Rebranding SEO: Getting Old Links and Mentions Updated After a Name Change
After a rebrand, redirects carry your old links. The old name in other people's articles stays until someone asks them to change it. Here is how to handle both, with what we found on pages still ranking for three renamed brands.
Redirect every old URL to its matching new page and keep the redirects for at least a year. Then list the sites that link to or mention the old name, and ask the ones that matter to update.
Ask first: pages whose old link lands on a 404 or your homepage, and pages that rank for your old name. Order
Can wait: links that redirect to the right page, on pages nobody visits.
MentionAgent checked 17 third-party pages ranking in the US for three renamed brands on 14 October 2026. Only 2 still link to the old domain alone, but 9 use the old name more than the new one.
Redirects: 9 of 12 old URLs we tested land on the matching new page; 2 land on "Page not found". Test
Old names outlive old links
We searched Google (US, 14 October 2026) for three old brand names, two searches each, and fetched every third-party page in the top 10. We left out the brands' own sites and profiles, video and Reddit pages, and two other companies with similar names (Clubhouse the audio app, Sendblue). Four pages blocked the fetch, leaving 17.
| Old name, new | Renamed | Pages | Old link only | Old name more | New name absent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sendinblue, Brevo | May 2023 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Integromat, Make | 2022 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Clubhouse, Shortcut | Sep 2021 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 3 |
| All three | 17 | 2 | 9 | 3 |
Dates: Brevo's announcement (4 May 2023), Clubhouse's (the change in "the second week of September" 2021), and Tallyfy for Make, whose own announcement gives no date.
The links mostly got fixed; the names did not. Five of the six Sendinblue pages say "Sendinblue" more than "Brevo". Three Clubhouse pages, five years on, never mention Shortcut. A link passes through a redirect. A name in a sentence does not.
Redirects first, then test them
Point each old URL at its matching new page with a permanent (301 or 308) redirect, avoid chains, and file a Change of Address in Search Console if the domain changed. Google's site move guide: "Keep the redirects for as long as possible, generally at least 1 year." All three old domains above still redirect.
Then test the old URLs other sites link to, not just the homepage. Of 12 old deep URLs we followed, 9 landed on the matching new page. The other three:
- clubhouse.io/product/ lands on Shortcut's homepage, after two hops.
- sendinblue.com/features/email-campaigns/ redirects path for path to a Brevo URL that returns "Page not found".
- clubhouse.io/blog/clubhouse-changing-our-name-to-shortcut/ lands on "Page Not Found". That is the rename announcement itself, which promised "your old links will simply redirect to the new site". Wikipedia's Shortcut article still cites it.
Fix those redirects before asking anyone for anything; link reclamation covers the rest of that job.
List every link and mention
- Links: export links to the old domain from Search Console's Links report or a backlink tool. The backlink audit guide covers working through the export.
- Mentions without links: search Google for the old name in quotes, excluding your own sites. The methods in unlinked brand mentions work the same for an old name.
- AI answers: ask ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini about your category and note which pages they cite. See how to check if ChatGPT mentions your brand.
For each page, record the URL, where its link lands today and the sentence with the old name.
What to ask for first
Google's guide says to contact the sites linking to you, "prioritizing your efforts by the number of inbound visits for each link". After that:
- Links that land on a 404 or your homepage.
- Pages that rank for your old name, the ones people find when they search it.
- Pages AI answers cite for your category. See why ChatGPT doesn't recommend your business.
- Pages that never mention the new name.
A link that redirects to the right page from an article nobody reads can wait: Google says the redirect period lets it reassign "links on other sites that point to your old URLs".
The update email
Make it a two-minute edit: quote the sentence, give the replacement, give the exact URL. Find the editor with the free author finder and check the address with the email verifier.
Subject: Small update to "[article title]"
Hi [name], thanks for including us in "[article title]". We've renamed from [Old name] to [New name]. Could you change "[Old name]" to "[New name]" in the line under "[section heading]", and point the link at [exact new URL]? Thanks, [your name]
More short asks: link building email templates.
After the update list
The update list ends; what a new name needs next is new articles that use it. MentionAgent finds blog posts already covering your topic, finds the editor's email, writes a pitch about that post and sends it from an inbox set up for you, from $99/mo. Its AI visibility check asks ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini your buyer questions and records which pages they cite. More in link outreach.
Get the new name into new articles
MentionAgent pitches the bloggers who already write about your topic and brings you their replies. From $99/mo, no per-link fees.
See how MentionAgent worksFrequently asked questions
Does rebranding hurt SEO?
A move to a new domain can, for a while: Google's site move guide says to expect temporary fluctuation in site ranking during the move. What lasts longer is off your site. Of 17 pages we checked that rank for three renamed brands, 9 still use the old name more than the new one.
How long should I keep redirects after a rebrand?
Google's site move guide says to keep them for as long as possible, generally at least 1 year, so it can recrawl and reassign links on other sites that point to your old URLs. All three brands we checked still redirect their old domains three to five years later.
Do I need to ask sites to update links if my redirects work?
Not for every link. Google's guide suggests contacting the sites linking to you and prioritising by inbound visits. Ask first where the old link lands on a 404 or your homepage, where the page ranks for your old name, and where the page uses only the old name.
How do I find sites that still use my old name?
Export the links pointing to your old domain from Search Console's Links report or a backlink tool, then search Google for the old name in quotes, excluding your own sites. Add the pages that AI answers cite when they describe your category, since those shape what the answers say.