Data & Analytics — Metric Definitions
This document is the single source of truth for every metric shown on the Data & Analytics tabs. Definitions here are used by the Help Centre articles and in-app tooltips.
Last updated: August 2026
Executive Summary
Followers
The total number of people who follow your brand’s official social media accounts. Which platforms are included depends on which accounts have been connected for your brand (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X/Twitter).
Formula: Sum of followers across all connected social media accounts |
Data source: Native social platform APIs. |
Refresh cadence: Daily. |
Things to be aware of:
Only connected and authorised accounts are counted. If a platform is not connected, its followers will not appear.
Follower counts are a snapshot at the time of the last sync, not a cumulative total.
Organic and paid follower growth are not separated.
In-app tooltip: "Total followers across your connected social media accounts. Platforms shown depend on which accounts are linked." |
Cross Platform Reach
The total number of unique accounts that were shown content from your brand’s social media profiles during the selected period, summed across all connected platforms. Reach measures potential audience exposure — each account is counted once per platform, regardless of how many times they saw your content.
Formula: Sum of unique accounts reached across all connected social platforms |
Data source: Native social platform APIs (e.g. Instagram Insights, Facebook Page Insights). |
Refresh cadence: Daily. |
Things to be aware of:
Reach and Impressions are different: Reach = unique accounts; Impressions = total views (including repeat views by the same account).
A user who follows you on both Instagram and Facebook may be counted once per platform — cross-platform deduplication is not applied.
Only covers organic reach from owned accounts; paid reach is tracked separately under Paid Impressions.
In-app tooltip: "Unique accounts who saw your social content across all connected platforms. Not deduplicated across platforms." |
Paid Impressions
The total number of times your paid ads were displayed to users across all active ad platforms (e.g. Google Ads, Meta Ads) in the selected period. An impression is counted each time an ad is shown, regardless of whether it was clicked.
Formula: Sum of impressions across all connected paid ad platforms |
Data source: Google Ads API and/or Meta Ads Manager API. |
Refresh cadence: Daily. |
Things to be aware of:
One user seeing the same ad multiple times generates multiple impressions. Impressions ≠ unique people reached.
View-through impressions (ads served but not necessarily viewed for a meaningful duration) are included unless filtered at the platform level.
In-app tooltip: "Total times your ads were shown across all platforms. Counts each ad view, including repeat views by the same person." |
Share of Voice %
Your brand’s share of all social media and online mentions across your brand and a defined competitor set. Shows how prominently your brand is being discussed relative to competitors.
Formula: (Brand Mentions ÷ (Total Mentions for Brand + All Competitors)) × 100 |
Data source: Media monitoring platform (Agility PR / Pulsar), scoped to the configured competitor basket. |
Refresh cadence: Daily. |
Things to be aware of:
The result is entirely dependent on which competitors are included in the basket. Adding or removing a competitor will shift your Share of Voice even if your actual mention volume hasn’t changed.
Covers social media and online press / blogs. Does not include paid social advertising mentions.
A high Share of Voice can reflect negative coverage as much as positive.
In-app tooltip: "Your brand’s % of all mentions across your brand + competitors. Changes if the competitor basket changes." |
Positivity %
The percentage of your brand’s social media and online mentions that have been classified as positive in sentiment. This is a signal of how favourably your brand is being discussed online.
Formula: (Total Positive Brand Mentions ÷ Total Brand Mentions) × 100 |
Data source: Sentiment analysis applied to media monitoring data (Agility PR / Pulsar), filtered to brand mentions only. |
Refresh cadence: Daily (dependent on media monitoring feed cadence). |
Things to be aware of:
Sentiment is assigned algorithmically and can misclassify nuanced or sarcastic content. Human review is recommended for significant changes.
Neutral mentions are excluded from the numerator but included in the denominator, so a large volume of neutral coverage will suppress Positivity %.
A drop in Positivity % doesn’t necessarily mean more negative coverage — it could mean a spike in neutral mentions.
In-app tooltip: "% of your brand mentions that are positive in sentiment. (Positive mentions ÷ total mentions) × 100." |
Total Users
The total number of unique individuals who visited your website during the selected period, as identified by GA4 using a combination of user IDs, device IDs, and modelled signals.
Formula: Count of distinct users (GA4 user identity model) |
Data source: Google Analytics 4 (GA4). |
Refresh cadence: Daily. |
Things to be aware of:
GA4’s Total Users includes new and returning users.
Users are identified by device / browser. One person using two different browsers or devices may count as two users.
