When looking at query data from Google Search Console (GSC) data in Looker Studio, being able to visualise branded vs non-branded search is powerful. This information allows you to see the percentage split between the 2 cohorts, which then helps us to focus our attention on narrower data sets. Including different ‘brand vs generic’ visualisations in your reports also helps clients and collaborators better understand this data.

Before starting, make sure you have a Looker Studio report setup and a Google Search Console profile that you have access too.

You’ll need to add your Google Search Console data source to the report by navigating through the following steps:

• Resource > Manage Added Data Sources > Add a Data Source
• Select Search Console
• Select either of the 2 options:
  • Site: This reporting aggregates data for your entire website.
  • URL: This reporting provides granular insights into individual pages.
• Select Web as your Search Type
• Complete by clicking Add ✓

Now we’re ready to setup our brand parameter.

• Resource > Manage Added Data Sources > Click Edit on the GSC data source you added
• In the top-right corner, click + ADD A PARAMETER
• Enter a parameter name that represents branded search, such as “Brand”
• Data Type remains as Text
• Permitted Values has “Any values” ticked
• In this field, enter a regex that captures your branded search queries. The example below is the most basic example of this:

brand name.*|.*alternative brand name.*|.*brand name mispelling.*

💡 Helpful tip: Knowing basic regex really helps clean your data and capture as many misspellings as possible. Some helpful regex symbols to look into are: ^, $, [a-z], [0-9], \.

Now that you’ve set up a brand parameter within your GSC data source, we can now use this to help create a calculated field that controls this data. Follow the steps below.

• Resource > Manage Added Data Sources > Click Edit on the GSC data source you added
• In the top-right corner, click + ADD A FIELD > Add Calculated Field
• Name your new field something like “Brand / Generic”
• Paste the following formula:

CASE WHEN (REGEXP_MATCH(Query,Brand)) THEN "Brand Keywords" ELSE "Generic Keywords" END

Most SEOs will go through the motions of doing similar things to what I went through in this post. The best advice I can give is to create visuals and share data that means something and makes our lives easier (we like easier).