Thursday, November 20, 2025
Following the Query groups launch last month, we're happy to announce we're providing an additional tool to analyze the performance of your website by query type in the Search Console Performance Report: the branded queries filter. This new feature is designed to help analyze the queries driving traffic to your site by automatically differentiating between branded and non-branded queries.
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).
Differentiating between traffic from people who are already familiar with your brand and people who aren't is not always straightforward. Focusing on branded queries and non-branded queries separately can help you better understand traffic patterns. Branded queries typically lead to higher-ranking pages from your site and result in higher click-through rates, whereas non-branded queries offer organic growth, as they show how new users find your content without any initial intent to go to your site.
How does the branded queries filter work?
The new filter is accessible within the Search results Performance report and lets you segment your query data into two distinct views:
- Branded: Shows performance data for queries that include your brand name or closely associated products (for example, Gmail for google.com).
- Non-branded: Shows performance data for all other queries.
You can apply this filter across all search types (web, image, video, and news) in the search results performance report. When applied, you will be able to see metrics—such as impressions, clicks, average position, and CTR—limited specifically to the selected group.
Additionally, we have added a new card to the Insights report that shows the breakdown of total clicks for branded versus non-branded traffic, helping you measure brand recognition and compare the volume of traffic from people already familiar with your brand to the volume of traffic from those who didn't explicitly intend to visit your site.
How are branded queries identified?
The classification of branded versus non-branded is NOT based on a regular expression method of including or excluding keywords, which is already available in the "Filter by query" section. It is determined by an internal, AI-assisted system. It includes your website brand name in all languages, typos, and also queries that don't include the brand name but refer to a unique product or service of the site.
Due to the dynamic and contextual nature of brand classification, some queries may occasionally be misidentified. This filter is designed to make it easier for you to segment and analyze your data within Search Console; it has no effect on how Google Search ranking works.
Rollout and availability
The branded queries filter will be rolling out gradually over the coming weeks. If you cannot see this option in your reports, it might be due to one of the following reasons:
- This is only available for top level properties (and not for URL path properties such as
https://example.com/pathor subdomain properties such asdevelopers.google.com). - This is only available for sites with a sufficient volume of queries and impressions for our signals.
We encourage you to dive into the Performance report, explore this new segmentation, and gain a clearer view on your site's performance. Since this is a new kind of analysis in Search Console, your feedback is extremely welcome. You can provide feedback through the thumbs up and thumbs down available in the cards and, if needed, using the Submit feedback link. You can share your comments on LinkedIn or post in the Google Search Central Community.