Which Website Pages Should Keep the Old Product Name After a Product Rename?

Why keep the old name at all?

• Models learned it. Assistants trained before the rename know the product by its old name, and will keep using it until they find a clear link to the new one.
• Buyers search for it. Existing customers, partners and people who read older reviews still type the old name.
• Third-party pages use it. Reviews, comparison articles and forum threads will not update themselves.
• Without a link, the product can seem to vanish. An assistant that finds no current page for the old name may conclude it was discontinued. How that happens is covered in why Perplexity describes your product as discontinued when the product page is still live.

Which pages should keep it, and how?

How to check the new name before launch is covered in how to check product names in AI search before a rebrand launch.

What should the "formerly" line say?

One plain sentence that an assistant can quote without other context: "[New name], formerly [old name], is [company]'s [category] for [customer]. The product was renamed in [month year]; features, pricing and accounts are unchanged." If anything did change, say what. Avoid clever phrasing such as "[Old name] has evolved". It does not state that the two names refer to the same product.

What about URLs and markup?

• URLs: if the old URL contained the old name, move to a new URL and redirect the old one directly to its equivalent. Google's guidance for moves is to keep redirects as long as possible, and generally for at least a year. Do not redirect every old page to the home page.
• Markup: schema.org's alternateName property, available on any item, records an alias. Add the old name as an alternateName on the product's markup, with the new name as name.
• Feeds: update titles in product feeds, and put "formerly [old name]" in the description for a period.
• Identifiers: for physical products, check GS1's GTIN rules before reusing a barcode. They require a new GTIN when the primary brand on the item changes. Other name changes are assessed under GS1's other rules, so check before assuming.

How to connect an old company name to a new one is covered separately in how to signal a rebrand from your former name to ChatGPT without losing the old entity.

What mistakes should you avoid?

• Find-and-replace across the whole site. It removes the old name from the very pages that should connect the two, and rewrites history in release notes and customer quotes.
• Redirecting everything to the home page. Old links to specific features and help articles lose their meaning, and assistants lose the page that answered the question.
• Leaving a separate old-name page live. Two product pages with different names look like two products, one of which is stale.
• Forgetting third parties. Send the rename announcement to review sites, marketplaces, integration partners and resellers, and ask them to add "formerly [old name]" to their listings.
• Renaming without telling support. Customers will ask about the old name for months, and consistent answers help.

How long should the old name stay?

Let data decide rather than a fixed date. Track:

• Search queries in Search Console containing the old name, compared with the new one.
• AI answers to "What is [old name]?" and "[old name] pricing", and whether they mention the new name.
• Support tickets and sales calls that use the old name.

As an illustration, suppose searches for the old name are 4,000 a month at launch against 1,000 for the new, or 80% old. At six months, 1,200 against 3,800 would be 24% old. At twelve months, 400 against 5,600 would be under 7%. Reasonable points to reduce the reminders are when the old name falls below about a tenth of combined searches, and when AI answers use the new name consistently. Then remove the "formerly" notes from help articles and pricing. Keep them on the product page FAQ, the announcement and the markup indefinitely. They cost nothing and keep the link for anyone who finds an old review.

How do you check AI answers after the rename?

Ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI features, several times each, a month after launch and then quarterly:

• "What is [old name]?"
• "Is [old name] still available?"
• "[New name] vs [old name]"
• "What is [new name]?"
• "Best [category] for [use case]"

Record whether answers connect the two names, whether any describe the old product as discontinued, and which name they use in category answers. If answers use only the old name, the "formerly" line or the announcement is probably missing from the pages being cited.

What might an illustrative case look like?

Consider an illustrative scheduling tool renamed from "Praxumb" to "Dunmnell" as part of a company rebrand. The team replaced the old name everywhere, including the product page and help centre, and redirected old URLs to the home page. Two months later, assistants described Praxumb as "discontinued in 2026" and did not connect it to Dunmnell. Answers to "What is Dunmnell?" said little. The company added "formerly Praxumb" to the product page's first paragraph with an FAQ, and published a dated rename announcement. It restored one-to-one redirects and added the old name as an alternate name in its markup. A month later, most answers described Dunmnell as the renamed Praxumb.

What do people ask about renaming products?

Will keeping the old name confuse new customers?

Not if the new name leads everywhere and the old name appears only as "formerly".

Should the old name appear in page titles?

Usually not after launch. Use the first paragraph and FAQ instead, unless old-name searches still dominate.

What if the old name is being dropped for legal reasons?

Follow legal advice. A factual "formerly known as" reference is often still possible, but check first.