Branded vs. generic search
Definition
A branded search contains your company or product name; a generic search describes the problem you solve. The person typing your name had already decided to find you.
How it’s measured
Split the search account’s terms into queries that contain your name, misspellings included, and everything else. Every figure in the account splits along the same line: spend, clicks, conversion rate, ROAS. The branded half converts at the higher rate because the decision preceded the search. That is why one blended number flatters the account: the branded half lifts the average, and the generic half, the only half that reaches people who have never heard of you, can fail for months without the average showing it.
What to watch for
A report showing one blended ROAS has the split one filter away; ask for the two halves and judge them separately, because they do different jobs at different costs. Search your own name in a private window: if the paid ad sits directly above your own organic listing, the account is paying for clicks that had a free path an inch lower, and whether people would have taken it is a holdout question. Branded spend is the first place I point one. Check which attribution rule the split is read under: last click hands a journey that started generic and ended branded entirely to the branded term.
The question you ask
“What does the search account earn on generic terms alone, with branded stripped out?”