Stripping branded terms cut a niche's addressable volume by 47 percent

Stripping branded terms cut a niche's addressable volume by 47 percent
Branded queries inflate market-size estimates. We split 5,000 keywords in one vertical into branded and non-branded.

— Total reported volume: 1.0 (baseline)
— Branded share: 47 percent
— Non-branded, addressable to a new entrant: 53 percent
— Top brand alone: 19 percent of all volume

Branded searches already belong to the brand, so they are not winnable demand for a newcomer. So what: when sizing an opportunity, subtract branded volume first. Half the headline number is usually demand you can never capture, and the real target market is smaller and more competitive than it looks.

Benchmark of the week: roughly half of a niche's volume is locked to existing brands.