Separate Branded and Non-Branded SaaS Blog Queries

Select the blog pages before splitting queries

Open the Search results Performance report for a property that includes your blog. Choose a completed date range and a Search type, such as Web, and keep both fixed throughout the comparison. The report lets you change its date range and Search type; it also shows clicks and impressions, the two numbers worth recording for each query group.

Add a Pages filter for URLs containing /blog/, or filter to one article URL if you want to understand a single post. Check the resulting Pages tab: if your site also puts non-article pages under that path, a broad path match will include them. Search Console supports page and query filters together, so leave the page filter in place when you change the query filter. If your blog lives on a separate subdomain, select a property that includes it.

Compare the two query groups

With the blog-page filter still active, open the Query filter and select Branded. Record its clicks and impressions, then switch to Non-branded and record the same metrics for the same period. Google’s branded definition includes a brand name, domain, or brand-specific product or service, including variations and common misspellings. The filter has data starting March 11, 2025; it is unavailable for sub-properties such as a /blog/ URL-prefix property and for sites with a low number of impressions. If you only have a blog sub-property, use a property covering the wider site if you have access, and narrow it with a Pages filter.

Here is a hypothetical readout for a fictional product, AcmeFlow, after filtering to its blog. Suppose Branded shows 120 impressions and 18 clicks, while Non-branded shows 400 impressions and 12 clicks. A query such as “AcmeFlow onboarding” suggests the searcher already knows the product; “customer onboarding checklist” could introduce someone looking for an answer rather than a particular vendor. The resulting action is to inspect which blog posts earn the non-branded impressions and whether those posts answer the problem query well. Neither group proves how many visitors were new to your company.

When the branded option is missing, define your own pattern

Keep the blog Pages filter and use Query → Custom (regex) instead. For fictional AcmeFlow, a starting pattern is (acmeflow|acme flow|acme-flow). Record clicks and impressions with Matches regex, then change only that setting to Doesn’t match regex and record the other group. Search Console supports regex alternatives and both matching and excluding a pattern; its default regex match can occur anywhere in a query and is case-insensitive.

Tailor the pattern to real brand spellings you find in your Queries tab. The example will catch “AcmeFlow onboarding” but not a search containing only the name of a separately named AcmeFlow product; add that product name if you intend to count it as branded. Conversely, a generic word used in your brand pattern could match unrelated searches. Name your results “matches our brand pattern” and “does not match our brand pattern,” not “Google-branded” and “Google-non-branded.”

Read the split as a signal, not a complete census

Inspect a few queries in each group before deciding what the split means. Google warns that its branded classifications can be wrong. Search Console also omits anonymized queries from query rows; applying a query filter removes them from chart totals, and the displayed query rows can be truncated. That means the filtered figures in the hypothetical example should not be presented as a complete accounting of every blog search impression, or assumed to add up to an unfiltered total.

Use this split to choose a question to investigate, not to label individual searchers. If non-branded impressions cluster around a problem your product solves, inspect the relevant article’s queries before changing the post. For the separate task of diagnosing an article that gets impressions but few clicks, use Why Your SaaS Blog Gets Impressions but No Clicks.

Ranks’ connected Search Console overview can surface clicks, impressions, average position, and top queries by clicks. Use it to notice a performance change or a query worth investigating; make the blog-page and branded-query selections in Search Console, where the detailed filters live.