branded keyword
Also called: branded search, branded query, branded keywords
A branded keyword (or branded query) is a search that includes your brand name, a variation or misspelling of it, or a product or service unique to your brand (for example, "Gmail" for Google). Every search that does not reference your brand is a non-branded keyword.
Branded queries carry navigational intent: the searcher already knows you and is trying to reach you, so they click through and convert at higher rates than cold, non-branded searches. Non-branded keywords like running shoes pull in people who do not know you yet; branded ones like Nike Pegasus review pull people who already do.
The Search Console filter
In November 2025 Google added a native Branded / Non-branded toggle to the Search Console Performance report. Classification is not a regex match on your brand string. Google uses an internal, AI-assisted system that recognizes the brand across languages, typos, and even queries that name a unique product or service without naming the brand itself. Because it is model-driven rather than a literal string match, Google frames the split as informational and does not guarantee it is exact. The filter is limited to domain (top-level) properties with enough query and impression volume, and Google is explicit that it only segments reporting and has no effect on ranking.
Tracking the branded-to-non-branded ratio tells you two separate things. Branded volume measures demand you have already created through PR, product, and word of mouth. Non-branded volume measures how well SEO is capturing new, unaware searchers. Reading them as one number hides which lever is actually moving.
How it affects your traffic
Branded search is the cleanest read on whether your name is growing, but it is easy to misread: if you never split branded from non-branded, a spike in people searching your brand can mask flat or falling non-branded rankings, and you end up crediting SEO for demand that PR or paid actually built. An SEO consulting engagement sets up that split correctly (in Search Console, and in AI assistants like ChatGPT and AI Overviews where users increasingly ask for brands by name), then builds a plan to grow non-branded reach without losing the branded traffic you already own. That is the difference between reporting a number and moving it.
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