwebsite.com with your old domain name in both instances. Likewise, replace http://mynewdomain.com with your new domain.

Please, note that in both instances of RewriteCond, you need not add http or https to your old domain URL. However, in RewriteRule, you need to add the http or https to your new domain.

Warning: If you’re not sure about the above instruction, don’t act in a hurry. It might lead to errors and your site might even break until you restore the old .htaccess file or fix the errors. Ask me about this in the comments at the end of the post.

If you have followed me along, simply save your updated .htaccess file.

Now, check both sites (old as well and new) to see if the redirection is working properly.

Redirect The Entire Old Domain

What If you want to redirect the entire of the old domain (and not just blog posts) to your new domain address?

Instead of the previous code, paste the following code in your old site’s .htaccess file.

RewriteEngine On RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://mynewdomain.com/$1 [R,L] # BEGIN WordPress RewriteEngine On RewriteBase / RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L] RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d RewriteRule . /index.php [L] # END WordPress

Once you have saved your work and checked that everything is working well, head over to Google Console (Webmaster Tools) and tell Google Search Engine about the transfer.

Updating your Property on Google Console

Even as you have completed the 301 Redirection, you still need to update your property on Google Console to make sure Google start indexing the content in the new domain address.

Simply, head over to Google Console and choose the property associated with your old website domain name. Once on Dashboard, look to the right-hand side, locate the cog icon and click on it. You will see the drop-down menu (as shown in the screenshot below).

Click on Change of Address in the menu, and you will see the following screen.

At this point, Google may already have tracked the 301 redirection and ticked the first two boxes for you (see screenshot below). You just need to click on the Confirm Option, and then on Submit Option.

Google Console will confirm your request and show you a box stating “Submitted”. It also allows you to withdraw your request at any time in future.

Go to Google Search, and type site:myolddomain.com

You will see a list of URLs from your old domain that Google has indexed so far. In a few weeks after your submission for Change of Address request, you should see those links disappear.

Hope you found this post useful. If you do, don’t forget to share it with your friends. Don’t’ hesitate to leave a comment, question, feedback if you believe otherwise.