Branded vs. Non-Branded Traffic: The Complete 2025 Research Guide

Bottom Line Up Front: Most websites get up to 95% of their traffic from branded searches, but this creates a misleading picture when measuring SEO success. The sweet spot? Focus 70-80% of your SEO efforts on non-branded keywords while protecting your branded territory. Here’s why this matters and what top SEO experts are saying about it.

The Great Traffic Deception: Why Your Analytics Are Lying to You

Let me start with a story that’ll sound familiar.

You open Google Search Console, see those beautiful traffic numbers climbing month after month, and think your SEO strategy is crushing it. But here’s the plot twist: branded clicks are almost always the primary driver of traffic to the website.

In some cases, brands are probably getting 95% of their traffic specifically from branded traffic. That’s like celebrating a home run when you were just thrown an easy pitch.

SEO consultant Taylor Scher aptly states:

This isn’t an issue, but it can be misleading if you primarily use keyword clicks to measure SEO performance.

What Industry Experts Are Actually Saying About Branded vs. Non-Branded Traffic

The “Ignore Branded Traffic” Camp

The Traditional SEO Thinking:

Many SEO professionals have been trained to dismiss branded traffic entirely. Why? Because it’s supposedly “easy to rank for” and doesn’t show the “real” value of your SEO work.

When building an SEO content strategy, you need to decide whether to focus on branded or non-branded keywords. In my opinion, it’s best to focus primarily on increasing organic traffic from non-branded keywords, says Tuff Growth.

Their reasoning is solid:

• You want to get your content and website in front of new customers, and there are better ways to increase branded traffic, specifically PR, organic social media marketing, and paid media
• Non-branded traffic represents actual SEO skill and content quality
• It’s harder to achieve, so it’s a better benchmark

The “Branded Traffic Matters More Than You Think” Camp

But here’s where it gets intriguing. A growing number of experts are pushing back against this conventional wisdom.

The Modern Reality Check:

Branded SEO remains a largely untapped SEO opportunity. It’s untapped because, as SEOs, we’re trained to ignore branded traffic. However, by ignoring branded search, you are potentially missing some big opportunities to move your business forward.

Search Engine Journal’s analysis reveals something fascinating: users don’t just use search engines to discover information and products. They also use search engines to discover brands.

The Data-Driven Perspective

Here’s what the numbers actually show:

Branded Traffic Performance:

• Traffic from branded keywords tends to be more transactional. The user is usually closer to the bottom of the funnel and looking to make a specific purchase
• Branded traffic is often the most profitable and highest-performing traffic you can get to your website
• When people actively seek out your company, they’re ready to inquire further about products and services or make a purchase

Non-Branded Traffic Performance:

• Traffic from non-branded keywords tends to be more informational. The user is still doing research into various types of products and services
• Most sites drive far more traffic from non-brand keywords than branded keywords
• Higher competition but greater discovery potential

The Real Industry Benchmarks: What “Good” Actually Looks Like

After analyzing data from multiple industry sources, here’s what the experts are seeing:

The Lululemon Case Study

Taking a look at lululemon.com in the Research Grid shows that the Lululemon website relies on branded traffic: More than 50% of their online traffic results from keywords that include their brand.

But here’s the kicker: such a ratio isn’t necessarily bad. Lululemon has built such a strong brand that people specifically seek them out.

Industry-Specific Ratios

According to 2024 industry benchmarks:

• On average, organic search produces 33% of overall website traffic for these seven key industries
• 44.19% of all Google searches in the U.S. are for branded terms

The Shopping Industry Breakdown: From a 2019 benchmark report analyzing 750+ European retail accounts:

• Sporting Goods advertisers have a huge 55.6% cost share of branded traffic—the only industry to have a majority of costs triggered by brand terms on average
• Even the lowest-ranking cost share—observed in the Generalist category—is still affecting nearly 16% of the budget

Expert Opinions: The Great Debate Continues

1. Rand Fishkin’s “Build Your Brand First” Philosophy

”For most small and medium businesses and newer creators/publishers, SEO is likely to show poor results until you’ve established credibility, navigational demand, and a strong reputation among a sizable audience.”

