Ranking of Ukrainian Businesses by Branded Search Queries
A MIM:AGENCY report on how to rank Ukrainian businesses by branded search queries, analyze Share of Brand Search, and uncover market insights using public data.
A report prepared by MIM:AGENCY shows how to rank Ukrainian brands based on branded search queries (12–36 months) and what insights can be obtained from public/accessible sources. In most categories, brand demand is highly concentrated (a single leader “captures” 40–60% of brand searches), but in some markets, competition is noticeably more even, creating better conditions for “catching up” through SEO+PR and product visibility.
Context and Definitions
Brand queries are queries containing the brand/company name or its common variants: in Ukrainian, Russian, Latin script, transliteration, or with functional modifiers (“official website,” “login,” “contacts,” “track,” “prices,” “payment,” “delivery,” “reviews”). For the Ukrainian market, it is critical to account for multilingualism and spelling variations; otherwise, brand search volume will be systematically underestimated.
- Share of Brand Search in this report is a category metric: the share of brand demand for a specific brand among the total brand demand for top players in the category over the period. The provided dataset also notes that the top 15 players in each niche account for a total of 100% and that 2026* is a forecast based on a portion of the year.
- In marketing practice, “brand search share” is often used as a proxy for brand awareness and an indicator of changes that may precede market share; however, correlation and causation may vary across categories, and the method requires discipline in normalization and noise filtering.
- Google Trends does not provide “number of queries,” but rather a normalized interest index (0–100) within a selected time/geo, normalized to the peak, as well as normalized relative to the total number of searches in the location/period. This is a fundamental limitation, but also a major advantage for analyzing trends, seasonality, and regions.
- Visibility in SERPs and SERP features. For branded queries, it is important not only to “be first” but also to have expanded brand results (sitelinks, knowledge panel, etc.). Sitelinks, for example, are generated algorithmically and depend on the site’s structure and signals.
Forming a brand sample
Since the list of brands is not specified, a stratified selection is recommended for a “representative sample of 50–200”: 8–12 brands in each major industry (banking, retail, e-commerce, telecoms, energy, FMCG/beverages, logistics, aviation/tourism, agriculture, IT/EdTech), followed by deduplication and semantic cleansing.
Selection criteria that work in practice:
- Business scale / public significance: lists of the largest companies by revenue/presence (Ukrainian media/rankings). E.g., rankings of large private companies.
- B2C recognition: candidates with high SBS in categories (as in the dataset).
- Digital presence: domains with high visibility/traffic in the niche (Semrush/similar tools, if public data is available).
- Semantic suitability: the brand has a clearly distinguishable name (or requires a set of qualifying modifiers).
In this report, the full “50–200” ranking is not published for one reason only: the absolute volumes of branded queries for 50–200 brands are largely not publicly available (Search Console is private; Keyword Planner/SEO platforms require an account or license). Therefore, the following is provided below:
- a pilot study on 10 brands based on public data
- category-specific SBS leaderboards
- full code/instructions for replication on your own sample.
Results and Insights
Pilot cross-industry ranking based on branded queries
What the metrics in the table below mean
- Average monthly volume: an estimate calculated as the sum of the volumes of the most “pure” brand mentions in Semrush (Ukraine, Feb 2026). This is not the “absolute truth,” but a public proxy estimate, useful for demonstrating the approach.
- % Change: A proxy trend based on the MoM change in total domain traffic in Semrush (where available). This is not the same as the brand demand trend, but it often moves in the same direction for navigational brand scenarios.
- Seasonality: an expert assessment of expected seasonal sensitivity (a Google Trends series is required for an accurate index).
- Top regions: requires Google Trends interest-by-region (N/A in this report).