GA4 uses statistical modelling for users who haven’t consented to tracking (cookieless measurement), so totals are estimates.
In-app tooltip: "Unique visitors to your site in the period. One person on two devices may count as two users. Includes modelled data." |
Paid Engagements
The total number of clicks on your paid advertisements across all active ad platforms. Includes all click types as defined by each platform.
Formula: Sum of clicks across all connected paid ad platforms |
Data source: Google Ads API and/or Meta Ads Manager API. |
Refresh cadence: Daily. |
Things to be aware of:
Click definitions vary slightly between platforms (e.g. Meta counts link clicks differently from Google’s click metric). Cross-platform totals should be treated as a combined indicator rather than a precise unified figure.
Invalid clicks (e.g. detected bot clicks) are typically excluded by platforms automatically.
In-app tooltip: "Total clicks on your paid ads across all platforms. Click definitions vary slightly by platform." |
Share of Search %
Your brand’s share of total search demand across your brand and its competitors. Mirrors Share of Voice but for search engine behaviour specifically.
Formula: (Branded Searches for Your Brand ÷ (Total Branded Searches for Brand + All Competitors)) × 100 |
Data source: Semrush, GB-filtered, scoped to the configured competitor basket. Refreshes weekly. |
Refresh cadence: Weekly. |
Things to be aware of:
As with Share of Voice, the result shifts if the competitor basket changes.
Share of Search is a strong leading indicator of market share, but lags behind brand awareness activity by weeks to months.
In-app tooltip: "Your brand’s % of total searches across your brand + competitors. Shifts if the competitor basket is updated." |
Branded Traffic
The number of sessions (visits) to your website that came from users who searched for your brand name and then clicked through. This is the subset of Branded Searches that resulted in an actual site visit.
Formula: Sessions from branded organic search terms (as attributed in GA4 or Search Console) |
Data source: Google Search Console and/or Google Analytics 4 (GA4). |
Refresh cadence: Daily (Search Console data typically has a 2–3 day lag). |
Things to be aware of:
Branded Traffic will always be lower than Branded Searches. Many people search for a brand but do not click — they may find what they need from the snippet, navigate elsewhere, or be conducting passive research.
Branded Traffic only counts organic search click-throughs, not direct visits or paid brand search clicks.
In-app tooltip: "Visits from users who searched your brand name and clicked through. Always lower than Branded Searches." |
Sessions
The total number of visits to your website in the selected period. A session begins when a user arrives on the site and ends after 30 minutes of inactivity or at midnight. A single user can generate multiple sessions.
Formula: Count of all sessions (including repeat sessions from the same user) |
Data source: Google Analytics 4 (GA4). |
Refresh cadence: Daily. |
Things to be aware of:
Sessions count visits, not people. One user visiting three times = 3 sessions but 1 user.
Bot and spam traffic can inflate session counts unless filters are applied in GA4.
Session definition changed between Universal Analytics and GA4 — historical comparisons across the two are unreliable.
In-app tooltip: "Total visits to your site in the period. One user visiting multiple times counts as multiple sessions." |
Paid Traffic
The number of website visits that originated from a user clicking a paid advertisement (paid search, paid social, display, etc.).
Formula: Count of sessions where medium = “cpc” or “paid” (or equivalent paid UTM parameters) |
Data source: Google Analytics 4 (GA4), using UTM parameters passed from ad platforms. |
Refresh cadence: Daily. |
Things to be aware of:
Paid Traffic will be undercounted if campaigns are not consistently tagged with UTM parameters. Untagged paid clicks often appear as Direct traffic in GA4.
Does not include paid impressions or ad clicks that didn’t result in a site visit.
In-app tooltip: "Visits from paid ads. Requires consistent UTM tagging — untagged paid clicks may appear as Direct traffic instead." |
Share of Traffic %
Your brand’s website traffic as a percentage of total estimated web traffic across the tracked competitor set. Indicates how much of the category’s digital audience your brand is capturing.
Formula: (Your Brand’s Sessions ÷ (Total Sessions for Brand + All Competitors)) × 100 |
Data source: Semrush, scoped to the configured competitor basket. Refreshes monthly. |
Refresh cadence: Monthly (data is typically available with a 1-month lag). |
Things to be aware of:
Traffic estimates are modelled from panel data and are not as precise as first-party analytics (GA4). Treat as directional.
A competitor’s traffic spike (e.g. a viral campaign) will decrease your Share of Traffic even if your own traffic holds steady.
