For the past few days, SEOs and PPC marketers alike have been segmenting brand campaigns and content from more generic search terms.

However, while branded keywords tend to be unicorns in PPC, which generate ridiculously high CTRs (click-through rates) (40, 50 or 60 percent) and Quality Scores (9 or 10); and the branded keywords in SEO rank at the top of the SERP. Meanwhile, non-branded keywords perform like donkeys in other words, i.e. just average at best.

While branded vs. non-branded is an interesting differentiation, it’s an incomplete one as well. Even non-branded keywords can perform like brand terms when brand affinity exists. This is the reason why we have performed re-examination of our assumptions about branded vs. non-branded keywords in both paid and organic search marketing.