Your website uses the new business name, but Google still shows the old one. Before changing more settings, identify which part of the result is wrong. The name beside the website address, the clickable page title and the small icon need different checks.
For a business that has rebranded, the practical concern is recognition: can a prospective customer connect the search result with the company they intended to contact? Start with the pages customers use to enquire or buy, then work through the evidence below.
Identify exactly where the old name appears
Take a screenshot and record the search phrase, date, device and destination URL. Compare a search for the current business name with one for the former name. Keep ordinary website results separate from adverts and Google Maps listings so that your repair brief points to the correct system.
- Site name: the website identity displayed alongside its address.
- Title link: the clickable wording for an individual page.
- Favicon: the small website icon accompanying the result.
Google distinguishes the website-wide site name from individual title links in its site-name guidance. If the business name is correct but a service page has an outdated title, focus on that page.
Also check where the result actually leads. A result for a separate former website needs its own investigation. Do not assume that updating your current homepage changes every website mentioning your business.
Check the homepage signals for the site name
Google selects site names automatically. Its guidance prioritises WebSite structured data on the domain or subdomain homepage, alongside consistent homepage wording. Check its name and homepage url; use alternateName only for a genuine alternative. Update the existing node rather than adding a competing block. Keep equivalent duplicate homepages consistent. Site names are not supported for subdirectories. These requirements are set out in Google’s implementation instructions.
Agree the intended public-facing name before asking a developer to change anything. Send the exact spelling and capitalisation, the date the change went live and examples of the result you want investigated. Distinguish references that accidentally retain the former identity from useful explanations of the business’s history.
Ask whoever maintains the website to identify which component owns the existing output. Make the correction there, with a record of the previous value, so that a later release does not quietly restore it.
Review affected page titles separately
Google can build title links from the HTML <title>, visible headings, og:title, other page text and links. Correcting one field therefore does not control the result. Its title-link documentation recommends concise, descriptive titles and explains why Google may choose different wording.
Ask for an audit of the homepage and affected commercial pages. Compare the published title, main heading, social title and links pointing to each page. Check whether the old name comes from a shared title template or an individual override. Keep service descriptions useful and specific when replacing the brand suffix.
Start with a small representative sample: a service page, a product or category page where relevant, and the contact page. If they share the same mistake, investigate the common template before editing pages individually.
Google may omit a brand from the title link when it already appears as the site name. That behaviour is documented in the same title-link guidance; a missing repeated brand is not automatically evidence that your update failed.
If the old icon remains, inspect the favicon
An old favicon needs an asset check as well as a name check. Google’s current favicon requirements call for a homepage icon link, access for Googlebot to the homepage and Googlebot-Image to the file, a square image and a stable asset URL. A PNG or ICO is among its listed supported formats. Eligibility does not guarantee display.
Ask your developer to open the exact file referenced by the published homepage and confirm it contains the intended artwork. Record that file’s URL separately from the large logo shown in the header. Avoid repeatedly swapping filenames while investigating.
Google’s 28 August 2026 documentation update explicitly listed supported favicon formats and said the supported formats had not changed. Treat that as a clarification, rather than a new ranking opportunity.
Compare the live page with Google’s stored version
A correct website and an outdated result can coexist. Use Search Console’s URL Inspection tool to compare the indexed information with a live test. The indexed view concerns Google’s stored version; the live test fetches the current page. Review the last crawl date, available HTML and the live screenshot. The indexed report also identifies Google’s selected canonical URL; the live test cannot predict that choice.
For each affected URL, record whether the last crawl predates your correction. If the live output still contains the former name, return the issue to the website maintainer. If live output is correct but Google’s stored information is older, you have evidence for a recrawl request.
A successful live test does not guarantee indexing or your chosen search appearance. Use it to establish what the inspection tool can access, then check the public result separately.
Request a recrawl and give processing time
Once the correction is verified, a Search Console owner or full user can request indexing for the relevant URLs. Google’s recrawl guidance says crawling can take days to weeks, requests do not guarantee inclusion, and repeated requests for the same URL do not accelerate crawling. For many changed URLs, a sitemap is the appropriate discovery route.
Keep a dated record of the deployed correction and the URLs submitted. Set a review date with the person responsible for the repair. Avoid another round of name changes simply because the public result has not updated the next morning.
When reviewing, repeat the original searches and inspect the same URLs. Keep the homepage and important internal pages as separate checks so that one successful result does not close the whole issue prematurely.
Give your developer a repair brief they can verify
Our recommended brief contains the observed result, the intended identity and a clear definition of completion. Include:
- The screenshot, search phrase and exact destination URL for each example.
- The approved business name and artwork, with the rebrand date.
- The component responsible for each incorrect output and the change made.
- Evidence from the published homepage and affected page sample after deployment.
- The indexed and live inspection findings, plus a follow-up date.
Ask for a check of the customer journey after the repair too: the corrected page should still open, display its content and provide a working enquiry or purchase route. A branding fix should be reviewed as part of the website customers use.
If the rebrand also involves a website rebuild or domain change, use our guide to rebuilding without losing existing search traffic to plan the wider work. Keep that project distinct from a correction to search-result wording.
Make the next step specific
If the result remains wrong, return to the evidence: is the live output incorrect, is Google still using an older version, or has the page been recrawled without the preferred wording appearing? Those are different findings and should lead to a focused follow-up.
BuzzBoost’s SEO service covers technical SEO and search visibility. If your old business identity is still appearing in search, contact BuzzBoost with an example result and your rebrand date so we can discuss the checks your website needs.
Featured image: AI-generated editorial artwork, not a photograph of a real BuzzBoost office, client or result.
