Google’s John Mueller was asked if Google Search Console will show links from a redirected domain to the new domain in the links report in Search Console. The answer is yes, if the links are being redirected and you did a site move from domain A to domain B, the links pointing to domain A will show up as pointing to domain B.
Of course, the links report in Google Search Console is just a sampling of your links, so not all links will show. But the sampling of redirected links will show up.
This came up in the 7 minute mark in the latest Google webmaster hangout. The question is a bit hard to understand, so I did my best with the transcription below but here is the video embed first, followed by the transcription:
RITU NAGARKOTI: So I have a question related to all the domain who like when we do a redirect from an old domain to new domain, and it’s time follow a backlinks that were created for the old domain, is there auditable, like when we audit, can we see when it will redirect to new domain. After that it will audit the old domain patterns which we created for all domains that will be auditable?
JOHN MUELLER: I think they would show in Search Console. In Search Console, you would see a sample of the links to your website. And if they redirect through another domain, then I think we would still show that in Search Console. Sometimes, I think we show that in between states that you have a link through this other website.
Glenn Gabe summed it up nicely in this tweet:
This confuses a lot of people -> If you change domain names, will the links to the previous domain show up in GSC? Via @johnmu: Yes, they should. When checking the target page, you should see the old domain’s url show up in “Target URL (if different)” https://t.co/tOrboqMZ77 pic.twitter.com/6e9IXObE32
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) April 11, 2022
