Glossary

Branded Search

Branded search occurs when people search for a business, product, or brand by name. Track it separately from non-branded search because it often reflects awareness created by referrals, advertising, offline exposure, and recommendations from AI or other sources.

Measure branded search separately from non-branded search so each trend remains visible. Review the results for the business name and keep the website, profile, reviews, social accounts, and directory information current. Competitor ads or outdated profiles can divert people who already intended to find the business.

In Search Console, filter queries containing the business name and common misspellings, then report branded and non-branded search separately. If non-branded traffic stays flat while branded traffic rises, offline, referral, paid, or other awareness activity may be contributing. If branded traffic rises without conversions, inspect the results page and landing experience for problems.

Branded search is also how AI-era attribution often shows up — someone hears a name from an assistant, then Googles it. The assistant did the work; the last click gets the credit.

Branded volume can serve as an indirect measure of channels that do not send referral data. A business cannot see how many people asked ChatGPT for a roofer, but it can track searches for its name and ask new customers where they heard it. Neither proves that AI caused the change. Review both over several quarters and account for other campaigns.

Include common misspellings, abbreviations, practitioner names, and legacy names in the branded query filter. Document the rules so reports remain comparable over time.

Claim the business profile, make the homepage clear about the business identity, keep review platforms current, and check whether competitors bid on the name. Repeat the review periodically because search results and advertising can change.

Related terms
  • Share of Voice (AI) Share of voice in AI answers is the portion of sampled recommendation answers that mention a business.
  • Marketing Attribution Marketing attribution connects a customer to the search, page, call, or other interaction that contributed to the sale.
  • SERP SERP stands for search engine results page — everything a search returns: ads, AI Overviews, local packs, organic listings, snippets, and question boxes.

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