Not all search terms are created equal. And when it comes to analyzing brand awareness, the most useful lens is to split your keywords into branded and non-branded buckets.
Google Curiosity Index
Before diving into branded vs. non-branded keyword analysis, it’s worth revisiting the Google Curiosity Index– a concept (and not an official term) we introduced in our breakdown of SEO ranking metrics. The Curiosity Index is our way of measuring brand awareness by tracking how often people search for your brand name over time. It’s the missing link between SEO performance and brand impact – and one of the few metrics that reveals how offline or non-SEO activities (like PR, events, and partnerships) actually affect your digital presence.
What Are Branded Keywords?
Branded keywords include:
- Your company name (e.g. GrowthRocks)
- Variations and misspellings (e.g. growrocks, growth rocks)
- Product names, service lines, or even campaigns if uniquely tied to your brand (e.g. Growth Hacking Canvas, GrowthRocks SEO course)
- Names of the founders and some variations around those (e.g. Theo Moulos, Theodore Moulos etc)
They represent high-intent users—people who already know you, have heard about you, or are being influenced by your marketing activities elsewhere (events, PR, social, referrals, etc.).
And Non-Branded Keywords?
These are generic, category-level search terms. Think:
- growth hacking agency
- SEO for startups
- content marketing tools
Non-branded keywords are where SEO battles are fought. They’re competitive, they capture demand in the early stages of the buyer journey, and they’re where your ranking strategy needs to shine.
Attribution: Who “Owns” Each?
Because attribution defines accountability. Different teams manage different parts of the funnel, and the impact of their efforts needs to be measured separately. The brand, PR, and communications teams are typically responsible for driving branded searches through awareness campaigns. Meanwhile, the SEO team is expected to drive net new traffic from non-branded, intent-based keywords.
Too often, SEO teams report branded keyword traffic as part of their wins—whether intentionally or by oversight. This creates a distorted picture of performance, making SEO efforts look stronger than they are and blurring the lines of what’s actually driving growth.
Here’s how attribution breaks down:
- Branded keywords: Usually attributed to brand, PR, content distribution, events, social, and even customer success. If people are searching for your name, something or someone made them curious enough to do so.
- Non-branded keywords: Attributed to SEO, content marketing, product marketing, and PPC search strategy. These users didn’t know you yet—they were searching for a solution. You just happened to show up.
Why Branded Keywords Matter (A Lot)
While non-branded keywords win you discovery, branded keywords tell you if your brand is gaining traction.
Tracking the volume and volatility of branded search over time gives you:
- A proxy for brand awareness
- A way to measure PR, event, and offline campaign impact
- A signal of how word-of-mouth or virality is playing out
That’s exactly what we capture with our Google Curiosity Index.
Branded keywords in Post-AI Era
How Important Are Branded Keywords in AI and LLMs?
Extremely important.
According to the study above, the top three factors that correlate most strongly with a brand’s presence in AI Overviews are:
- Branded web mentions (correlation: 0.664)
- Branded anchors (0.527)
- Branded search volume (0.392)
Compare that to more traditional SEO metrics like:
- Domain Rating (DR): 0.326
- Number of referring domains: 0.295
- Backlinks: 0.218
Clearly, brand signals outperform raw SEO signals when it comes to appearing in AI-generated summaries.
Why Is That?
Large Language Models (LLMs) like those behind Google’s AI Overviews, Perplexity, and ChatGPT:
- Heavily rely on entity recognition: They care about who is mentioned, not just what is ranked.
- Pull from multiple sources beyond your site: Think web mentions, citations, reviews, PR, and co-citations.
- Favor trustworthy, contextually popular entities: And branded search volume is a huge proxy for that.
Implications
- Brand building is no longer just a PR goal—it’s an AI visibility strategy.
- Invest in branded keyword growth just like you’d invest in link building or content.
- Monitor your branded keyword trends in Google Search Console.
- Track and increase branded mentions online—tools like Ahrefs Alerts, Brand24, and even GSC’s “Queries” tab can help.
AI Is a Popularity Contest
If LLMs behave like humans reading the internet, they gravitate toward familiar names with lots of consistent context around them.
Branded keywords are the language of that familiarity.
So, yes—branded keywords are a shortcut to becoming an “AI-cited” authority.
Not gaming the system. Just giving the algorithm what it’s trained to trus
The Domain Name Connection
There’s often a strong semantic tie between branded keywords and the domain name:
- Short, memorable, or unique domains = higher brand recall = more direct brand searches
- If your domain contains keywords (e.g. growthrocks.com), branded searches may blend with category terms
👉 Pro tip: Check your Google Search Console to see if people are typing your domain in the search bar instead of the URL bar. That’s brand interest masquerading as SEO traffic. You can also check AI visibility with an AI brand visibility tool to understand how often your brand surfaces in AI-driven answers.
How to Use This Data in Practice
- Create Two Keyword Buckets in GSC:
Use filters to segment branded vs. non-branded. - Track Curiosity Trends:
Visualize how branded queries evolve month over month. Overlay events, campaigns, and launches to spot correlations. - Attribution Insights:
Map branded query spikes back to PR efforts, social media bursts, or conference presence. - Optimize Funnel Strategy:
Branded = bottom of funnel. Non-branded = top/mid funnel. Don’t treat them the same. They are not!
One of the biggest challenges in monitoring branded vs. non-branded performance is that Google Search Console (GSC) doesn’t give you a native way to visualize them separately. That means you have to do the heavy lifting: export, filter, classify, and re-visualize the data manually.
To make this easier, we’ve created a custom Data Studio template that helps you track this monthly. You can find it in our Monthly SEO Monitoring Handbook, where we cover every activity an SEO team should stay on top of.
Even better, on os.growthrocks.com — our latest and greatest SEO intelligence tool — we’ve built this segmentation right into the platform. It automatically:
- Pulls your GSC data,
- Classifies branded vs. non-branded queries, and
- Delivers a clean, actionable dashboard where you can see traffic, click-through rates, and visibility trends per keyword type.
Now you don’t have to guess which team should get the credit — or how your brand is evolving in search. We’ve visualized it for you.
Something to leave you with
Your SEO strategy isn’t just about ranking higher—it’s about being remembered.
And when someone types your name into Google, that’s not SEO. That’s brand gravity.
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Theodore has 20 years of experience running successful and profitable software products. In his free time, he coaches and consults startups. His career includes managerial posts for companies in the UK and abroad, and he has significant skills in intrapreneurship and entrepreneurship.
