What Are Branded and Non-Branded Keywords?

Branded keywords include your business name, non-branded ones do not. Learn the difference, how to check each in Google, and which one your business needs first.

Eric Plotts/October 20, 2026

A branded keyword is any search that includes your business name, like “Smith Plumbing Novi.” A non-branded keyword is a search that does not, like “plumber near me” or “water heater leaking.” Branded searches come from people who already know you. Non-branded searches come from people who are looking for what you do and have not picked anyone yet.

That difference changes how you read your website numbers, how you spend on ads, and where you put your effort. Below, we explain it in plain words, show you how to see both kinds in your own account, and help you decide which one deserves your attention first.

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TL;DR

Branded keywords contain your business name or a close variation. Non-branded keywords describe a service, a product, or a problem, with no name in them.
Branded searches mostly show that people already know you. Non-branded searches are how strangers find you.
If you mix the two in one report, your results can look better than they are, because people searching your name were likely to find you anyway.
A brand new or little-known business usually has almost no branded searches, so non-branded search is where growth starts.
Google’s free Search Console tool can now split the two for you, though it is not perfect.

The difference in plain words

Imagine a dental office called Maple Street Dental in Royal Oak. This is a made-up example, but the pattern applies to any business.

These are branded searches:

Maple Street Dental
Maple Street Dental hours
Maple Street Dentel (a misspelling)
Maple Street Dental reviews

These are non-branded searches:

dentist in Royal Oak
emergency dentist open Saturday
how much does a crown cost
tooth hurts when I drink something cold

The first group is made of people who have heard of the office. Maybe a neighbor mentioned it, or they are a current patient looking for the phone number. The second group is made of people with a need who have not chosen a dentist yet. Each group is worth something, but for different reasons.

Search marketers use both phrases the same way. Semrush defines branded keywords as search terms that include your brand name or a variation of it, and non-branded keywords as general terms that do not mention it.

What counts as a branded search

Most owners think only of the exact business name. In practice, branded searches cover more ground. Google’s own announcement says a branded query includes your company, product, or service name, along with variations, misspellings, and specific offerings tied to your business.

A guide on separating brand from non-brand traffic gives a useful list of what falls on the branded side:

The exact name
The name plus a product or service
Common misspellings
The name plus a place, such as “near me”

For a small business, I would add a few more that people really type: your own name as the owner, the name of a signature service you invented, and the nickname customers use for your shop. If people say “the blue building on Grand River” and it ends up in a search, that is effectively a branded search too, even if no tool labels it that way.

Non-branded searches are everything else that leads to you. Search Engine Land describes branded searches as any query that includes a company or brand name, and anything outside that is, by definition, non-branded.

Why the two behave so differently

The reason is intent, meaning what the person wants to do when they type. There are four common kinds, as Semrush explains: learning something, finding a specific website, comparing options, and buying.

A branded search usually means the person is looking for you specifically, or is ready to act. They want your phone number, your address, your login page, or your pricing. Someone typing “Maple Street Dental hours” is about to call.

A non-branded search is earlier in the process. The person might be asking a question, comparing three offices, or just starting to realize they need help. You are not the answer in their mind yet. A good page on your site can make you the answer.

This is why branded searches tend to turn into customers more often. The person already trusts you enough to type your name. It also explains why branded searches cannot grow a business alone. They only come from people who have already found you some other way.

Which one matters more for your business

It depends on how well known you are.

If you are new or small: very few people search your name, so branded search will be tiny no matter what you do. Your growth will come from non-branded searches: the services you offer plus the towns you serve. That is where you meet customers who have never heard of you.

If you are established locally: you probably already get a steady trickle of branded searches from referrals, repeat customers, and people who saw your truck or sign. Those are worth protecting. Make sure your name brings up your own website, your Google Business Profile, and accurate hours and phone number. Branded traffic is also a quiet signal that word of mouth is working.

If you are running ads: both matter, but they should not be judged by the same yardstick. More on that below.

A simple way to think about it: non-branded search fills the top of the funnel with new people, and branded search is where those people (and your referrals) come back to finish the job.

How branded and non-branded searches support customer discovery and return

A quick gut check

Google your own business name in a private browser window. Then search for what you do plus your town. If you show up well for the first and nowhere for the second, you have a website that works for people who already know you and does very little for people who do not. For most small businesses, that gap is the biggest opportunity.

How to see your own branded and non-branded numbers

You do not need to buy anything to see this. Google Search Console is a free tool that shows which searches led people to your site and how often your pages appeared and were clicked.

In late 2025, Google added a branded queries filter to the Performance report. It sorts searches into branded and non-branded for you, so you no longer have to build the filter by hand.

A few honest limits, all from the same announcement:

The filter uses an automated system, so it can occasionally label a search wrongly. Treat it as a good guide to trends, not an exact count.
It is for your own analysis. It has no effect on where your pages show up in search.
It is only available for sites with enough search volume. A very small new site may not see it.

If the filter is not available to you, you can still do it by hand. In the Performance report, add a query filter that contains your business name and the common misspellings. Then flip the filter to exclude those words. Google’s help page on the Performance report explains how query filters work, and also notes that some queries are left out of the report to protect privacy, so your totals will not match your own counts exactly.

What to look for

Once you can see both groups, compare them month to month:

Branded clicks going up usually means more people know your name. That can come from referrals, a mailing, a sponsorship, or advertising.
Non-branded clicks going up means more people are finding you through general searches.
Total clicks going up while only branded rises means your site is not reaching new people, even though the overall line looks healthy.

That third case is the trap. Everything looks fine in a single chart, but you are mostly counting people who were already coming to you.

Why you should not blend them in one report

Experts at one ad management firm warn against combining the two in your main reporting. Branded traffic tends to make results look stronger than they are, and it hides how well you are reaching brand new customers.

