Google Search Central announced that Search Console’s branded queries filter is now available to all eligible sites, causing many SEOs to ask questions about it and Google’s John Mueller stepped in to answer them.
Google’s branded queries filter is a way to analyze branded search queries that are driving traffic from the search listings. Branded queries are particularly helpful because they help businesses understand what keywords users associate with their sites, information that helps site owners and SEOs better understand how users relate to the website.
Branded Queries
Branded queries are keyword phrases used on Google that include a website’s brand name, variations and misspellings, and branded products or services. The report is available in Search Console’s Performance Report where a filter can be used to select branded or non-branded queries.
Answers To Questions About Branded Query Filter
Search Central announced that the branded queries filter was available to all eligible sites so it’s fitting that the first question asked was about the criteria used to define what an eligible site was.
Mueller answered with a link to the official documentation and a quote from it:
“This filter isn’t available for sub-properties (for example, https://example.com/blog/) or for sites with a low number of impressions.”
Adding Queries To The Branded Query Filter
Someone asked if it will be possible to make adjustments or add queries to the filter because some of the queries they were tracking were not showing up.
Mueller answered:
“Not at the moment, well, unless you count building up a new recognized brand :). “
Although the person asking the question didn’t provide more details, it appears it might be that actual branded queries may not have been getting picked up by the brand filter. Being able to add or suggest queries that should be in the filter might be helpful.
Isha Mehendiratta asked two questions, including a related question about suggesting queries to track as branded.
Isha asked:
“At the moment it seems the branded classification is automatically determined by Google, but there is no way for site owners to add brand variants, common misspellings, or related branded terms.
Is there any plan to allow some level of custom brand query configuration in the future?”
Mueller answered that suggestions are not a current feature:
“At the moment, I’m not aware of plans to provide customization, but feedback in the tool is always welcome!”
The thing about that question is that Google’s documentation says that it will show misspelled brand names. So having a form to fill in with dozens of keyword variations probably won’t make them pop up in the brand filter.
The documentation explains:
“What is a branded query?
A branded query is a query that includes your brand name (for example, Google), variations or misspellings of the brand name (for example, Gogle), and brand-related products or services: (for example, Gmail).…Branded: Shows performance data for queries that include your brand name or closely associated products (for example, Gmail for google.com).”
So if misspellings aren’t showing it may be because nobody’s searching with those or perhaps Google’s autocorrecting them in search.
The second question that Isha asked was about the point in time the brand tracking tool began reporting.
Their second question:
“One quick observation from our side: across several properties it looks like the branded vs non-branded breakdown only starts appearing from around 21st February.
Does that mean the classification is not applied retrospectively, and historical data before that date cannot be segmented into branded vs non-branded queries?”
Mueller answered:
“Yes, there’s a point when the data starts being tracked, and you’ll see that in the report if you look far enough back. As a smaller site starts to grow, they might also start seeing this data at some point.”
What that may mean is that the report won’t show anything if there are no branded queries to report.
Pedro Miller asked:
“Is there a way to educate the AI to include certain terms as branded?”
Mueller answered no, not at this time.
Reasons Why Brand Building Is Important
Near the end of the discussion someone asked how it might affect keyword research, which is a good question.
Here are a few reasons why the branded query filter is useful.
1. Growth in branded queries indicates that users are increasingly associating a brand with a product or service. This is good because that’s an external signal that indicates satisfaction and could qualify as a vote similar to a link (Read: Google’s branded search patent).
2. Brand building is something that can happen with repeated consumer exposure of that brand in the context of the product or service. While some folks spin their wheels building links that might not work, it may be useful simply exposing the brand where the consumer is likely to encounter it. That can be through advertising, it can be through articles, it can be in industry podcasts or even product conferences. This is something that SEOs have long ignored but it has always been a part of my marketing approach.
3. Once the brand momentum is created it tends to self-reinforce through word of mouth and customer recommendations.
Why Splitting Brand from Non-Brand Performance Is Helpful
- Non-branded queries generally reflect keyword performance. An uptick or downturn in these queries is meaningful for diagnosing SEO-related issues, although shifts in brand marketing can influence the overall query mix.
- Branded queries can reflect awareness, familiarity, and customer satisfaction. Trends over time may correlate with brand strength or marketing effectiveness. In my opinion, when users include a brand name alongside a product or service, it can indicate a level of confidence or comfort with that company.
- Splitting these two types of queries prevents masking the above two reasons for search performance.
- Branded queries are useful for getting a feel for how successful non-link and pure marketing efforts are in search.
- Separating branded from unbranded queries aids in visualizing a clearer trend line (brand demand and organic competitiveness) which can be useful in forecasting future performance.
- A decline in the brand signal could be useful as an early warning that a competitor is improving their influence on potential clients and customers.
Featured Image by Shutterstock/DVKi
