Default to the brand at the end, but the real answer depends on what kind of search the page is trying to win. The deciding question is simple: on this page’s queries, is the keyword earning the click, or is the brand?
For a discovery query, where people are searching the topic or service and do not yet know you, lead with the keyword and put the brand last. Those searchers scan for the words that match what they typed; the keyword up front is what pulls their eye and earns the click, and the brand sitting at the end adds recognition without crowding out the part that matters. This is the right call for most blog posts, service pages, and any content competing for non-branded terms, and it is why “keyword first, brand last” is the sensible default.
For a query where your brand is the draw, the order flips. When the searcher already knows you, or your name itself is what makes people click, the brand can go first because the name is the reason they are clicking. That covers strong, recognized brands, branded searches for your company, and sometimes local searches where someone is hunting for a specific known store rather than just any nearby option. Split tests on well-known brands have shown leading with the name can lift clicks precisely because the name carries pull that a generic keyword does not. But this works only when the brand genuinely earns attention; for an unknown brand, putting the name first just spends your best space on words searchers do not recognize.
Place the brand by the job the page does. A known-brand homepage or a branded landing page can lead with the name. A discovery page chasing a topic should lead with the keyword and close with the brand. Look at which one is doing the work of earning the click, and put that first.