Here is a simple example with made-up numbers. Say your website gets 100 contact form submissions in a month. If 80 came from people searching your name, only 20 came from strangers. Your “marketing” may be doing far less than the total suggests, and the 80 may have been driven by a happy customer telling a friend.

The reverse also happens. If your total looks flat, but branded searches dropped because of a seasonal lull while non-branded rose, you would miss real progress.

Keep two lines in your report and read them separately.

Keeping them apart in Google Ads

If you pay for Google Ads, the split becomes a money matter. These are the ads that appear at the top of search results, and you pay when someone clicks.

People searching your own name are likely to click your result anyway. Ad managers generally build a small separate campaign for brand terms, and a separate one for general terms. The reason is simple: the two cost different amounts, convert at different rates, and answer different questions.

According to Perfoads, brand traffic can leak into your general campaigns if you do not actively block your own name and its variations. That leak makes the general campaign look better than it is. The fix is a negative keyword list, which is a list of words that tell Google not to show that campaign for those searches. Put your business name and common misspellings on it, and apply it to every general campaign.

The same source suggests measuring the two differently:

Brand campaign: how often your ad shows when someone searches your name (called impression share), and whether your name is protected from other advertisers.
General campaign: what it costs you to win one new customer, and how many new customers it brings in.

There is a real debate about whether small businesses should pay for ads on their own name at all. Search Engine Journal notes that there are different schools of thought and suggests testing it. If nobody else bids on your name and your listing already sits first, you may not need to. If a competitor does bid on it, you may.

If you are weighing ads for the first time, our write-ups on what a small business Google Ads test looks like and how much to budget are a good next read.

The local angle: your name, your town, and the map

For a business that serves one area, many of your most valuable searches mix a service with a place: “roofer in Oakland County,” “accountant Northville.” Those are non-branded, and they are also where the Google Maps results show up.

Your Google Business Profile matters on both sides. When someone searches your name, it is the box that shows your hours and phone number. When someone searches a general local term, it is how you appear in the map results without anyone knowing your name.

If you run a service business like a locksmith, plumber, or HVAC company, this guide on managing local search for a service business shows how one owner thinks about protecting the name while still reaching people who have never heard of the company. The trade is different from yours, but the ideas carry over.

To find the general phrases your own customers type, start with how to find the keywords your local customers search for.

Our perspective

We see the same mix-up again and again with small business owners. They search their own name, see their website at the top, and conclude that their search engine optimization (SEO, the work of helping your site show up when people search) is working. It is a nice feeling, but it is not evidence. Of course you show up when someone types your name.

Our perspective — overview diagram

The real test is the other search: the one where a stranger types what you do and where you do it. That is the work we spend most of our time on for small businesses in Metro Detroit and Oakland County. We think the honest way to run any marketing is to keep the two kinds of traffic separate in the report, so you can tell whether more people know you or more people are finding you.

We also think owners should hear plainly what we do and do not control. We can build a site that is fast, clear, and set up properly so search engines understand it. We can help you write the pages that match what your customers type. We cannot tell you what rankings or traffic you will get, and you should be wary of anyone who does.

— Eric

Where we can help

If your site is not yet set up to be found by people who do not know your name, it usually starts with the website itself. We are Blue Lake Web Design in Novi, Michigan, owner operated by Eric Plotts since 2011. Our three-page website is $899 and our eight-page website is $1,999. Anything larger gets a fixed quote, so you know the cost before we start. We build with search in mind from the first day, rather than adding it afterward, and there are no contracts.

If you already have a site and want help being found for general searches in your area, our search engine optimization services and local SEO and Google Maps work are built for that. You can also call us at (248) 800-1855, or start from our home page.

A simple checklist you can do this week

Search your name in a private window. Check that your website, Google Business Profile, and any social pages come up and that the hours and phone number are right.
Try the misspellings. Type two or three ways people might get your name wrong. If nothing useful appears, consider whether your site mentions common spellings.
Search what you do plus your town. Note who shows up. Look at the pages that appear, and ask whether you have a page that clearly covers that service and place.
Open Search Console. If you do not have it, ask whoever built your site to set it up. It is free.
Split the numbers. Use the branded filter if you have it, or filter by your name by hand. Write down both totals.
Check your ads. If you run Google Ads, ask whoever manages them whether your business name is blocked on the general campaigns, and how brand and general results are reported.
Repeat monthly. Compare the two lines over time instead of reacting to one month.

If you find that almost all your search visits are branded, that is not a failure. It means your reputation is doing the work, and the next step is making it easy for new people to find you too.

Frequently asked questions

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

A branded keyword is a search that includes your business name or a variation of it, such as a misspelling. A non-branded keyword is a general search about a service, product, or problem that does not include your name. Branded searches come mostly from people who already know you, and non-branded searches come from people still choosing.

Is my business name plus a city a branded keyword?

Yes. If the search includes your business name, adding a town, “reviews,” or “phone number” still makes it branded. If the search is just a service and a town, like “electrician in Troy,” it is non-branded.

Should I pay for ads on my own business name?

Not always. If no one else is bidding on your name and your free listing already appears first, it may not be worth the cost. If another business advertises on your name, or your result is easily pushed down, it may be. Ask your ad manager to test it and report brand results separately from general ones, as Search Engine Journal suggests.

Can I see branded versus non-branded searches for free?

Yes. Google Search Console is free, and it now has a branded queries filter in the Performance report. It does not appear for every site, because it needs enough search volume, and it can mislabel a few searches. You can also filter by your name by hand.

Which should a new business focus on first?

Non-branded. Almost nobody searches the name of a business they have never heard of, so your first customers from search will come from people typing what you do and where. Branded search grows later, as more people learn who you are.