Company has changed brand name but product lines still called the same - SEO decision

[NEF]

We have a very good page position ranked #1 for a product and the company has recently changed its brand name, but the actual product name and design is identical.

As an brief example (not this, just an example)

Nike Running Shoes changed to Adidas Running Shoes

What is the best and most logical way to change this on our website.

We either edit the exisiting page we are ranked for to the new brand name BUT most people know this brand from it's original brand and the new brand is less known, so this would affect page views and sales...

OR

We set up another additional page with the same information and with the new brand name, then leave the exisiting product page and put these items out of stock on the old brand. but this would not have the ranking the old page had and we could get penalised for duplicate content...

Any suggestions ?

 

[fantheflames]

Good question. Best approach might be to update your existing page rather than creating a potentially duplicate page. In my view, if you have a note explaining the rebrand that might help users if there is any confusion. It might be tricky to keep the existing content intact that draws relevance for current rankings. But other than that I think keeping the page would be better.

 

[fisicx]

Just add the new brand name to the existing pages and link to a new page which has all the content updated.

Done kill off anything that currently brings in traffic. Your new brand name could be bit of a problem for a while.

 

[GenuineCCELL]

I would update the existing page to reflect the change by incorporating both the old and new brand names (e.g. "Nike (Now Adidas) Running Shoes") and include a clear note explaining the rebranding.

 

[fisicx]

It depends on how the page is structured.

But perhaps a “marathon (now sold as snickers).

It’s going to be a problem either way as customers will want a marathon not snickers despite them being the same product. Mars spent a lot of cash rebranding. Not so easy for you.

 

[Ozzy]

In my business we ended up creating a completely new website.

My business was called eFiling for 10 years. It ranked well and was well-known in the industry it served. Now, it's a product of our company, so when we changed the company name, we created a new website for the company and linked the two. Our eFiling product now has a dedicated website.

 

[NEF]

In my business we ended up creating a completely new website.

My business was called eFiling for 10 years. It ranked well and was well-known in the industry it served. Now, it's a product of our company, so when we changed the company name, we created a new website for the company and linked the two. Our eFiling product now has a dedicated website.

This is only for a handful or products but the original brand name ranks well... always a pain when these changes happen

 

[fisicx]

This is only for a handful or products but the original brand name ranks well... always a pain when these changes happen

Why did you have to change the brand name?

 

[AlanJ1]

I would just add the new brand into the title and maybe explain in the description what is going on. Wouldn't ever kill a page that is ranking.