Compare brand and generic keywords

Brand searches come from people who already know you. Generic searches come from people finding you for the first time. Both are organic traffic, but they say different things about your SEO: the first measures demand you already have, the second measures reach you earned.

Time: about 10 minutes · You need: Big Hero or above for the app report

Before you start

Keyword Hero detects brand keywords on its own. A brand keyword names your brand, not a brand you sell. If the classification is off, correct it first.

1. Open the comparison

In the app: open Brand vs. Generic in the menu.

The two charts at the top show brand and generic sessions, first as numbers, then as a share of the total.

In Google Analytics: open the Keyword Hero report and change the primary dimension to brand_classification for the totals, or set it as the secondary dimension next to keywords to see each keyword’s class.

2. Compare how the two behave

The table below the charts puts brand and generic side by side: average position, bounce rate, conversions and more.

Questions worth asking:

What share is brand? A high share means strong recognition, and possibly a dependence on it. Generic traffic is your reach to new visitors.
Do brand visitors convert better? They usually do. If they do not, the pages they land on may not be the ones they were looking for.
Do generic keywords convert at all? Which ones do is where to invest.

3. Check individual keywords

The keyword table at the bottom has a toggle to switch between brand and generic.

For brand keywords, check that they land where the searcher expects. Someone searching for a product by your brand name wants that product page, not the homepage. In Google Analytics, filter on one brand keyword and set landing_page as the secondary dimension to see where it lands.

Check it worked

You know your brand share, and which generic keywords are worth more content. Repeat monthly: a growing generic share means your SEO is reaching new people.