| Rank | Brand | Industry | Avg. Monthly Volume (est.) | Change % | Seasonality | Top Regions | Comment |
| 1 | Nova Poshta | logistics | 3,876,000 | -32.71% | medium | n/a | Brand demand consists of the core name + “track / tracking” query cluster. |
| 2 | Rozetka | retail / marketplace | 2,024,000 | -30.08% | medium–high | n/a | Strong navigational demand; important to resolve ambiguity of the word “rozetka”. |
| 3 | Epicentr | retail / DIY | 1,719,500 | -36.12% | medium | n/a | High demand in both Ukrainian and Russian spellings; brand organic mostly ranks #1. |
| 4 | DTEK | energy | 823,000 | -35.14% | high (event-driven) | n/a | Brand demand is boosted by utility queries (schedules, outages). |
| 5 | Vodafone Ukraine | telecom | 300,000 | -36.93% | low–medium | n/a | Important to account for two spellings (Latin/Cyrillic). |
| 6 | Ukrtelecom | telecom | 49,500 | -54.31% | low | n/a | Key brand clusters: “internet”, “hotline”, “payment”. |
| 7 | SkyUp | aviation | 20,700 | n/a | high | n/a | Risk of “noise” due to similarity with “Skype” — requires precise query clustering. |
| 8 | Uklon | mobility / taxi | 17,000 | -13.46% | medium | n/a | Common scenarios: “taxi + brand”, “phone number” — local pages are important. |
| 9 | SoftServe | IT | 14,800 | -26.82% | low | n/a | Mostly professional B2B/B2E demand (jobs, academy, corporate pages). |
| 10 | Bazhane | fashion / e-commerce | 11,700 | n/a | high | n/a | — |
The data for “volume” and the “% change” column in the table are sourced from public Semrush reports (Ukraine, Feb 2026): volumes of branded keyword searches and month-over-month (MoM) traffic trends for domains.
Category Leaderboards: Share of Brand Search
Below are examples of category rankings based on SBS (2023–2026*). These are market shares within a niche; they cannot be directly compared across niches without normalizing them to the total size of category demand.
Banks
Market characteristic: extremely high concentration—the top 1 holds 62.46% in 2025, the top 3-78.87% (according to SBS). This means that “organic” brand demand shifts slowly, and growth requires rebuilding trust, PR, and product communication (especially for second-tier banks).
| Rank | Brand | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026* | Δ 2023→2025 (pp) | Comment |
| 1 | PrivatBank | 68.24 | 65.50 | 62.46 | 60.97 | -5.78 | Market leader with a decline in SBS share in 2023–2025. |
| 2 | Oschadbank | 9.76 | 9.93 | 11.33 | 10.97 | +1.57 | One of the main beneficiaries of SBS redistribution. |
| 3 | PUMB | 3.75 | 4.72 | 5.08 | 5.78 | +1.33 | устойчивий приріст SBS у 2023–2026*. |
| 4 | monobank | 3.63 | 4.04 | 4.19 | 4.57 | +0.56 | Gradual growth within the category. |
| 5 | Raiffeisen Bank | 3.05 | 3.26 | 3.41 | 3.86 | +0.36 | Positive SBS trend. |
| 6 | UkrSibbank | 2.88 | 2.99 | 3.03 | 2.72 | +0.15 | Mostly stable SBS performance. |
| 7 | A-Bank | 1.82 | 2.10 | 2.10 | 2.27 | +0.28 | Growth within the second tier. |
| 8 | Ukrgasbank | 1.38 | 1.54 | 1.74 | 1.89 | +0.36 | Gradual increase in share. |
| 9 | KredoBank | 0.75 | 0.84 | 1.17 | 1.19 | +0.42 | The most notable growth among smaller players in the top 10. |
| 10 | OTP Bank | 1.10 | 1.00 | 1.12 | 0.98 | +0.02 | Close to plateau. |
Supermarkets
This category is also highly concentrated: the top brand holds a 46.58% market share in 2025. At the same time, the top 10 clearly includes “second-tier” brands for which well-designed local pages, product assortment clusters, and PR efforts can more quickly boost brand demand.
