Google updates Branded Searches conversion measurement

Google is giving advertisers clearer rules for measuring whether YouTube and Demand Gen ads prompt people to search for their brands — while making several notable changes from the metric’s original rollout.

What’s happening. Google has updated its documentation for Branded Searches, a conversion type that measures when someone searches for an advertiser’s brand on Google or YouTube after seeing an ad.

The conversion type itself isn’t new. Google introduced Branded Searches in 2025 as an always-on alternative to running Search Lift experiments.

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

The details: Google’s updated guidance introduces or clarifies several important points:

• 7-day default window: Branded Searches now uses a seven-day default conversion window, compared with the 30-day view-through window described when the feature originally launched. Advertisers can adjust the window between one and 30 days.
• YouTube and Demand Gen: Google’s current documentation lists YouTube and Demand Gen as eligible campaign types. Performance Max, which was included when Branded Searches was announced in 2025, is no longer listed.
• Consideration goal: Google now formally categorizes Branded Searches under the Consideration goal.
• Reporting, not bidding: Branded Searches is treated as a primary conversion action but isn’t available as a bidding optimization goal. The data appears in Results and All Conversions rather than the standard Conversions column.
• Brand mapping still matters: Advertisers don’t need to set up a Search Lift experiment, but Google says brand mapping must be configured for measurement to work.

Google’s documentation says Branded Searches can be viewed at the campaign, ad group and asset levels, as well as through Report Editor.

Why we care. Branded search behavior can provide advertisers with a useful signal between an ad impression and a traditional conversion.

Someone may see a YouTube ad, remember the company and search for the brand days later without clicking the original ad. Branded Searches is designed to make that influence more visible inside Google Ads.

That can help advertisers assess whether upper-funnel campaigns are generating genuine brand interest instead of evaluating them solely on clicks and direct conversions.

The bottom line. This isn’t a new conversion type or a new seven-day attribution window. The noteworthy update is that Google’s current Branded Searches documentation lists YouTube and Demand Gen — but no longer Performance Max.

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