You’ve been there before. You’re in a client meeting, presenting a report filled with beautiful, up-and-to-the-right graphs. Rankings are climbing, organic traffic is growing, and keyword visibility is at an all-time high.
You’re proud of the results. But then the client asks the one question that can stop an agency in its tracks:
“This is all great, but how do we know this is actually growing our business?”
It’s a fair question. While rankings and traffic are crucial leading indicators, they don’t tell the whole story. The real magic of SEO happens when it moves beyond the search engine results page (SERP) to influence customer behavior in the real world.
Two of the most powerful—and often overlooked—metrics for proving this value are branded search lift and offline conversions. Understanding how to measure them transforms your client conversations from discussions about keywords to discussions about tangible business growth.
The Hidden Value: Looking Beyond First-Click Metrics
For years, the industry has focused on a straightforward funnel: a user searches a non-branded term (like “emergency plumber”), clicks the number one result, and converts. And while that’s important—after all, a study by Backlinko found the number one result in Google gets 27.6% of all clicks—it misses the nuanced, long-term impact of great SEO.
Effective SEO doesn’t just capture existing demand; it creates it. It builds brand equity and drives real-world actions. This is where we need to look deeper.
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Branded Search Lift: This measures the increase in people searching directly for a client’s brand name. It’s a powerful proxy for brand awareness and recall.
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Offline Conversions: This tracks when online search activity leads to a real-world action, like a phone call or a visit to a physical store.
Let’s dig into how to start thinking about—and measuring—each one.
Are People Searching for Your Client by Name? The Power of Branded Search Lift
Imagine a potential customer starts their journey by searching for “best accounting software for small business.” They read a few of your client’s blog posts, see their name mentioned in a comparison guide, and watch one of their webinars. They don’t convert right away.
A week later, they don’t search for the generic term again. Instead, they open Google and type your client’s brand name directly.
This shift from a non-branded, informational search to a branded, navigational search is a massive win. It signifies that your client has moved from being just an option to being the destination.
This journey is the heart of brand building. While often attributed to broad marketing efforts, a consistent presence in organic search is a key driver. A Nielsen study commissioned by Google found that even search ads can lift top-of-mind brand awareness by an average of 6.6 percentage points. The effect of consistent, helpful organic content is often even more profound and lasting.
An effective omnichannel SEO strategy (/blog/omnichannel-seo-guide) ensures that every touchpoint, from social media to paid ads, reinforces brand recall, which ultimately shows up as an increase in branded searches.
How to Spot Branded Search Lift
The simplest way to track this is within Google Search Console. By filtering performance reports to include only queries containing the brand name, you can monitor the trend of impressions and clicks over time. A steady upward trend is clear evidence that your SEO efforts are successfully building brand equity.
When you can show a client this graph, you’re no longer just talking about ranking for keywords. You’re showing them tangible proof that more people know, trust, and actively seek out their brand.
From Clicks to Footsteps: Connecting SEO to Offline Conversions
For businesses with physical locations—like dentists, retailers, restaurants, or home service providers—the most valuable conversion doesn’t happen on a “thank you” page. It happens when the phone rings or a customer walks through the door.
The link between online search and offline action is stronger than ever. Research from Google shows that 82% of smartphone shoppers conduct ‘near me’ searches, and BrightLocal’s 2023 Local Consumer Review Survey found that 98% of consumers used the internet to find information about local businesses in the last year.
Your client’s customers are searching online before they buy offline. The challenge is connecting the dots.
How to Track Offline Conversions (Conceptually)
While precise one-to-one tracking is the holy grail, you can gather powerful directional data by focusing on key user actions that bridge the digital and physical worlds.
Here are the primary sources for this data:
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Google Business Profile (GBP) Insights: Your client’s GBP profile is a hub for offline conversion signals. The performance section directly reports on:
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Phone Calls: The number of clicks on the “Call” button.
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Direction Requests: How many users clicked for directions to the business.
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Website Clicks: Clicks to the website from the GBP listing.
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Call Tracking: For more granular data, implementing dynamic number insertion (DNI) on a client’s website can show you exactly which calls came from organic search traffic. When a user arrives from Google, the phone number on the site dynamically changes to a unique tracking number, creating a direct attribution link.
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UTM-Tagged Links: Adding UTM parameters to the website link in your client’s GBP listing allows you to isolate and analyze the behavior of that specific traffic segment in Google Analytics.
Aggregating and reporting this data across numerous clients can be a challenge. Platforms that use AI in SEO (/solutions/ai-powered-seo) automate data collection and reporting, freeing you up to focus on strategy.
Why This Matters for Your Agency
Shifting the conversation to branded search lift and offline conversions fundamentally changes your relationship with clients.
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You Prove Deeper Value: You move beyond vanity metrics to show how SEO is building a lasting brand asset and driving real-world revenue.
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You Tell a Better Story: You can connect your work directly to the client’s core business goals, making your reports more meaningful and impactful.
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You Justify Your Retainer: When clients see SEO driving phone calls and building their brand recognition, your services become an indispensable part of their growth engine.
Of course, executing the foundational work to achieve these results at scale is no small feat. That’s why many agencies partner with white-label SEO services (/services/white-label-seo) for fulfillment, allowing their internal teams to focus on these higher-level strategic conversations and strengthen client relationships.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What exactly is a branded keyword?
A branded keyword is any search query that includes a company’s brand name or a variation of it. For example, “JVGLABS,” “JVGLABS SEO services,” or “JVGLABS pricing” are all branded keywords for us. “White-label SEO” is a non-branded keyword.
Can I measure this for a business without a physical location?
Absolutely. Branded search lift is relevant for any business—SaaS, e-commerce, B2B services, etc. While you wouldn’t track “direction requests,” you can still track phone calls from organic traffic as a key offline conversion, especially for service-based businesses that rely on phone consultations.
Isn’t this the same as what Google Analytics tracks?
Not quite. Google Analytics is excellent for tracking on-site behavior (like form fills and online purchases). However, it can’t natively track actions that happen off-site, like a phone call initiated from a Google Business Profile or a customer walking into a store after seeing it in local search results. These methods complement GA to provide a more complete picture.
How long does it take to see a lift in branded search?
Building a brand takes time and consistency. You can typically start to see a measurable upward trend in branded search volume after 6-12 months of consistent, high-quality SEO work that focuses on creating helpful content and building authority for non-branded topics in your client’s industry.
The First Step to a Deeper Conversation
The next time you prepare a client report, go one step further. Open up their Google Search Console and filter for their brand name. Pull up their Google Business Profile insights.
You don’t need a perfect, airtight attribution model to start the conversation. Simply showing these additional data points can open your client’s eyes to the full scope of the value you’re providing. By moving beyond rankings, you position your agency not just as an SEO provider, but as a true partner in growth.