| Rank | Brand | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026* | Δ 2023→2025 (pp) | Comment |
| 1 | ATB | 43.30 | 43.71 | 46.58 | 46.79 | +3.28 | Strengthening SBS dominance in 2023–2025. |
| 2 | Silpo | 19.18 | 19.47 | 17.72 | 18.01 | -1.46 | Declining share but stable #2 position. |
| 3 | METRO | 15.93 | 12.17 | 10.52 | 9.71 | -5.41 | Largest SBS decline among top 3. |
| 4 | Fora | 3.33 | 4.54 | 5.14 | 5.35 | +1.81 | Visible SBS growth. |
| 5 | VARUS | 4.39 | 4.54 | 4.85 | 4.76 | +0.46 | Moderate growth. |
| 6 | NOVUS | 3.30 | 4.26 | 4.13 | 4.41 | +0.83 | Growth with local potential. |
| 7 | Auchan | 4.03 | 3.39 | 2.56 | 2.28 | -1.47 | Declining SBS in 2023–2026*. |
| 8 | Velmart | 2.16 | 2.56 | 2.43 | 2.58 | +0.27 | Stable mid-tier player. |
| 9 | Tavria V | 1.25 | 1.38 | 1.42 | 1.43 | +0.17 | Slight growth. |
| 10 | Blyzenko | 0.62 | 0.85 | 1.09 | 1.09 | +0.47 | Strongest growth among lower top-10. |
Drinking water (SBS)
The leader is Morshynska (25.69% in 2025, +2.92 pp vs 2023), followed by Borjomi and Polyana Kvasova. Compared to banks/supermarkets, this category has lower concentration, meaning there is more room for growth.
| Rank | Brand | 2023 | 2025 | 2026* | Δ 2023→2025 (pp) |
| 1 | Morshynska | 22.77 | 25.69 | 26.64 | +2.92 |
| 2 | Borjomi | 16.40 | 15.15 | 15.19 | -1.25 |
| 3 | Polyana Kvasova | 15.95 | 13.97 | 14.08 | -1.98 |
| 4 | Reo | 20.02 | 10.66 | 11.54 | -9.36 |
| 5 | AquaLife | 2.83 | 8.80 | 5.53 | +5.97 |
Beer (SBS)
The leader is Opillia (23.40% in 2025, +3.10 pp vs 2023). The category includes both Ukrainian and international brands. Instead of assumptions, seasonality should be measured (typically strong summer peaks).
| Rank | Brand | 2023 | 2025 | 2026* | Δ 2023→2025 (pp) |
| 1 | Opillia | 20.30 | 23.40 | 23.45 | +3.10 |
| 2 | Corona | 15.44 | 13.83 | 12.47 | -1.61 |
| 3 | Grimbergen | 3.39 | 10.23 | 10.50 | +6.84 |
| 4 | Lvivske | 7.71 | 9.52 | 10.27 | +1.81 |
| 5 | Carlsberg | 6.53 | 7.08 | 7.40 | +0.55 |
Soft drinks (SBS)
The top-3 (Coca-Cola / Pepsi / Schweppes) accounts for 66.79% of SBS in 2025, while Ukrainian brand Zhyvchyk holds 10.16% and ranks in the top-5. This category shows that local brands can grow, but require clear separation from generic queries and strong retail + PR presence.
| Rank | Brand | 2023 | 2025 | 2026* | Δ 2023→2025 (pp) |
| 1 | Coca-Cola | 36.30 | 38.68 | 36.94 | +2.38 |
| 2 | Pepsi | 10.42 | 14.94 | 17.73 | +4.52 |
| 3 | Schweppes | 17.29 | 13.17 | 12.40 | -4.12 |
| 4 | Zhyvchyk | 9.61 | 10.16 | 9.29 | +0.55 |
| 5 | Fanta | 7.60 | 6.36 | 7.87 | -1.24 |
Online education
This category is highly concentrated: Vseosvita ≈ 50% SBS in 2025, while the top-3 account for ~70%. The strongest growth in the top-10 (2023→2025) is shown by Diia.Osvita (+2.18 pp) and JustSchool (+1.79 pp).
| Rank | Brand | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026* | Δ 2023→2025 (pp) |
| 1 | Vseosvita | 49.10 | 50.17 | 49.85 | 49.48 | +0.75 |
| 2 | Prometheus | 12.86 | 12.72 | 12.55 | 12.83 | -0.31 |
| 3 | JustSchool | 5.79 | 7.67 | 7.58 | 8.53 | +1.79 |
| 4 | Diia.Osvita | 3.24 | 3.17 | 5.42 | 6.64 | +2.18 |
| 5 | Genius.Space | 3.25 | 3.49 | 4.15 | 4.01 | +0.90 |
| 6 | EdEra | 5.11 | 4.26 | 3.51 | 3.22 | -1.60 |
| 7 | IT Step | 2.38 | 2.47 | 2.62 | 2.53 | +0.24 |
| 8 | Englishdom | 3.23 | 2.50 | 2.44 | 2.88 | -0.79 |
| 9 | Udemy | 3.12 | 2.85 | 2.41 | 1.82 | -0.71 |
| 10 | Coursera | 2.81 | 2.43 | 2.21 | 1.33 | -0.60 |
Competitive Brand Contexts in Search
Brand-related queries almost always “pull in” competitors in the SERP (through ads, aggregators, comparison sites, and media). For example, in Semrush for e-commerce/retail, the “competitors and alternatives” lists often include players such as ALLO, MOYO, and EVA (as sites that the audience visits simultaneously or afterward).
