About four months after launching SiteSignal (sitesignal.app), everything seemed on track.
User growth was steady, feedback was positive, and the product was gaining real traction.
We genuinely felt that our platform had reached a point of stability and momentum.
Then, during a routine test using our own AI Visibility Tracker,the tool that checks how platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Claude mention or reference brands, we uncovered a mistake we had completely missed.
It turned out to be a classic branding error that many startups could easily make without realising it.
What Went Wrong
When we first launched, the .com domain for SiteSignal was already taken and priced far beyond reason.
So we moved forward confidently with sitesignal.app.
Everything, from our content to our social posts and product materials, referred simply to “SiteSignal.”
We didn’t think much of it at the time, after all, the brand name was clear and consistent.
But AI tools didn’t interpret it the same way.
What the Scan Revealed
When we used our own system to see how AI models identify and reference our brand, the results were surprising:
- A different website with a similar name appeared in place of ours.
- Some AI responses referred to a nonexistent domain that looked similar.
- Our actual domain, sitesignal.app, barely appeared in the results.
Essentially, the large language models were confused about who truly owned the “SiteSignal” identity.
The brand recognition we had worked to build was being attributed incorrectly.
The Timeline
- 15 October 2025 – No visibility in any AI results
- 16 October 2025 – The name began to appear, but without the correct link
- 17 October 2025 – We discovered a misleading clone using a similar name and took action
- 18 October 2025 – The models still listed the wrong sources despite updates
We’re now tracking this daily to see how long it takes for AI systems to relearn and properly associate the SiteSignal brand with sitesignal.app.
What We’re Doing to Fix It
To correct the confusion and strengthen the brand–domain link, we’ve taken several steps:
- Updating all content to consistently include sitesignal.app alongside the brand name.
- Improving schema and metadata so that brand and domain are tightly connected across all structured data.
- Monitoring AI results daily through our own visibility tracker to measure correction progress.
This process is helping us understand how long AI models take to rebuild accurate brand associations once clarity is introduced.
The Takeaway for Founders
If you’re launching a startup today, treat your domain name as an essential part of your brand identity.
Don’t assume that AI models or even search engines will automatically know that your brand name and domain belong together.
They learn that relationship through structured data, repeated mentions, and context consistency.
If those signals are weak or inconsistent, the visibility could shift to someone else with a similar name.
What We Learned
AI visibility doesn’t just depend on marketing or backlinks; it depends on clarity of identity.
We learned that even a small oversight, like not pairing your brand name with your domain, can distort how AI systems perceive your company online.
We’re continuing to observe how quickly the major models correct the association between “SiteSignal” and sitesignal.app.
It’s a fascinating experiment in how fast the AI web updates and redefines brand understanding.
Read the Original Reddit Post
This article is adapted from our detailed case study shared on Reddit.
You can read the full community discussion and comments here:
Our startup’s branding looked fine to users, but AI saw it differently
