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Brand Signal Index (BSI v2)
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Baseline = 100  ·  Above 100 = brand strength growing
Baseline Rows
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Current Rows
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Smoothing
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Spend Adj (k)
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＋ Add Weekly Data
Model Configuration
Smoothing & Elasticity
Minimum Volume Thresholds
Signal Weights (must sum to 1.0)
Total: 1.00 ✓
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How to Pull BSI Data from GA4

The Brand Signal Index requires 7 data points per week. All of them live in Google Analytics 4 (GA4) or Google Search Console — you just need to know where to look. This guide walks you through each one. Bookmark this tab. You'll use it every week until the process becomes second nature.

💡 Pro Tip: Build a saved report
Once you've run each report once, save them in GA4 using the bookmark icon. Next week you just open the saved report, change the date range, and copy the number. The whole process takes under 10 minutes once you're set up.
Total Sessions
Field: Total Sessions
▼
The total number of sessions on your website during the week — your denominator for Brand Share and Direct Share calculations.
Where to find it in GA4:
  1. In GA4, go to Reports → Acquisition → Traffic Acquisition
  2. Set your date range to the specific week (Monday–Sunday recommended for consistency)
  3. Look at the Sessions column total at the bottom of the table
  4. That number is your Total Sessions for the week
⚠ Gotcha
GA4 uses "Sessions" not "Users" — make sure you're reading the Sessions column, not Users or New Users. They look similar but Sessions will always be equal to or higher than Users.
💡 Pro Tip
Use the same day-of-week boundaries every week (e.g., always Monday–Sunday). Inconsistent date ranges will make your trend data noisy.
Branded Sessions
Field: Branded Sessions
▼
Sessions that came from someone searching for your brand name (or variations of it) in Google. This is the most important signal in the BSI.
Method 1 — GA4 Search Console Integration (Recommended):
  1. In GA4, go to Reports → Acquisition → Search Console → Queries
  2. Set your date range to the week
  3. In the search/filter bar, filter by Query contains [your brand name]
  4. Sum the Sessions column for all branded query rows
Method 2 — Organic Search Channel Filter:
  1. Go to Reports → Acquisition → Traffic Acquisition
  2. Filter: Session default channel group = Organic Search
  3. Add a secondary dimension: Session source
  4. Export or note sessions where source = google/bing AND you can verify branded queries via Search Console
⚠ Gotcha
GA4 doesn't natively separate "branded" from "non-branded" organic sessions without Search Console integration. If you don't have Search Console linked, link it now — it's free and takes 5 minutes. Go to Admin → Product Links → Search Console Links.
💡 Pro Tip
Include common misspellings and abbreviations of your brand name in your filter. For example, if the brand is "Metro Home Medical," also filter for "metro medical," "metrohome," etc. — real users don't always spell it right.
Direct Sessions
Field: Direct Sessions
▼
Sessions where the visitor typed your URL directly into their browser, used a bookmark, or came from an untracked source. A proxy for brand recall — people who already know you.
Where to find it in GA4:
  1. Go to Reports → Acquisition → Traffic Acquisition
  2. Set your date range to the week
  3. Find the row where Session default channel group = Direct
  4. The Sessions number on that row is your Direct Sessions
⚠ Gotcha
"Direct" in GA4 is a catch-all for any session where the source couldn't be identified — this includes dark social (links shared in Slack, email apps, etc.), broken UTM tracking, and some mobile app traffic. It's a noisy signal, which is why the BSI weights it lower than Brand Share. Don't panic if it fluctuates more than other signals.
💡 Pro Tip
If your client sends a lot of email campaigns without UTM parameters, you'll see inflated Direct numbers. Encourage them to tag all email links — it cleans up this signal significantly.
Returning User Rate
Field: Returning Rate (enter as decimal, e.g. 0.42)
▼
The percentage of users who have visited the site before. A rising returning rate suggests growing brand loyalty and recall.
Where to find it in GA4:
  1. Go to Reports → Retention (under the Life Cycle section)
  2. Set your date range to the week
  3. At the top you'll see a breakdown of New vs. Returning users
  4. Divide Returning Users by Total Users to get the rate
  5. Example: 4,200 returning ÷ 10,000 total = 0.42 — enter 0.42 in the field
Alternative method:
  1. Go to Reports → Acquisition → User Acquisition
  2. The New users metric is shown — subtract from Total Users to get Returning, then divide
⚠ Gotcha
GA4 identifies returning users by device/browser cookie — not by login. A user who clears cookies or switches devices looks like a new user. This means returning rate is slightly understated. It's still directionally useful — just don't over-interpret small movements (±2%).
