You spent $15,000 on Demand Gen campaigns last month. Decent video completion rates, solid reach numbers. Then your CFO asked: "Did anyone actually remember us afterward?"
Until January 2026, you couldn't answer that question without spending another $50,000 on a brand lift study. Google's new Attributed Branded Searches metric changes everything. It tracks how many people searched for your brand on Google or YouTube after seeing your ad, even without clicking.
HubSpot's 2023 State of Marketing Report found 40% of marketers list proving ROI as their top challenge. Brand awareness measurement in Google Ads has been nearly impossible for most advertisers because traditional attribution misses what happens between seeing an ad and taking action days later.
What Attributed Branded Searches Actually Track
Someone watches your Demand Gen ad on YouTube Shorts Tuesday afternoon. Friday morning, they search "[Your Brand] pricing" on Google. Your ad never got clicked, but Google connects that search back to the original impression.
The metric uses view-through attribution with a 7-day window (you can extend it to 30 days). It appears in your "All Conversions" reporting and under Consideration goals.
Current status: Beta access only. You need approval from your Google Ads representative, there's no self-service signup. Jyll Saskin Gales, who spent 6 years at Google as an ads expert, notes the feature is "by request via Google rep only" though broader rollout is expected through 2026.
Why Traditional Brand Measurement Fails Most Advertisers
Brand lift studies require $50,000-100,000 budgets plus weeks of planning. They survey people about awareness (what they say) instead of tracking behavior (what they do).
Statista research from 2023 found 42% of US marketers ranked "measuring accurate ROI and performance metrics" as their biggest display advertising challenge, well above ad fraud (18%) or viewability concerns (15%).
Attributed Branded Searches works at any budget level. Whether you spend $5,000 or $500,000 monthly, you get continuous behavioral data showing if ads create actual brand interest.
According to Google's January 2026 data, LG Electronics used Demand Gen to hit 24% higher conversion rates than paid social at 91% lower cost per acquisition. Now they can see which conversions started with branded searches after ad exposure.
Setup Takes Three Steps (Once You Have Beta Access)
Step 1: Map your brand terms
Tell Google what counts as "branded." Go way beyond your official company name.
For a B2B software company:
- Company name: "Acme Analytics"
- Misspellings: "Akme Analytics," "Acme Analytix"
- Product names: "Acme Dashboard," "Acme Reports"
- Category terms: "Acme marketing analytics"
- Comparison searches: "Acme vs Tableau"
If you only track your exact company name, you'll miss 40-60% of actual branded searches.
Step 2: Enable the conversion action
Tools & Settings → Measurement → Conversions. Once beta access activates, "Attributed Branded Searches" appears as an option.
Add it to "All Conversions" for tracking only, or include it in "Conversions" if you want bidding algorithms optimizing toward branded search generation.
Step 3: Pull it into reports
Campaign reporting → Columns → Modify Columns → Conversions → All Conversions → Segment by Conversion Action.
Attributed branded searches now separate from purchases, sign-ups, and other conversions.
Critical detail: No historical data exists. The metric only tracks impressions after activation.
Track These Metrics That Actually Matter
Attributed Branded Search Rate
Formula: (Attributed Branded Searches / Impressions) × 100
Example: If a fashion retailer running YouTube Shorts got 15 million impressions with a 0.08% search rate, that's 12,000 people actively searching for a brand they'd never heard of before.
Compare across campaigns, audiences, placements, and creative.
Cost Per Attributed Branded Search
Formula: Total Spend / Attributed Branded Searches
Example calculation for a B2B software company: $8,500 spend / 340 searches = $25 per attributed search.
If their branded Search campaigns cost $2.80 per click, Search appears cheaper per interaction, but those people already knew enough to search. Demand Gen created that awareness from nothing.
Branded Search Conversion Rate
In one scenario, a home services company found that 23% of people who searched their brand after seeing ads submitted forms within 14 days, versus an 8% site-wide conversion rate. People who searched after seeing ads converted at 2.9× the baseline.
Two Campaign Examples That Show the Impact
SaaS company justifies budget
Example scenario: A marketing director faces quarterly reviews questioning $40,000 monthly Demand Gen spend. Impressions and reach can't prove business value.
Using Attributed Branded Searches, they could show:
- 1,850 branded searches traced directly to Demand Gen
- 12% converted to trials within 30 days
- 222 trials that wouldn't have existed otherwise
- $180 cost per trial (vs. $145 from Search, which only captures existing demand)
This type of data could justify a 25% budget increase.