In-app tooltip: "Your site’s % of total web traffic across your brand + competitors. Modelled estimate — use directionally." |
Site Conversion Rate
The percentage of unique visitors (Users) to the website who completed a desired action (conversion event) during the selected period. The conversion event is defined in GA4 (e.g. starting a quote, completing a sign-up).
Formula: (Users who completed a conversion event ÷ Total Users) × 100 |
Data source: Google Analytics 4 (GA4). |
Refresh cadence: Daily. |
Things to be aware of:
The definition of a “conversion” is specific to each customer’s GA4 configuration. Check the GA4 event name if you’re unsure what action is being tracked.
A/B tests, landing page changes, or tracking changes can cause apparent shifts in conversion rate unrelated to real performance.
This metric covers all website visitors regardless of how they arrived, and should not be compared directly against Ad Conversion Rate, which measures paid-ad traffic only.
In-app tooltip: "% of unique visitors who completed a key action on site (e.g. quote started). Conversion event defined in GA4." |
Ad Conversion Rate
The percentage of people who completed a desired action after interacting with one of your ads. Unlike Site Conversion Rate, which measures everyone who visits the website from any source, this measures only the people who arrived via a paid ad.
Formula: (Ad conversions ÷ ad clicks) × 100 |
Data source: Google Ads and/or Meta Ads (platform-reported). |
Refresh cadence: Daily. |
Things to be aware of:
The two conversion rates are not interchangeable and will rarely match: Site Conversion Rate uses GA4 and counts unique visitors from every source, while Ad Conversion Rate uses the ad platforms’ own attribution and counts clicks.
Each ad platform defines a conversion slightly differently, so a blended figure across platforms is indicative rather than exact.
In-app tooltip: "% of people who converted after clicking one of your ads. Measures paid traffic only — see Site Conversion Rate for the whole website." |
Total Ad Spend
The total amount of advertising spend across all connected paid media platforms in the selected period.
Formula: Sum of spend across all connected ad platforms (e.g. Google Ads + Meta Ads) |
Data source: Google Ads API and/or Meta Ads Manager API. |
Refresh cadence: Daily. |
Things to be aware of:
Spend data from ad platforms can be updated retroactively for up to 28 days (Meta) or a few days (Google) as final billing is confirmed. Recent figures may adjust slightly.
Agency fees, creative production costs, and tool costs are not included — this is media spend only.
This metric appears as “Total Cost (Paid Media)” on the Executive Summary and “Total Ad Spend” on the Commercial Impact tab — they refer to the same figure.
In-app tooltip: "Total ad spend across all connected platforms in the period. Media spend only — excludes agency fees and production costs." |
CPA (Cost Per Acquisition)
The average cost of achieving one conversion (acquisition) through paid advertising. Shows how efficiently your ad spend is generating the desired customer action.
Formula: Total Ad Spend ÷ Total Ad Conversions |
Data source: Google Ads and/or Meta Ads (platform-reported). |
Refresh cadence: Daily. |
Things to be aware of:
Conversions are tracked using the GA4 new customer event — not the ad platform’s own conversion count. Ad spend comes from Google Ads / Meta Ads; the conversion denominator comes from GA4. Confirm the GA4 event name in your account if the conversion definition is unclear.
A rising CPA isn’t always a problem if the quality or value of conversions has increased. Always view CPA alongside ROAS and conversion volume.
CPA will fluctuate significantly during periods of low conversion volume — small absolute changes become large percentage swings.
In-app tooltip: "Average cost per conversion from paid ads. (Total ad spend ÷ total conversions). Uses the ad platform’s attribution." |
ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)
The revenue generated for every £1 spent on advertising. A ROAS of 3.0× means £3 of revenue was attributed to every £1 of ad spend.
Formula: Revenue Attributed to Ads ÷ Total Ad Spend |
Data source: Ad platform conversion value data (Google Ads / Meta Ads) and/or GA4 e-commerce / goal value data. |
Refresh cadence: Daily (subject to attribution window delays). |
Things to be aware of:
The ROAS formula may be configured differently per customer depending on available data. Where direct purchase revenue is not available, a proxy formula may be used. Confirm the exact formula in each customer’s configuration documentation.
ROAS accounts only for ad spend, not total marketing cost. A strong ROAS can coexist with poor overall profitability if other costs are high.
Different attribution windows (Google vs Meta vs GA4) will produce different ROAS figures for the same period.
The figure may be displayed as a percentage (e.g. 100.71%) or as a multiplier (e.g. 1.0×) depending on dashboard configuration — both are valid formats.
