How to verify a page-by-page level 301 redirect was done correctly?

[EvolveCreative]

Hello,

I told some tech guys to do a page-by-page relevant 301 redirect (as talked about in Matt Cutts video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1lVPrYoBkA) when a company wanted to move to a new domain when their site was getting redesigned. I found out they did a 302 redirect on accident and had to fix that, so now I don't trust they did the page-by-page relevant redirect. I have a feeling they just redirected all of the pages on the old domain to the homepage of the new domain. How could I confirm this suspicion? I run the old domain through screaming frog and it only shows 1 URL - the homepage. Does that mean they took all of the pages on the old domain offline?

Thanks!

[Ontarioseo]

It does sound as if everything was removed from the old domain. Your best bet would probably be to take the old xml sitemap, paste it into excel and use Niels Bosma's SEO Tools to check the http status code of each url. If they have redirected everything correctly it should show 301 status codes. If you end up with a whole bunch of 404 codes you know they didn't implement things correctly.

If you don't have the old xml sitemap then another option is to get into webmaster tools and look for a list of urls in the 404 errors and inbound links sections - that will give you something to work with at least.

[EvolveCreative]

Thank you Wayne,

All I have is a SiteMap.aspx file - not an XML. Not sure how to make that work for me.

Do I need to get into webmaster tools for the old domain or the new one? Also, i've looked and looked and cannot find the "404 errors and inbound links section" in webmaster tool. i've tried to figure this out via a Google search but all of the guides are for the old version of Webmaster Tools! Could you please help me navigate to the correct section??

Thanks!

[Ontarioseo]

Hi David,

You need to get into webmaster tools for the old domain. Even though the pages may have been removed you should still be able to see the inbound link reports and hopefully the error reports as well. Here is a screenshot link (it's a clarify link) showing where you would find both of these - http://enzomaticus.clarify-it.com/d/3znqqc

The error report should be your first choice but the linked pages would be a decent second prize.

Let me know if you have any more questions - we've just been through a similar situation and I know what a pain it can be.

[EvolveCreative]

Hi Wayne,

Thanks for the follow up. Unfortunately, I can't get into webmaster tools for the old domain. It says:

"Verify your ownership of http://patioenc.com" Gar. **I guess I'll just ask.

Thanks!**