You Should Only Focus on Increasing Branded Search Volume in 2026

Your “source of truth” for customer acquisition isn’t GA4. It’s what people tell you when they sign up — and right now, that story is changing fast.In this episode, we unpack a simple but brutally effective tactic: adding a required “How did you hear about us?” field to your signup form — and using that data to understand where real discovery is happening. The surprise? More and more B2B customers are saying social media, even when analytics tools claim otherwise.But here’s the deeper shift: organic social is hard to measure… unless you track the right trailing indicator. That indicator is branded search.You’ll learn how to use Google Search Console to track brand-name impressions over time, why it’s becoming the only KPI that matters for modern founder-led marketing, and how branded search creates a defensible moat competitors can’t easily steal.If you’re planning your marketing strategy for 2026, this is the measurement system you need.What You’ll LearnWhy signup form attribution is often more reliable than your analytics dashboardsThe biggest B2B acquisition shift happening right now: from search → socialWhy organic social is nearly impossible to ROI… and how to measure it anywayThe “branded search” metric that acts as a trailing indicator for social discoveryWhy branded search is a marketing moat your competitors can’t take from youHow to build a branded-search chart using Google Search Console in minutesThe exact prompt to pull branded impressions by query and track them over timeTimestamps00:00:00 - Customer Discovery Starts at Signup00:00:10 - The Shift: Search → Social00:00:31 - Why Organic Social Now Matters Most00:00:52 - The Measurement Problem (and the Fix)00:01:12 - Branded Search = Your Trailing Indicator00:01:33 - Why Branded Search Is a Moat00:01:54 - Where to Invest Time, Money, and Energy00:02:04 - The 2026 Strategy: Grow Brand Searches00:02:15 - How to Track Branded Search in GSC00:02:25 - Building the Branded Impressions Chart00:02:46 - Live Demo: Google Search Console Setup00:03:07 - Final ThoughtsKey Topics & Insights1. Signup Attribution Beats Analytics (Almost Every Time)One of the fastest ways to understand how customers actually found you is simple: add a required “How did you hear about us?” field in your signup form.Why it works:It captures customer intent in their wordsIt reveals channels analytics often misattributesIt shows the real discovery story (not the last-click story)And the punchline: it often contradicts what GA4 says.2. The B2B Discovery Shift: Search → SocialIf you’ve been paying attention to the data, something big is happening:People aren’t discovering new software products through search anymore. They’re discovering them on social — then Googling them afterward.This shift has accelerated over the past 12–18 months. Even in B2B, where trends typically lag behind DTC.What this means:SEO is no longer the first touchpointSocial is becoming the top-of-funnel discovery engineSearch is evolving into a validation channel3. Organic Social Has a Measurement ProblemThe hardest part about investing in organic social is that it’s difficult to tie to ROI.Whether you’re doing:Founder-led contentCreator sponsorshipsCommunity distributionOrganic growth loops…it doesn’t fit neatly into traditional attribution.So instead of forcing bad ROI models, track the trailing indicator that proves social discovery is working.4. Branded Search Is the Trailing Indicator That MattersHere’s the key idea:When someone discovers your product on social, they don’t click your link. They Google your name.That branded search becomes the measurable proof:A discovery event happenedPeople care enough to look you upYour brand is entering the market’s memoryThis is why branded search growth is one of the strongest indicators of momentum.If branded search is increasing month-over-month, your brand is winning.5. Branded Search Creates a Defensible MoatThis is where it becomes more than measurement — it becomes strategy.Branded search is difficult for competitors to steal. Once people are searching your name, you own that demand.The only way competitors can interfere:They bid on your brand in Google AdsThey try to outspend youOr they attempt to confuse the marketBut that’s expensive, obvious, and usually temporary.So branded search is not only a KPI — it’s defensibility.6. How to Track Branded Search in Google Search ConsoleThis is the tactical part.To track branded search over time, you want a chart that shows:Impressions over timeFor queries containing your brand nameCaptured in every format your audience might type itAnd this is surprisingly easy to pull from Google Search Console.7. The Exact Chart & Prompt to Build ItThe goal is to extract Search Console impressions where queries include your brand name.Example prompt:“Build a chart showing total impressions over time for queries containing ‘YOURBRAND’.”Then your ...