Outdoor gear brand tests creative
Example creative test for an outdoor gear brand running three ad variations:
- Product shots: 0.04% branded search rate
- Lifestyle imagery: 0.09% rate (2.25× better)
- Problem-solution story: 0.11% rate (2.75× better)
If click-through rates were nearly identical (0.4-0.5%) across all three, this data would show that only emotional storytelling made people remember and search days later, suggesting a shift of 60% of budget to storytelling creative.
How This Differs from Other Brand Metrics
vs. Brand Lift Studies
Those survey people about awareness, attitudinal data. Attributed Branded Searches track actual search behavior, behavioral data. Use both when possible. Brand Lift shows awareness increased, Attributed Searches prove it drove interest.
vs. View-Through Conversions
VTCs measure any action after ad exposure through any channel. Attributed Branded Searches specifically track people who searched for your brand, proving they remembered you.
vs. Search Console Data
Console shows all branded searches regardless of source (organic social, PR, word-of-mouth, direct navigation attempts). Attributed Branded Searches shows the portion directly creditable to Demand Gen within your attribution window.
Fix These Common Problems
Low volumes (20-30 searches from $10,000 spend)
Expand brand terms beyond exact company name. Check if you're targeting already-aware audiences who don't need to search. Verify branding appears in the first 5 seconds of video, research shows this drives 30% higher brand recall.
Searches spike but conversions don't
Awareness is working, but your conversion path broke somewhere.
Create dedicated landing pages for branded search traffic. Verify you're bidding on brand terms in Search (competitors might be capturing that traffic). Check Search Console for query types. If you're seeing "[Brand] scam" or "[Brand] complaints," your creative might attract the wrong audience.
How to Report This to Executives
Translate platform metrics into business outcomes:
Revenue attribution: "1,200 people searched for our brand after Demand Gen ads. Our data shows 18% convert within 30 days at $850 average value. That's 216 customers × $850 = $183,600 in revenue directly from brand awareness."
Cost efficiency: "We generated 450 attributed searches at $22 each. Branded Search campaigns cost $3.50 per click. Search is cheaper per interaction, but those people already knew us. Demand Gen created that awareness."
Competitive comparison: "Competitors spend $50,000 on brand lift studies. We get continuous behavioral data at no additional cost."
Track Across Your Marketing Stack
Manual exports work for 2-3 campaigns. Download Google Ads reports, filter for Attributed Branded Searches, copy to spreadsheets. Takes 20-30 minutes weekly.
Running multiple campaign types (Demand Gen + Search + Shopping) or tracking cross-platform (Google + Meta + LinkedIn)? Consolidating into unified dashboards prevents spending hours on manual exports and eliminates version control problems.
Connect Google Ads to Google Sheets, Looker Studio, BigQuery, or Power BI. If you're already tracking Demand Gen performance alongside Search or comparing YouTube brand impact data, adding attributed branded searches to existing dashboards keeps everything centralized.
What's Coming in 2026
Google dropped incrementality test minimums from $100,000 to $5,000 in early 2026. Expect similar expansion for Attributed Branded Searches.
Predictions for 2026:
- Broader availability by Q2-Q3 without rep approval
- Lower budget thresholds as the feature matures
- Performance Max integration if Demand Gen proves value
January 2026 updates also included Shoppable CTV (QR codes in YouTube TV ads driving 7% more conversions) and Travel Feeds (dynamic hotel pricing in videos). Google's positioning Demand Gen as full-funnel performance, not just awareness.
Attributed Branded Searches fits that strategy, proving upper-funnel spend drives measurable actions beyond impressions.
Quick Answers
How fast will I see data after activation?
Data appears within 24-48 hours, but you need 7-14 days of campaign delivery to spot meaningful patterns. The 7-day attribution window means someone who saw your ad Day 1 might not search until Day 6.
Will this affect my automated bidding?
Only if you add it to your "Conversions" column. In "All Conversions" only, Google tracks it for reporting but won't optimize bids toward generating branded searches.
What if someone saw multiple campaigns before searching?
Google uses last-impression attribution. If they saw Campaign A Monday, Campaign B Wednesday, and searched Thursday, Campaign B gets credit.
Request beta access now through your Google rep to start building baseline data before broader rollout. Data only appears for impressions after activation, so early access means more insights by mid-2026.
Want to consolidate Demand Gen, Search, and 50+ platforms into unified dashboards? Try Dataslayer free for 15 days, connect to Google Sheets, Looker Studio, BigQuery, or Power BI.
