Branded searches include your business name. Non-branded searches are people looking for what you offer without knowing you yet. Growth in non-branded clicks is the clearest sign that SEO is bringing in new customers. Growth in branded clicks means more people already know you, usually thanks to ads, social, word of mouth or press.
Why split them at all?
Total search clicks mix two very different audiences. Someone searching "alpha beach club" already knows you and would probably find you anyway. Someone searching "beach club bali" is comparing options, and winning that click is what SEO is for.
If you only watch the total, a big month of brand searches after a campaign can hide that non-branded traffic is falling, or the other way round.
What each one tells you
| Search type | Example | What growth means | What a drop means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Branded | "alpha beach club", "alpha beach club menu" | Awareness is rising: ads, social and word of mouth are working | Fewer people know or remember you, or seasonality |
| Non-branded | "beach club bali", "daybed seminyak" | SEO is reaching new customers | Rankings slipped or competitors moved ahead |
How to split them in Search Console
- Open the Performance report in Google Search Console and choose your date range.
- Add a Query filter that contains your brand name. That's your branded traffic.
- Change the filter to "doesn't contain" for your non-branded traffic.
- Include common misspellings and short versions of your name, or some branded searches will be counted as non-branded.
What to do with it
- Non-branded clicks flat or falling: look at the non-branded terms just outside the top three. Better titles, clearer answers on the page and internal links from strong pages often move them up. If impressions are rising while clicks fall, read what Search Console is telling you.
- Branded clicks falling: check whether ads, social posting or PR slowed down. Brand search usually follows awareness work with a short lag.
- Branded clicks rising fast: good news, but make sure your own site ranks first for your name and that your Google Business Profile is up to date, so competitors' ads don't take those clicks.
A healthy pattern
Over months you want both lines rising, with non-branded growing as a share of the total. That means more people know you, and more people who don't yet know you are finding you.
Metrcs splits your Search Console clicks into branded and non-branded automatically, next to your top search terms, positions and countries, so you see the split every week without building filters.
Ardjuna founded Flow Digital, a marketing agency in Bali that runs ads, websites, email and content for its clients. He built Metrcs so the agency could see every client’s marketing on one page and spend less time on reports.
