Branded Keywords: How to Separate, Measure and Grow Branded vs Non-Branded Search

Branded keywords are the most valuable and the most misunderstood part of a search report. When they are mixed with the rest of your traffic, a strong brand can hide a weak SEO program, and a brand campaign can look like an SEO win. Google itself now treats the split as important: in November 2025 it introduced a branded queries filter in Search Console. This guide explains the difference, how to measure each group, and what to do with the results. For the wider question of how known your brand is, read our guide to brand awareness.

What are branded keywords?

A branded query is any search that includes a name you own: the company, a product line, a flagship feature with a trademarked name, or the founder when the founder is the brand. It also covers misspellings, spacing variants and the domain typed into the search box. Typical patterns are:

• Navigational: "brand", "brand login", "brand.com". The user wants to reach you.
• Brand plus product or feature: "brand rank tracker", "brand API".
• Brand plus evaluation: "brand reviews", "brand pricing", "brand vs competitor", "brand alternatives". The user is close to a decision.
• Brand plus support: "brand cancel subscription", "brand refund", "brand not working". Often existing customers.

What is the difference between branded and non-branded keywords?

A non-branded query describes a problem, a category or a task without naming any company in particular, such as "how to track keyword rankings" or "best SEO software for small business". The two groups behave differently, so they deserve different targets.

Competitor brand names form a third group. Queries such as "competitor alternatives" are non-branded for you, yet they carry a high commercial intent and deserve dedicated, honest comparison pages.

Why do branded queries matter?

Branded queries are often a minority of searches but a large share of revenue. Three reasons explain their weight:

• Conversion: someone typing your name has already chosen to look at you. Pricing, demo and login queries sit at the very end of the buying journey.
• Reputation: the page of results for your name, including reviews, forums and news, is the first impression for many buyers. Negative results there cost sales you never see in a report.
• Share of demand: comparing your branded search volume with that of competitors over time gives a simple estimate of market attention. When marketing, PR or product launches work, branded searches rise.

Branded traffic also explains many puzzling reports. A site whose total clicks are stable may be losing non-branded visibility while brand growth hides the decline, or the reverse.

How do you separate branded keywords in Google Search Console?

Use the branded queries filter

On eligible properties, the Performance report now offers a filter that splits queries into branded and non-branded groups, and the Insights report shows a click breakdown between the two. The classification is automated, so it can miss some variants, like a product name that does not contain the brand. Check a sample of the classified queries before trusting the totals.

Build your own regex filter

A custom regular expression gives you full control and works on every property. In the Performance report, add a query filter, choose "Custom (regex)" and enter a pattern that matches your names and misspellings. Google documents the feature in its Performance report help page; the syntax is RE2.

1. List every brand term: company name, product names, domain, founder name if relevant, and frequent misspellings found in your query data.
2. Write the pattern, for example sorank|so rank|sorrank|sorank\.com. Matching ignores case by default.
3. Apply it with "Matches regex" to see branded queries, then with "Doesn't match regex" to see non-branded queries.
4. Compare clicks, impressions, CTR and average position for each group over the same period, and export both to your reporting tool.
5. Review the list every quarter, because new products and new misspellings appear.

Two limits to keep in mind: Search Console hides some rare queries for privacy reasons, so the two groups never add up exactly to the site total, and position averages for branded queries are naturally close to 1.

How do you grow branded search demand?

You cannot rank your way into branded demand: people must first hear about you. What grows it is everything that creates memory:

• Distinctive content: original data, tools, templates and opinions that people quote and come back to by name.
• Mentions on other sites: press, podcasts, partner pages, community discussions and niche articles that name you.
• Consistent naming: one spelling of your brand and product names everywhere, which also makes your data cleaner.
• Product-led loops: free tools, shareable reports and integrations that put your name in front of new users.
• Paid campaigns and events: they create awareness that later appears as branded searches, which is why branded volume is a good shared metric between teams.

How do you protect your branded search results?

Your brand SERP is what people see when they search your name. Own as much of it as you can:

• Make sure the home page, pricing, features and help pages are indexable and have clear titles, so Google can show them as sitelinks.
• Publish Organization structured data and keep the same name, logo and profiles across your site and official accounts.
• Collect reviews on the platforms buyers trust and answer them, including the negative ones.
• Publish honest comparison and "alternatives" pages, because buyers search them and will otherwise read a competitor's version.
• Decide whether to bid on your own brand in search ads. The Google Ads trademark policy does not restrict competitors from using your trademark as a keyword, although it can restrict its use in their ad text. Many brands defend their name with a small budget when competitors bid on it.

What about branded prompts in AI assistants?

Buyers now ask ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Perplexity questions such as "is Brand reliable?", "Brand vs Competitor" or "what does Brand cost?". These branded prompts are the AI version of branded keywords, with one difference: the assistant writes the answer itself, from the sources it finds or learned. Outdated pricing, a forum complaint or a competitor's comparison page can shape that answer.

1. List the ten to twenty branded questions your sales team hears most often.
2. Ask them in the main assistants and note what is wrong, missing or sourced from a third party.
3. Answer each question clearly on your own site, with a direct answer at the top of the relevant page.
4. Correct outdated facts on profiles and directories, then repeat the check every month.

Non-branded prompts matter just as much: "best tool for X" questions decide whether you are recommended to people who have never heard of you.

Conclusion

Branded keywords show how many people already look for you, and non-branded keywords show how well you reach everyone else. Split them in Search Console, track them as two separate metrics, grow branded demand through mentions and memorable content, and keep your brand results and AI answers accurate. To see what ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini say when people ask about your brand, and which competitors they recommend instead, use Sorank's AI mention tracking.