Google Responds To Error That Causes Old Branding To Persist In SERPs

Google’s John Mueller answered a query about Google rewriting title tags to point out the outdated model of a website that rebranded in 2015. Apparently every thing was up to date to the brand new model title, however Google’s search outcomes stubbornly persist in displaying the outdated branding.

Previous Model Title Proven In Title Tags

The individual asking the query on Bluesky associated that an organization up to date their complete website with its new branding, however Google ignores it in favor of displaying the outdated branding within the search outcomes.

They posted:

“Hey @johnmu.com, interested by Web site Title persistence. Treatwell (UK) continues to be displaying as “Wahanda” in outcomes – a rebrand that occurred in 2015! Is there a particular “legacy” sign which may override present SiteName structured information for such a protracted interval in a single nation solely? “

Google’s Mueller was puzzled by the state of affairs and didn’t have a solution as to why it was taking place. Maybe it’s a type of uncommon instances the place a bug retains part of the index from updating. However he did counsel utilizing the area title as an alternate website title.

Mueller referred the individual to one among Google’s developer pages, “What to do if your preferred site name isn’t selected.”

He responded:

“That’s a bit odd – I’ll move it on to the group. FWIW what usually works in instances like that is to make use of the area title as an alternate website title – builders.google.com/search/docs/… – however it might be good if that weren’t wanted.”

The location itself doesn’t seem to comprise on-page cases of the rogue branding. The outdated area is accurately 301 redirecting to the brand new area. Nevertheless, there are some hyperlinks within the footer that comprise referral codes with the outdated branding on them, and the sitemap accommodates hyperlinks to 404 pages that comprise the outdated branding. Though these will not be the reason for the branding mismatch within the Google search outcomes, it’s a great search engine optimisation follow to be tidy about what’s in your sitemaps and to take away outdated hyperlinks.

These sorts of uncommon errors are attention-grabbing as a result of they type of present a sneak peek into part of Google’s indexing that isn’t usually in view, like a crack in a wall. What insights do you derive from this anomalous state of affairs?

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