Operator glossary
Branded vs. non-branded search
The split between shoppers typing your brand name and shoppers typing the category — one measures brand equity compounding, the other measures new demand capture, and mixing them flatters every report.
Branded queries (your brand, your product names) convert at multiples of category terms and cost pennies to defend — they are demand you already created, arriving to be collected. Non-branded queries are the acquisition frontier where rank is fought and CPCs are real. Blended metrics hide the ratio: an account can show gorgeous ACoS purely by harvesting its own brand.
Split everything: branded campaigns separated from non-branded, SQP filtered both ways, growth judged on non-branded share. The strategic read: branded search volume trending up (see it in SQP and SFR) is brand equity compounding — the output of upper-funnel work; non-branded win-rate is what growth actually costs.
The numbers
- Split campaigns and reporting: branded defense (cheap, high-converting) vs. non-branded acquisition (the real fight).
- Blended ACoS flatters brand-harvesting; judge growth on non-branded performance and branded-volume trend.
Related terms