Product Renamed, Old Assets Erased: An AI Search Cautionary Tale in AEO
gaganghotra_ · x · 2026-10-20
A Renaming Gone Wrong
A company renamed its AI product from "Brand Name + Copilot" to "Company Name + AI", without leaving any official or third-party assets documenting the transition.
The Consequences
- It almost never appears in Google's AI Overview (AIO) anymore—showing up roughly once per 10 searches for best ai [category] software;
- On the rare occasions it does appear, AIO still cites the old name "Copilot"—sourced from a competitor's listicle;
- Meanwhile, the product under the old name "technically no longer exists", and no asset explains the mapping between the old and new names.
The Takeaway
Author @harpreetchatha argues that brands caring about LLM visibility need someone who understands SEO involved throughout naming/renaming decisions like this—many companies simply don't know what they're doing.
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