Fishkin’s 2024 perspective is clear: in other words, if you want to build organic traffic, build your brand.

His current strategy reflects this belief:

• “Think of digital channels, especially new search and social networks like ChatGPT, Perplexity, TikTok, Reddit, YouTube, and others, as billboards or TV. Your job is to get people’s attention, get them involved, and do something that will stick in their minds so they remember your brand the next time they have the problem you solve.”
• “And that will definitely help SEO, too, because all that latent awareness and engagement will lead to branded Google searches.”

Fishkin’s Bold Prediction for 2025: “Zero-click organic search is a branding opportunity.” He argues that even if users don’t click, brand exposure in search results has measurable value that companies already pay for through other channels.

2. Neil Patel’s “Search Everywhere Optimization” Approach

Neil Patel has evolved his thinking dramatically for 2025, coining a new term that reframes the entire debate:

“SEO is no longer search engine optimization; it should be called search everywhere optimization.”

His Data-Driven Insights:

• In the case of “Neil Patel,” we see six results out of the top 10 results are branded. This means I own 60% of the branded search traffic share for the keyword “Neil Patel.”
• Brand keywords help you capture demand from users already aware of your company, while non-brand keywords help expand your reach to new audiences. Both play a crucial role in SEO and PPC, and finding the right balance can maximize visibility, reduce costs, and drive conversions.

Patel’s Strategic Recommendation: Focus on the customer journey stages. If a consumer is shopping for a digital marketing tool, they may begin by searching something like “digital marketing tool” or “SEO tool.” They’re in the research phase of the journey. As they do more research and understand the tools better, they will start to get more specific in their search terms.

3. Lily Ray’s “Brand Authority in the AI Era” Framework

Lily Ray, named the #1 most influential SEO professional by USA Today in 2022, offers a sophisticated view on how branded traffic works in the age of AI:

“Maybe the new gold standard, especially for SEO, is doing branded queries. To make your brand so recognizable in relation to the topics, services, or products you offer that users begin to search with your brand attached to their query.”

Her E-A-T-Driven Approach: “In my honest and controversial opinion, any SEO who hasn’t jumped onto the E-A-T wave is not paying close enough attention to what Google has been up to in recent years.”

Ray’s Vision for Brand Building: “It’s not always about writing 20 articles a month about taxes—it’s not about that. It’s; write one good article about taxes with all the best experts on your staff. That’s going to do a lot better.”

She emphasizes that “the more you are experts and the more people at your company are investing in their own personal brands, it builds up your brand’ reputation.”

4. Brian Dean’s “Content Authority” Method (Backlinko Analysis)

While Brian Dean hasn’t published specific branded vs. non-branded ratios, his documented approach provides valuable insights:

The Backlinko Traffic Reality: The top keywords that generate the most organic traffic for Backlinko are its branded keywords (e.g., “backlinko,” “brian dean,” etc.)

Yet his strategy focuses on non-branded authority building:

• build a great site, target content around keywords, do email outreach to build links back to the site
• Creating comprehensive, actionable content that naturally drives branded searches
• “I think you can completely transform your rankings, your business, and wanting to be perceived as an expert [with one post].”

Dean’s Practical Success Formula: His most popular post about Google ranking criteria used to have an email conversion rate of 0.4%. After this content upgrade, it went to 5.5%. This experiment shows how quality non-branded content drives branded awareness and conversions.

5. The Barry Schwartz “Technical Reality” Perspective

Barry Schwartz, founder of Search Engine Roundtable and one of the most respected voices in SEO, brings a technical publisher’s perspective to the discussion.

As someone who has written 36,861 articles about search engine optimization, his approach focuses on:

• Consistent, high-quality content production
• Technical SEO excellence
• Building domain authority through expertise

His site exemplifies how technical expertise and consistent publishing can drive both branded recognition and non-branded traffic in competitive spaces.

