Google Analytics Now Separates Brand And Non-Brand PPC Traffic

Brand and non-brand paid search terms typically perform very differently and most paid search teams analyze these sets of keywords separately. To make this task easier, Google has added a handy feature to Analytics that automatically segments brand and non-brand, or generic, paid search terms into distinct channels. No more building custom segments or filter strings.

Analytics makes assumptions about which keywords are brand terms based on factors such as click-through rate, text string and domain name and buckets them in the Brand Paid Search channel. Non-brand terms are grouped under the Generic Paid Search Channel.

Straightforward Set Up

A new Manage Brand Terms is under Channel Settings within the Admin tab is available for managing the list of keywords included in the Brand Paid Search Channel.

Advertisers can review the terms that Google identifies as brand and accept or decline each of them as well as add other brand terms that aren’t already included, such as mispellings.

Advertisers with enough traffic may already see the channels set up. If they aren’t already activated, go through the Manage Brand Terms process and you’ll be prompted to have the two channels created.

It can take up to 48 hours for the changes to take effect in your reports. The two channels are available within Multi-Channel Funnels and the main Channel section under the Acquisition menu.

Keep in mind, these channels apply to all paid search, so Bing Ads and any other traffic source tagged as “cpc” will be included.