In-app tooltip: "Revenue per £1 of ad spend. Formula may vary by account. Check configuration docs for exact calculation used." |
Brand Health
Positivity %, Share of Voice %, Cross Platform Reach, and the shared social / paid metrics are defined in the Executive Summary section above. The following entries cover Brand Health-specific components.
Media Mentions
The total number of times your brand has been mentioned in online articles, news sites, blogs, and press during the selected period.
Formula: Count of articles / posts containing a tracked brand keyword, within the selected geography and date range |
Data source: Media monitoring platform (Agility PR / Pulsar). |
Refresh cadence: Daily (articles ingested as they are published; there may be a lag of up to 24 hours for some outlets). |
Things to be aware of:
Syndicated content (the same article republished across multiple outlets) counts as a separate mention for each outlet.
Very low-relevance mentions (e.g. brand name appearing incidentally) may be included.
Readership figures per outlet are estimates based on historical traffic data — some outlets will show 0 where readership data is unavailable.
In-app tooltip: "Number of times your brand appeared in online news and press in the period. Syndicated articles count separately per outlet." |
Mention Sentiment by Brand (chart)
A stacked bar chart showing the split of Positive, Neutral, and Negative mentions for your brand and each competitor in the basket. Allows direct sentiment comparison across the competitive set.
Formula: Positive, Neutral, and Negative mention counts per brand, as a proportion of each brand’s total mentions |
Data source: Media monitoring platform (Agility PR / Pulsar), same feed as Media Mentions and Share of Voice. |
Refresh cadence: Daily. |
Things to be aware of:
Competitor bars reflect their sentiment proportion — a competitor with very few mentions will show the same bar width as one with many.
In-app tooltip: "Sentiment breakdown (positive / neutral / negative) for your brand vs competitors in the basket." |
Publication Breakdown (table)
A ranked list of the publications generating the most mentions of your brand in the selected period, showing each outlet’s estimated readership and mention count.
Formula: Ranked by mention count (descending). Readership sourced from outlet audience data where available. |
Data source: Media monitoring platform (Agility PR / Pulsar). |
Refresh cadence: Daily. |
Things to be aware of:
Ranked by mention count by default. A publication with high readership but one mention may appear below a niche outlet with multiple mentions.
Readership is an estimate; outlets with no available readership data show 0.
In-app tooltip: "Top publications mentioning your brand, ranked by mention count, with estimated readership per outlet." |
Search & Visibility
Branded Searches, Share of Search %, Sessions, and Share of Traffic % are defined in the Executive Summary section above. The following entries cover Search & Visibility-specific chart components.
Branded Search Breakdown by Competitor (chart)
A bar chart showing the absolute volume of branded searches for your brand and each competitor in the basket during the selected period. Used alongside Share of Search % to show both relative share and absolute scale.
Formula: Sum of branded search volume per brand in the configured competitor basket |
Data source: Semrush, scoped to the configured competitor basket. Refreshes weekly. |
Refresh cadence: Weekly. |
Things to be aware of:
Bars show total branded search volume, not Share of Search. A competitor can have a smaller share but still have growing absolute volume.
In-app tooltip: "Branded search volume for your brand vs each competitor. Shows absolute scale, not relative share." |
Sessions Breakdown by Source (chart)
A bar chart showing how your total website sessions break down by traffic source — e.g. Organic Search, Paid Search, Direct, Referral, Social, Email. Useful for understanding which channels are driving site traffic.
Formula: GA4 sessions grouped by default channel grouping |
Data source: Google Analytics 4 (GA4), using channel groupings. |
Refresh cadence: Daily. |
Things to be aware of:
“Direct” traffic is often overstated. Any session where GA4 cannot identify the source (e.g. untagged email links, some mobile apps, secure referrals) defaults to Direct.
Paid channels will only appear correctly if campaigns are tagged with UTM parameters.
In-app tooltip: "Your site sessions broken down by channel (organic, paid, direct, etc.). Direct may be overstated if UTMs are missing." |
Commercial Impact
Site Conversion Rate, Total Ad Spend, CPA, and ROAS are defined in the Executive Summary section above. The following entries cover Commercial Impact-specific chart components.
Google Conversions (chart)
A time-series chart showing the daily or weekly volume of conversions attributed to Google Ads campaigns over the selected period, compared to the previous equivalent period.
Formula: Count of conversion events attributed to Google Ads activity (per Google Ads attribution model) |
Data source: Google Ads conversion tracking. |
Refresh cadence: Daily (conversions within the attribution window can update retroactively for several days). |
Things to be aware of:
Uses Google Ads’ own attribution, not GA4. Conversion counts here may differ from GA4’s conversion figures for the same period.
