What is Brand vs non-brand report and how to use it
The Brand vs Non-Brand report in SEOTesting will give you an overview of your site's performance in Google search results from a Brand and Non-Brand query perspective.
The data for this report is pulled from Google Search Console.
The Brand vs Non-Brand report has a textbox where you can enter your brand keywords.
In this report, you must use a Regex format for your brand keywords.
For example, you might enter the following brand keywords if you worked for AutoTrader: auto|trade
The report will then complete two Search Console data requests.
One request with a REGEX “including” filter to get the data for your brand keywords and one request with a REGEX “excluding” filter, which will fetch all of your non-brand data.
Once SEOTesting has completed the two Search Console data requests, 4 graphs will be plotted within your report.
Clicks
Impressions
CTR
Average Position
On each graph, it will plot the data points for brand and non-brand.
Your brand metrics will be displayed as a blue line on all your graphs, and your non-brand metrics will be shown as a purple line.
This report comes with the functionality of other SEOTesting reports, including the ability to see your graphs over different periods:
1 Month
3 Months
6 Months
Year to Date
All Data
You will also be able to see your graphs in a daily, weekly, or monthly view. The weekly and monthly views make it much easier to spot trends in the data.
This report will be most useful for 2 groups:
PR and Digital agencies.
In-house SEOs.
These 2 groups can use a report like this to measure the impact of the work done or to spot when brand traffic is dropping.
For PR and Digital agencies, the Brand vs Non-Brand report will show the impact of their work in growing brand awareness and brand-related traffic.
However, for Agencies that aren't conducting brand awareness campaigns, this report can also help see when a client's brand traffic is dropping, and the Agency can pitch PR work to fix this.
For in-house SEOs, the Brand vs Non-Brand report is good for keeping track of your PR agency's work and measuring their impact on both brand awareness and traffic.
In-house SEO could also use this report to decide to invest in more PR work if the brand traffic is dropping. Especially, as brand-based traffic is often a leading indicator for future sales or conversions.
Also, if you see brand traffic dropping, a competitor may be placing Google Ads on your brand terms, and this report will help you notice this situation sooner rather than later.
The Brand vs Non-Brand report to check the impact of an algorithm update. Whether traffic has gone up or down due to an algorithm update, the Brand vs Non-Brand report will indicate which type of traffic has been most affected.
Unfortunately, Google Search Console data is always sampled when you add a query filter.
Google says in some of its documentation: "To protect user privacy, queries that are made infrequently or that contain sensitive or personal information are grouped together as (other)."
For this reason, the brand vs non-brand report will not show the total click data for the site.
We should look at the data on this report from a trend perspective over time, as this will show how brand and non-brand data is performing when compared to each other.
The data for this report is pulled from Google Search Console.
How the Report Works
The Brand vs Non-Brand report has a textbox where you can enter your brand keywords.
In this report, you must use a Regex format for your brand keywords.
For example, you might enter the following brand keywords if you worked for AutoTrader: auto|trade
The report will then complete two Search Console data requests.
One request with a REGEX “including” filter to get the data for your brand keywords and one request with a REGEX “excluding” filter, which will fetch all of your non-brand data.
Once SEOTesting has completed the two Search Console data requests, 4 graphs will be plotted within your report.
Clicks
Impressions
CTR
Average Position
On each graph, it will plot the data points for brand and non-brand.
Your brand metrics will be displayed as a blue line on all your graphs, and your non-brand metrics will be shown as a purple line.
This report comes with the functionality of other SEOTesting reports, including the ability to see your graphs over different periods:
1 Month
3 Months
6 Months
Year to Date
All Data
You will also be able to see your graphs in a daily, weekly, or monthly view. The weekly and monthly views make it much easier to spot trends in the data.
How is Brand vs non-brand report useful?
1. Analyse the impact of PR campaigns
This report will be most useful for 2 groups:
PR and Digital agencies.
In-house SEOs.
These 2 groups can use a report like this to measure the impact of the work done or to spot when brand traffic is dropping.
For PR and Digital agencies, the Brand vs Non-Brand report will show the impact of their work in growing brand awareness and brand-related traffic.
However, for Agencies that aren't conducting brand awareness campaigns, this report can also help see when a client's brand traffic is dropping, and the Agency can pitch PR work to fix this.
For in-house SEOs, the Brand vs Non-Brand report is good for keeping track of your PR agency's work and measuring their impact on both brand awareness and traffic.
In-house SEO could also use this report to decide to invest in more PR work if the brand traffic is dropping. Especially, as brand-based traffic is often a leading indicator for future sales or conversions.
Also, if you see brand traffic dropping, a competitor may be placing Google Ads on your brand terms, and this report will help you notice this situation sooner rather than later.
2. Analysing the Impact of Google Algorithm Updates
The Brand vs Non-Brand report to check the impact of an algorithm update. Whether traffic has gone up or down due to an algorithm update, the Brand vs Non-Brand report will indicate which type of traffic has been most affected.
FAQs
Are website clicks wrong on Brand vs non-Brand report?
Unfortunately, Google Search Console data is always sampled when you add a query filter.
Google says in some of its documentation: "To protect user privacy, queries that are made infrequently or that contain sensitive or personal information are grouped together as (other)."
For this reason, the brand vs non-brand report will not show the total click data for the site.
We should look at the data on this report from a trend perspective over time, as this will show how brand and non-brand data is performing when compared to each other.
Updated on: 16/10/2024
Thank you!