# Check whether a change worked

> Ask your assistant whether new page titles moved your traffic, or how much traffic your pages kept after moving to new web addresses.

You changed something on your site and want to know if it helped. MeasureScale lets your assistant compare your traffic before and after the change. It works for edits to a set of pages, such as new titles. It also works for a move to new web addresses, such as a new domain.

## Questions to ask

### Test a change to some pages

- "I retitled five recipe posts on 1 September. Did their clicks from Google go up?"
- "Compare those five posts with five similar recipe posts I didn't change."
- "Save this as a test called 'Recipe titles' so I can check it again next month."
- "How is my 'Recipe titles' test doing now?"

### Check a move to new web addresses

- "I moved to my new domain on 15 August. How much Google traffic did my pages keep? Here is my list of old and new addresses."
- "Which of my redirects lost the most traffic since the move?"

## A good conversation

Here is an example of how a conversation can go.

1. You ask: "I changed the titles on these five recipe posts on 1 September." Then you paste the five web addresses. The assistant asks if you have similar pages you left alone, to compare against.
2. You paste five unchanged recipe posts. The assistant compares the two groups before and after 1 September. It says whether the change is larger than normal day-to-day ups and downs.
3. You ask: "Now check my move to the new domain." You paste your list of old and new addresses. The assistant tells you what share of the old traffic the new addresses kept, and which pairs lost the most.

## Reading the answer

- A test page is a page you changed. A control page is a similar page you didn't change. Control pages help remove changes that hit the whole site.
- Each period needs at least 14 days of settled data. Before that, the assistant can show daily averages but no verdict.
- A "significant" result means the change is unlikely to be chance alone. Other events in the same weeks can still move traffic.
- If the test is weak, a small real effect can go unnoticed. The assistant tells you when this is the case.
- The move check uses Google search traffic only. It covers only the addresses you paste, not the rest of the site.

## Tips

- Give the exact date each change went live. The assistant needs it for every check.
- Wait at least 2 weeks after the change, plus about 3 days for Google to finish counting.
- For a test, list up to 100 changed pages and up to 100 control pages. A page cannot be in both lists.
- For a move, paste up to 500 pairs of old and new addresses in the chat. If an old address redirects twice, pair it with the final address.

Saving a test needs permission to make changes in MeasureScale. You give it when you approve the app. Saving only stores your notes in MeasureScale. It changes nothing in Google. See [Read and write tools](/concepts/read-and-write-tools/).

## Read more

- [SEO experiments and migrations](/methodology/experiments-and-migrations/)
- [Organize your site and keep notes](/use-cases/organize-your-site/)