The chart shows volume, not value. CPA and ROAS tiles give the efficiency view.
In-app tooltip: "Daily Google Ads conversion volume over time. Uses Google’s own attribution — may differ from GA4 conversion counts." |
Meta Conversions (chart)
A time-series chart showing the daily or weekly volume of conversions attributed to Meta (Facebook/Instagram) Ads campaigns over the selected period, compared to the previous equivalent period.
Formula: Count of conversion events attributed to Meta Ads activity (per Meta’s attribution model) |
Data source: Meta Ads Manager, via Meta Pixel or Conversions API. |
Refresh cadence: Daily (Meta conversion data can update retroactively for up to 28 days within the attribution window). |
Things to be aware of:
Meta uses a default attribution window of 7-day click + 1-day view. This is more generous than Google’s default and means the same conversion may be credited to both platforms.
Do not add Google Conversions and Meta Conversions together to get a total — double-counting is likely.
Conversions may drop temporarily after iOS privacy changes reduce signal quality for Meta’s pixel.
In-app tooltip: "Daily Meta Ads conversion volume over time. Don’t add to Google Conversions — the same purchase may be counted in both." |
Media Mentions Table — Column Definitions
Each row in the table represents a single coverage item. The Publication column contains several pieces of information separated by a pipe ( | ) character, rather than each piece having its own column.
Column | What it means |
Publication | The outlet’s domain name, followed by the article headline, publication date, format (Online or Print), sentiment (Positive or Negative), and country of the publication. |
Readership | Estimated monthly audience for that publication. Shows 0 where readership data is unavailable. |
Sentiment | Positive or Negative, as assessed by the media monitoring platform based on article tone toward your brand. Shown inline in the Publication column, not as a separate column. |
Country | The country of the publishing outlet, shown inline in the Publication column. GB is the default, though international mentions may appear where relevant. |
Key Concepts
Competitor Basket
The defined set of competitor brands used as the denominator in all “share of” metrics (Share of Voice, Share of Search, Share of Traffic). These metrics are relative — the basket determines what you’re being compared against.
The competitor basket is agreed at onboarding based on direct market competitors and can be reviewed periodically or on request.
Formula: N/A — conceptual definition |
Data source: Agreed between the customer and the account team at onboarding. |
Things to be aware of:
Adding or removing a competitor will retroactively change all historical “share of” metrics, because the denominator changes. Treat any period before a basket change as a separate data series.
Competitors should be broadly comparable in category and geography — including a significantly larger or smaller player will distort all share metrics.
In-app tooltip: "The set of competitors used in all “share of” metrics. Changing the basket shifts historical figures — handle with care." |
“Last 30 days” vs “Last 90 days”
The date window shown on each KPI tile. Different tiles use different default windows based on the nature of the metric.
Window | Typically used for |
Last 30 days | Fast-moving metrics where recency matters most (e.g. Paid Impressions, Sessions, Ad Spend) |
Last 90 days | Slower-moving brand and search metrics where a longer window smooths noise and shows trends (e.g. Share of Voice, Branded Searches, ROAS) |
Note: Comparing a 30-day tile against a 90-day tile directly is not valid — the time windows are different. The exact date range is shown in small text above each tile. |
In-app tooltip: “30-day tiles track fast-moving metrics; 90-day tiles smooth slower brand trends. Date windows differ by design.” |
Previous-Period Comparison
The percentage change shown beneath each KPI tile, comparing the current period against the equivalent previous period of the same length.
A figure of −100.0% means the metric was above zero in the previous period and has dropped to exactly zero in the current period. This does not necessarily indicate an error — it may mean a campaign was paused, a tracking tag stopped firing, or a data source connection was interrupted.
Formula: ((Current Period Value − Previous Period Value) ÷ Previous Period Value) × 100 |
Data source: Derived from the same data source as the primary metric. |
Things to be aware of:
If the previous period value was 0, the percentage change is undefined and will show as — or N/A.
A significant change always warrants investigation: check whether the data source is connected and whether the metric genuinely hit zero or there is a tracking gap.
In-app tooltip: "Change vs the previous period of equal length. −100% means the metric hit zero — check data sources if unexpected." |
Campaign labels such as TOFU, MOFU, BOFU, ABO, ASC, and PMAX are defined in the Glossary.
Last updated: August 2026 • To suggest amendments, contact the Data & Analytics team.