The short answer
Branded and non-branded search traffic can reflect different levels of prior awareness. Separating their reports helps show where attributed revenue comes from. A stronger branded ROAS does not by itself prove that moving budget into brand searches will create more new demand.
Define the groups before comparing them
Document how you classify your brand names, product names, misspellings, competitor names, and ambiguous terms. A campaign name is not always a complete description of the queries it serves. If your available reporting does not expose all queries, state the coverage limitation rather than claiming an exhaustive split.
Calculate the blended result correctly
Illustrative inputs: the brand group spends $500 for $5,000 attributed revenue, while non-brand spends $2,000 for $6,000. Brand ROAS is $5,000 ÷ $500 = 10×; non-brand ROAS is $6,000 ÷ $2,000 = 3×. Combined ROAS is ($5,000 + $6,000) ÷ ($500 + $2,000) = 4.4×, not the simple average of 10× and 3×.
Look at customer and product mix
Compare first-time customers, returning buyers, order contribution, and the products sold. Brand traffic may include existing demand, but do not assume every branded conversion would occur without advertising. Equally, a non-brand label does not prove a sale is incremental. Both are descriptive groupings.
Frame the budget decision as a test
If you want to know whether brand advertising creates additional sales or protects profitable demand, a credible comparison must account for outcomes without the tested advertising. Simple before-and-after results can be affected by promotions, competitor activity, or changes in organic visibility. Avoid applying a fixed “incrementality discount” with no evidence.
Report both efficiency and scale
Show revenue, spend, contribution, and new-customer counts alongside the ratios. A small high-ROAS segment may have limited additional volume. Keep the classification consistent when reviewing trends, and annotate changes in grouping rules. Use the split to ask better acquisition questions rather than treating the highest ratio as an automatic budget destination.
Document the query grouping
- Gather: Keep classification rules for brand, misspellings, product names and ambiguous queries.
- Produce: Compare new-customer mix and contribution while noting unclassified coverage.
Decision boundary: A high brand ratio alone does not demonstrate an opportunity to scale new demand.
Next reading
Examples are illustrative, not client results or benchmarks. The calculations use the inputs shown; real-world decisions depend on your records and assumptions. Report a correction.