You stopped offering a service, but enquiries keep arriving

Find out why the enquiry is still arriving

Before attributing every request to an AI recommendation, ask which content the person saw and what they understood they could buy. An enquiry may originate from an old page, a forwarded brochure or a human recommendation. Preserve that context without turning it into a statistic representing the whole journey. Each origin has a different owner and potential correction.

Imagine a company no longer accepting new subscriptions to a platform while continuing to support current customers. A page saying only “discontinued service” may make an existing customer think support has ended. Retaining a purchase button may tell a new buyer the opposite. The issue requires separating continued use, support and new sales. It cannot be solved by changing one word or removing the whole archive at once.

Publish the status at an appropriate level of detail

A useful explanation says whether new customers can contract the service, what happens to existing customers and where to confirm applicable conditions. It need not promise automatic migration or describe individual agreements. If an alternative exists, explain the need it addresses and what must be assessed before calling it equivalent. Two services can share a category without sharing scope.

Review downloads too. A catalogue can keep circulating beyond the website after the main page changes. Where the team controls publication, identify the version and offer a current point of reference. If a third party owns the document, prepare a specific update request. Explain the change rather than asking to delete a historical reference that remains correct in context.

• Current availability for new contracts.
• A channel for customers with an existing relationship.
• An available alternative, when one genuinely exists.
• Review date and who can confirm the conditions.

Do not send everyone to a generic page

The URL decision depends on what visitors need. Google describes redirects as taking an existing URL to another destination, for example when pages are merged or content is removed. From a business perspective, first ask whether that destination genuinely answers the visit’s original intention. A home page does not always replace an explanation of a retired service.

Ask the site owner to assess the technical option after agreeing the commercial message. A clear transition may help when there is an appropriate replacement. If there is not, retaining an explanation of the status may guide customers and buyers better than a silent diversion. Do not present the technical decision as a guarantee that assistants will stop mentioning the earlier offer or that a search result will be preserved.

Review the error that actually changes a decision

In AI Visibility monitoring, separate historical mentions from current buying recommendations. An answer explaining that a company offered a service in the past may be correct. An invitation to purchase it today without the necessary conditions is a different finding. Review the full statement, question context and displayed sources before concluding that information remains wrong.

Wiwo.MetriQ can support reviewing answers and references within the queries analysed. This complements commercial enquiries without replacing them or representing all demand. The work is more useful when each person has a coherent route: someone wanting to buy, someone needing support and someone researching the company’s history. A retired offer should neither keep selling by accident nor disappear in a way that leaves existing users without direction.