💡 Pro Tip
For HME/healthcare clients, a high returning rate can also indicate patients checking their order status or portal logins — not pure brand recall. If the client has a patient portal on the same domain, consider noting this when interpreting the signal. The BSI config lets you weight this signal lower for those clients.
Branded CTR
Field: Branded CTR (enter as decimal, e.g. 0.078)
▼
The click-through rate on branded search queries — how often someone who searched for the brand name actually clicked through to the site. A high branded CTR means strong brand recognition in the SERP.
Where to find it — Google Search Console (not GA4):
  1. Go to Google Search Console (search.google.com/search-console)
  2. Click Search Results in the left nav
  3. Set your date range to the week
  4. Make sure CTR is checked in the metrics at the top
  5. Scroll down to the Queries tab
  6. Filter queries by brand name (click the + Filter button → Query → Contains → [brand name])
  7. The CTR shown at the top after filtering is your Branded CTR
  8. Divide by 100 before entering — Search Console shows 7.8%, enter 0.078
⚠ Gotcha
Search Console data has a 2–3 day lag and sometimes up to a week for full data. Always pull this number at the end of the following week to make sure all data has populated. Also note: Search Console only shows data for Google — not Bing or other search engines.
💡 Pro Tip
A declining branded CTR despite stable branded impressions usually means a competitor is running branded keyword ads and stealing clicks. That's a strategic flag worth raising with the client — it's not a BSI problem, it's a competitive problem.
Branded CVR
Field: Branded CVR (enter as decimal, e.g. 0.031)
▼
The conversion rate of visitors who arrived via branded search. These are your highest-intent visitors — they already know the brand and came looking for it. A strong branded CVR confirms that brand awareness is translating to business outcomes.
Where to find it in GA4:
  1. Go to Reports → Acquisition → Traffic Acquisition
  2. Set your date range to the week
  3. Add a filter: Session default channel group = Organic Search
  4. Make sure your key conversion event is set (e.g., form_submit, phone_call, purchase)
  5. Find the Conversions column and note the total for organic search
  6. Now narrow to branded: use a secondary dimension of Session Google Ads keyword — or cross-reference with Search Console branded sessions volume
  7. Divide branded conversions by branded sessions = Branded CVR
  8. Example: 58 conversions ÷ 1,850 branded sessions = 0.031
⚠ Gotcha
This is the hardest number to pull cleanly in GA4 because there's no native "branded organic conversion" segment out of the box. The cleanest approach is to create a custom segment in GA4 Explorations: Explore → Segment → Session segment → filter by organic channel AND branded query. It takes 10 minutes to build once and saves indefinitely.
💡 Pro Tip
If creating the custom segment is too complex for now, a reasonable proxy is to use your overall organic search CVR filtered to your top branded landing page (usually the homepage). It's not perfect but it's directionally accurate and takes 2 minutes to pull.
Paid Brand Spend
Field: Paid Brand Spend ($)
▼
The amount spent on branded paid search campaigns (Google Ads campaigns targeting your own brand name) during the week. The BSI uses this to adjust for the fact that pumping money into branded ads will artificially inflate branded session metrics — separating paid brand push from organic brand pull.
Where to find it in Google Ads:
  1. Go to Google Ads → Campaigns
  2. Set your date range to the week
  3. Identify your branded campaigns — these are typically named something like "Brand," "Brand Keywords," "[Client Name] — Brand," etc.
  4. Note the Cost column total for all branded campaigns
  5. Enter that dollar amount in the field (e.g., 3200 for $3,200)
If the client has no branded paid search campaigns:
  1. Enter 0 in this field
  2. With spend at $0, the elasticity adjustment has no effect and Brand Share is used as-is
⚠ Gotcha
Don't include general SEM spend here — only campaigns specifically targeting branded keywords. Including non-branded spend will over-penalize the Brand Share signal. If you're not sure which campaigns are branded, look at the keyword lists: branded campaigns target exact/phrase match of the company name, product names, or URL.
💡 Pro Tip
Some clients run branded ads defensively (to block competitors from bidding on their name) rather than for demand generation. In those cases, branded spend may be very consistent week over week — which actually makes the elasticity adjustment more stable and predictable.
Weekly Data Pull Checklist

Use this as your weekly routine. Should take 10–15 minutes once you have saved reports set up.

1
GA4 Traffic Acquisition
Pull: Total Sessions, Direct Sessions
2
GA4 Retention Report
Pull: Returning User Rate (returning ÷ total)
3
Google Search Console
Pull: Branded Sessions, Branded CTR
4
GA4 Explorations (Custom Segment)
Pull: Branded CVR
5
Google Ads
Pull: Paid Brand Spend ($)
6
Enter Data
Go to Data Entry tab, add the week's row