Google updates Branded Searches conversion measurement

Google is giving advertisers clearer rules for measuring whether YouTube and Demand Gen ads punctual group to hunt for their brands — while making respective notable changes from the metric’s original rollout.

What’s happening. Google has updated its archiving for Branded Searches, a conversion type that measures erstwhile personification searches for an advertiser’s marque connected Google aliases YouTube aft seeing an ad.

The conversion type itself isn’t new. Google introduced Branded Searches successful 2025 arsenic an always-on replacement to moving Search Lift experiments.

What’s changed is really Google now defines its availability, attribution and reporting.

The details: Google’s updated guidance introduces aliases clarifies respective important points:

• 7-day default window: Branded Searches now uses a seven-day default conversion window, compared pinch the 30-day view-through model described erstwhile the characteristic primitively launched. Advertisers tin set the model betwixt 1 and 30 days.
• YouTube and Demand Gen: Google’s existent archiving lists YouTube and Demand Gen arsenic eligible run types. Performance Max, which was included erstwhile Branded Searches was announced successful 2025, is nary longer listed.
• Consideration goal: Google now formally categorizes Branded Searches nether the Consideration goal.
• Reporting, not bidding: Branded Searches is treated arsenic a superior conversion action but isn’t disposable arsenic a bidding optimization goal. The information appears successful Results and All Conversions alternatively than the modular Conversions column.
• Brand mapping still matters: Advertisers don’t request to group up a Search Lift experiment, but Google says marque mapping must beryllium configured for measurement to work.

Google’s archiving says Branded Searches tin beryllium viewed astatine the campaign, advertisement group and plus levels, arsenic good arsenic done Report Editor.

Why we care. Branded hunt behaviour tin supply advertisers pinch a useful awesome betwixt an advertisement belief and a accepted conversion.

Someone whitethorn spot a YouTube ad, retrieve the institution and hunt for the marque days later without clicking the original ad. Branded Searches is designed to make that power much visible wrong Google Ads.

That tin thief advertisers measure whether upper-funnel campaigns are generating genuine marque liking alternatively of evaluating them solely connected clicks and nonstop conversions.

The bottommost line. This isn’t a caller conversion type aliases a caller seven-day attribution window. The noteworthy update is that Google’s existent Branded Searches archiving lists YouTube and Demand Gen — but nary longer Performance Max.

First spotted. This update was spotted by Hana Kobzova, laminitis of PPC News Feed.