For the telecom segment, payment/retail intermediaries such as CTRS and EasyPay may appear in competitive “neighborhoods.”
Example of a network diagram of competitive relationships (template for Mermaid; nodes/edges should be generated automatically from Google Trends “related queries” and/or competitor lists from SEO platforms):
Recommendations and forecasts from MIM:AGENCY
Practical recommendations for improving brand visibility
- Brand SERP as a standalone SEO product. Create the “ideal brand search result”: a homepage + logical section architecture so algorithms can generate sitelinks; relevant content and internal links; clear page titles. Sitelinks are generated automatically and depend on site structure and signals.
- Knowledge panel and “official status.” For high-demand brands, it’s important to have a stable knowledge panel (where applicable) and a consistent presence in directories/profiles—this reduces losses to intermediaries and increases the CTR of branded organic traffic.
- Multilingual semantics and homonym control. In the Ukrainian context, 2–4 “canonical” brand spellings are often required (UA/RU/LAT + common errors). For homonymous names, use “brand + modifier” clusters and optimize relevant landing pages for these clusters.
- Content that converts brand demand. In brand clusters such as “login/account,” “track,” “rates,” “payment,” and “contacts,” the most valuable pages are the help section, FAQs, and service statuses. They simultaneously reduce the load on support and strengthen organic rankings.
- Localization and regional marketing. For networks/services with an offline presence, the following often work best: city/region pages, local news, structured data, and support for local informational queries (schedules, addresses, availability).
- PR as brand demand engineering. Peaks in brand search almost always follow major news events or campaigns. Plan your PR so that at the peak of demand, the SERP is “clean” and leads to your assets (website/app/social media/help center), rather than to aggregators.
Conclusions
Brand search in Ukraine shows a pronounced concentration: in most categories, a single leader “captures” 40–60% of all brand demand in the niche. This means that for most players, growing market share is a slow and complex process that requires systematic work, not isolated actions.
The most notable winners of 2023–2025 are brands that either actively built their media presence or gained momentum from government initiatives. Grimbergen grew by +6.84 percentage points in beer, AquaLife by +5.97 percentage points in water, and Diya.Osvita by +2.18 percentage points in online education. What they have in common: new or growing audiences, clear positioning, and high brand recognition in a specific segment.
The biggest losses were among brands that either did not invest in supporting demand or lost their relevance. Reo in drinking water plummeted by −9.36 percentage points, METRO in retail by −5.41 percentage points, and Ukrtelecom saw a 54% drop in traffic over the year. These aren’t just technical metrics: they signal a decline in the brand’s mental availability in the consumer’s mind.
Three practical conclusions
First: concentration is not a death sentence. In categories with a strong leader (banks, education), the second and third tiers are still growing—but more slowly and through targeted work on trust and product communication.
Second: in fragmented niches (water, beer), it’s much easier to shake up the rankings. There, even moderate PR or a distribution push can move a brand up several positions.
Third: brand search reacts to events. Peaks in demand almost always follow major news or campaigns—and if your assets aren’t appearing in the SERPs at that moment, aggregators and competitors reap the benefits.
Sources:
- Google Trends довідка про принципи даних (нормалізація/масштабування, географічна нормалізація).
- Google Search Console: верифікація ресурсу та метрики Performance Report (кліки/покази/позиція).
- Google Ads Keyword Planner довідка (прогнози/планування ключових слів).
- Google Search Central / Google Search Help: sitelinks і knowledge panels.
- Концепт Share of Search / Share of Brand Search та дискусія про кореляції й обмеження.
- Публічно-доступні зрізи Semrush для окремих брендів (обсяги top branded keywords, MoM зміни трафіку доменів).
- Наданий текстовий датасет SBS (категорійні частки, 2023–2026*).
