Search Console adds a branded vs non-branded query filter

Search Console’s Performance report has always returned one number for a query set that is really two different stories: people who already knew the brand and typed it, and people who found the page with no brand intent at all. Google’s new branded queries filter, announced Thursday, 20 November 2025 and now live for all eligible sites as of 11 March 2026, splits that number in the report itself.

How the filter works#

The filter sits inside the Search results Performance report and offers two views. Branded shows performance for queries that include the site’s brand name or closely associated products, Google’s own example is Gmail for google.com. Non-branded shows everything else. Applying it limits impressions, clicks, average position and CTR to the selected group, and it works across all four search types the report covers: web, image, video and news. Google also added a card to the Insights report that shows the click split between branded and non-branded traffic directly, without requiring the filter to be applied by hand.

How branded queries are identified#

Google is explicit that this is not the regex or keyword matching already available under “Filter by query.” The classification comes from what Google calls “an internal, AI-assisted system.” It covers the brand name in every language the site is queried in, common misspellings, and queries that never mention the brand name but clearly refer to a unique product or service the site owns.

Google also states a limitation directly: “Due to the dynamic and contextual nature of brand classification, some queries may occasionally be misidentified.” The post adds that the filter changes nothing about ranking, it is a reporting segmentation only. Rollout has two eligibility conditions worth checking before assuming the filter is broken: it works only on top level properties, not URL path or subdomain properties, and only on sites with enough query and impression volume for Google’s signals to classify with confidence.

Why we care#

Blended Performance numbers reward brand awareness and SEO work with the same line on the same chart, and the two do not move for the same reasons. Branded query volume tracks marketing spend, press coverage and word of mouth, a site can see clicks and impressions climb for months without a single ranking improving for a query a stranger would actually type. Non-branded volume is the number that answers whether the site is winning new searchers rather than reconfirming people who already knew where to look. Splitting the two in the report where the numbers already live, using Google’s own signals rather than a hand-built keyword list, makes it possible to credit organic work correctly instead of averaging it into a brand-recognition trend line.