The Measurement-First Approach

Branded traffic is heavily affected by other advertising activities in a way that non-branded traffic typically isn’t, notes SEOmonitor’s analysis.

This creates three key insights:

1. Accurate Performance Measurement: Separating these metrics ensures you report growth from your own SEO efforts—not external factors like TV ads or PR
2. Better Resource Allocation: Understand which keywords are driving conversions and adjust your strategy accordingly
3. Improved Competitor Analysis: Compare your non-branded search market share against competitors

The Optimal Ratio: What New SEO Specialists Should Target

Based on comprehensive industry analysis and expert opinions, here’s the recommended approach:

For New Websites (0-12 months):

• 80% Non-Branded Focus: Build topical authority and capture discovery traffic
• 20% Branded Protection: Ensure you own your brand terms from day one

For Established Brands (1-3 years):

• 70% Non-Branded Focus: Continue expanding market share
• 30% Branded Optimization: Maximize conversion from existing brand awareness

For Mature Brands (3+ years):

• 60% Non-Branded Focus: Maintain competitive edge
• 40% Branded Optimization: Leverage brand strength for higher conversions

Actionable Recommendations for New SEO Specialists

1. Set Up Proper Tracking First

Google Search Console Segmentation: You’ll want to add your brand name as a query filter. Make sure to set the filter to “queries not containing.”

This reveals the true scope of your SEO work. Using the example below, total clicks are 7.35K, and branded clicks are just 1.68K.

2. Focus Your Content Strategy

The 80/20 Content Rule:

• 80% of content should target non-branded keywords
• 20% should support branded search optimization

Why Non-Branded Should Dominate: Non-branded traffic is more likely to be organic, which means it’s coming from people who are genuinely interested in your product or service

3. Don’t Ignore Branded Opportunities

The Modern Brand Reality: Looking at the Google leak, we can also see that Google measures user engagement as a signal of brand strength

Branded Traffic Benefits:

• Your website always appears as one of the top listings or in the featured snippet for branded queries
• All this engagement and attention helps your non-branded organic search potential too

4. Understand the Customer Journey

Strategic Segmentation: Instead of just branded vs. non-branded, think strategically:

• We recommend analyzing traffic not in terms of branded vs unbranded, but rather as strategic vs non-strategic

Tools and Implementation

Essential Tools for Tracking:

1. Google Search Console – Primary data source
2. SEMrush—SEMrush is probably the easiest way to track branded and non-branded organic traffic, along with other keyword movements
3. SEOmonitor—Advanced segmentation capabilities

Warning Signs to Watch:

• If most of your traffic comes from branded queries, it likely means your site isn’t fully optimized for organic search visibility
• If most of your traffic comes from non-branded queries, you likely don’t have as much brand awareness as you could

The Bottom Line: A Balanced Approach Wins

The branded vs. non-branded debate isn’t about choosing sides—it’s about understanding what each type of traffic represents and optimizing accordingly.

For new SEO specialists, remember:

1. Non-branded traffic shows your SEO skills—it proves you can compete in the open market
2. Branded traffic shows your business growth—it indicates brand awareness and customer loyalty
3. Both are essential—in the end, it really depends on what your goal is for your website

Start with this framework:

• Dedicate 70-80% of your SEO efforts to non-branded keywords
• Protect and optimize your branded presence with the remaining 20-30%
• Track both separately to understand the true impact of your work
• Adjust the ratio based on your industry and business maturity

The goal isn’t to choose between branded and non-branded traffic—it’s to build a sustainable SEO strategy that captures both discovery and conversion opportunities.

Remember: Zero‑click rates for informational queries hover around 60-70%, while MOFU and BOFU queries still drive real clicks. Focus your efforts where the clicks actually happen.

---

This research analyzed 40+ industry sources and expert opinions to provide the most comprehensive view of branded vs. non-branded traffic strategies in 2025.