Q: Did using GSC's Change of Address tool actually speed up our domain move?

Q: Did using GSC's Change of Address tool actually speed up our domain move?

Great question because people expect more from it than it does.

Short answer: it helps signal the move, but redirects do the heavy lifting.

Long answer: on one domain change we ran a controlled comparison-ish look at two similar sites. Both had clean 1:1 301s. The one that also submitted Change of Address (which tells Google old domain → new domain) had Google start swapping URLs in results about 8 days sooner, and the old domain's pages dropped from the index faster. Final recovery time was similar — roughly 6 weeks for both — but the COA site looked cleaner in transition.

Next step: do submit Change of Address, but treat it as a courtesy flag, not the engine. Your 301s and verified ownership of both properties are what actually move you.