Why Branded Search is the Gold Standard of Digital PR Measurement

Measurement has always been PR’s elephant in the room. We know how valuable PR is. Our clients/teams know it too. But we still face questions about value in a way that other marketing channels don’t (even when we’re armed with Digital PR’s far more quantifiable metrics).

I think there’s a solution to this that ticks a lot of boxes. But for some reason, our industry hasn’t been shouting about it. So let’s shout about it now.

Here’s why branded search is the perfect measurement for Digital PR:

Why does Digital PR measurement need a refresh?

Digital PR is inherently more measurable than Traditional PR. Links, keyword rankings, traffic. It’s always been easier to quantify its impact. But in the current state of search, are these metrics still valuable? Do they still accurately reflect the impact that good Digital PR can have on a brand? I don’t think they do.

AI search has changed everything. Search behaviour is (and has) shifted in a big way. Links now matter less, and generating traffic simply isn’t a valuable target anymore. So we need to shake up our reporting, and to be perfectly honest, I think it’s long overdue.

Great Digital PR can build a brand’s online visibility, taking you from a minor competitor to an industry leader. It can reshape your online reputation, controlling the narrative and directly influencing your audience’s decision making. And do Digital PR metrics like links or traffic really reflect this? Or even Traditional PR metrics like reach or coverage views? Not really, no.

There’s a gap in the measurement market. And I think there’s a metric that fills it perfectly. Enter branded search.

What actually is branded search?

I’ll keep this brief. Branded search is exactly what it says on the tin. It’s how many people are searching for your brand. Whether that’s ‘coca cola’ or ‘energy pr’, it’s a measure of how many times someone has used a search engine to actively seek out your brand, and your brand only. Here at Energy PR, we predominantly use SEMrush, Google Trends and Google Search Console to measure it. But that probably warrants its own blog.

What does branded search offer Digital PR reporting?

A lot. And not just Digital PR, Traditional PR too.

Branded search is a great fit for our reporting because:

It measures PR’s impact on brand visibility and audience behaviour

As PRs, we build brands. It’s not our only job, but it’s one of our core functions. And branded search is (in my opinion) one of the best possible measures of this work – because in general, the better-known a brand is, the more searches it’ll receive.

Plus, it demonstrates a level of audience engagement that many other Digital PR metrics can’t match. Beyond brand recognition, it demonstrates that we’ve influenced our audience’s behaviour enough for them to both think of the brand and actively seek it out. Which means they’re far more engaged than someone who’s stumbled on us for the first time.

It’s not as susceptible to shifts in search (like AI)

We all know what’s happening with AI search. Traffic is falling and it’s not stopping anytime soon. The purchasing funnel has been completely shaken up, with much of the awareness and consideration phases now taking place without a click. So a lot of the traditional SEO metrics aren’t the great measures of success they used to be.

Branded search bypasses these difficulties completely. We don’t need to worry about declining clicks or a drop in traffic. A search for our brand skips all of that – instead measuring the only thing that really matters.

It measures the impact of both Digital and Traditional PR

This also means that it doesn’t matter where the audience engagement happened. In the search results, an online article, a broadsheet newspaper, a podcast. Anywhere else, or all of the above. It’s a universal metric that works for Digital PR, Traditional PR and pretty much all other brand building activities.

It’s a core factor in search visibility

Full circle moment. Not only does measuring branded search bypass the need for SEO, it also contributes to SEO. More branded search = more demand for the brand. And as we now know that Google measures this (through things like a site_quality score), the more branded searches we drive, the better impact we’ll have on wider search performance too. Win-win.

Does branded search have any limitations as a metric?

Yes. Like pretty much every marketing metric, it’s not perfect. For one, it’s also influenced by other marketing channels. Wider campaigns (PPC, socials, OOH etc.) can drive branded search up – making it tricky to nail down exactly which channel was responsible. So providing that context in our reporting is absolutely crucial. If our Digital PR efforts coincide with another campaign that might’ve also increased brand searches, we need to ensure we flag it – not take credit for it.

Generic brand names can also be an issue. Looking at monday.com as an example, focusing on searches for the term ‘monday’ simply won’t be an accurate reflection of brand awareness. While many of these searches are looking for the brand, some will also be searching for the weekday, the haircare brand, the swimwear brand, the Sebastian Stan movie (despite the dodgy reviews) and more. But is there a solution? Yes. And it’s a simple one: long-tail branded searches. If we expand our measurement to capture the brand name + an additional relevant term (e.g. ‘monday crm’ ‘monday software’ or ‘monday pricing’) we can filter these alternatives out – focusing on our brand and our brand only.

Another limitation is that branded search doesn’t measure top-of-funnel awareness. In other words, it doesn’t account for people who’ve heard of our brand but haven’t searched for it. This is definitely a drawback, but I’d argue it’s not a massive one. Because that data is always going to be incredibly tricky to source, not particularly actionable and (maybe) not actually all that useful?

Key takeaway: Digital PRs need to be reporting on branded search

So to sum it all up, I really do believe that it’s the gold standard of Digital PR measurement. Branded search demonstrates the value of our work in a way that many other metrics struggle to replicate. And while it does have limitations, the positives massively outweigh the negatives.

We’re huge fans of it here at Energy PR, and I hope the rest of the industry is (or soon will be) reporting on it too. Because if we’re being completely honest, why wouldn’t you?

This post was written by Ben Eaglestone, SEO & Insights Specialist at Energy PR.

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