One of the things that I constantly have to educate executives on is what the difference between brand search and non-brand search is.

Think of it this way nonbrand search is a keyword or search query that does not contain a brand in it. One example would be someone searching for "hotel in San Diego". Notice how there isn't a "hotel brand" in that search?

A branded keyword or search query WOULD contain a brand in the query. So instead of "hotel in San Diego", the user may search for "hilton hotel San Diego". 

Usually someone is searching for a brand, if they are loyal, or have been doing research and finally decided that they want to purchase. These searches most of the time are VERY close to converting and so should be managed much differently than nonbrand search.