Collecting data from Google Analytics

This guide explains how to collect data from Google Analytics. To learn how to collect data from a different data source, go back to the Available data sources in Adverity overview.

Introduction

For a list of the fields that you can collect from Google Analytics, see Google Analytics.

Creating a datastream to collect data from Google Analytics

The basics of creating a datastream to collect data from any data source are explained in our guide to Creating a datastream. This guide contains information about the specific steps to create a datastream to fetch data from Google Analytics.

Configuration: Choose the data you want to collect from Google Analytics

To choose what data to collect and customize the Google Analytics datastream configuration, follow these steps:

(Optional) Rename your datastream.

In Report type, select the type of data to collect from Google Analytics.

In View id, select the views for which to collect data. If you do not select any items in a drop-down list, Adverity collects data for all items in the drop-down list.

In Dimensions, Metrics, and Meta Fields, change the list of fields that you want to see in your data extract.

For information on configuring other Google Analytics fields, see Advanced Google Analytics tips.

What's next?

Apply Data Mapping to your collected data to harmonize data collected from different sources in Adverity.
Transform your data to meet your needs by creating and applying transformations to your datastream.
Load your data into Explore & Present to visualize your data in Adverity
Load your data into an external destination of your choice

Advanced Google Analytics tips

Configuring data collection from Google Analytics

In the Settings tab of your Google Analytics datastream overview, you can configure a number of additional settings:

Use resource quotas: Select this checkbox to increase the number of sessions included in Google Analytics sampling of the data. The number of sessions can only be increased if you are an Analytics 360 customer. For more information on resource quotas, see the Google documentation.

The Report Configuration section includes the following fields:

Report type

Select the Report type to define which fields are made available in Dimensions, Metrics, and Meta Fields. Choose one of the following options:

Google Analytics - This is the default option that populates Dimensions, Metrics, and Meta Fields. This allows you to create reports similar to the Custom Reports section in Google Analytics. For more information on these Custom Reports, see the Google documentation.
Multi Channel Funnel - This option combines Google Analytics Conversion data with additional cookie data. The Multi Channel Funnel option returns data based on a large sample set consisting of many conversion paths. For more information on Multi Channel Funnels and conversion paths, see the Google documentation.

View ID

Google Analytics accounts are divided into Properties which are sub-divided into views. You can fetch most of the standard fields. However, the following fields have limitations on what data can be collected:

Custom dimensions and metrics. For more information, see the Google documentation.
Ecommerce dimensions and metrics. For more information, see the Google documentation.

In Adverity, the View id field contains a list of all the available views associated with the authorized Google Analytics account. You can select more than one view in the View id field.

Fetch all views

(Optional) Select the Fetch all views checkbox to collect data from every field listed in the views. If Fetch all views is selected, the Exclude views field below is also enabled. For more information, see Exclude views field below.

If you fetch all views, collecting data may take a long time and lead to performance issues. Only select this checkbox if necessary.

Exclude views

(Optional) Select the views to exclude from the Fetch all views feature. The Exclude views field is only available if Fetch all views is enabled. This option is beneficial if you have many views available and you only want to exclude a few.

Translate goal names

(Optional) Select the Translate goal names checkbox to extract Goals from Google Analytics and convert the data into human-readable names. Goals are set up within a Google Analytics account. For more information, see the Google documentation.

Force daily fetch

(Optional) Select the Force daily fetch checkbox to ensure any multi-day fetches are split into one data extract per day. When enabled, the fetch returns complete data sets instead of data samples.

Skip profile if quota exceeded

(Optional) Select the Skip profile if quota exceeded checkbox to skip unavailable profiles if the daily quota limit is reached.

Dimensions and Metrics

Only certain field combinations are allowed. For example, if you select the User Type dimension, you cannot select the 1 Day Active Users metric. The allowed field combinations are determined within Google Analytics. For more information on the allowed field combinations, see the Google documentation.

Meta Fields

Meta fields are Google Analytics metadata fields. Meta fields are not visible in Google Analytics but can be collected using a datastream.

(Optional) In Meta Fields, select the meta fields to collect metadata from Google Analytics.

Sampling Level

Select how much data is returned in a sample size. Choose one of the following:

Select Default to collect a sample of data big enough to ensure analytical accuracy but enough to be returned in an efficient manner.
Select Small to collect a small sample of data that is returned quickly.
Select Large to collect a large sample of data that is more accurate compared with the default option but takes longer to collect.

The Filters section includes the following fields:

Segments

The Segments field is populated with filters defined by Google Analytics. This list contains default filters (labeled BUILT_IN) and custom filters created in Google Analytics (labeled CUSTOM). For more information on how to create custom segments in Google Analytics, see the Google documentation.

Dynamic segments

Provide a set of filters to apply to the data collection in a code format. For example, to apply filters that find users who used a Chrome browser in at least one of their sessions, enter users::condition::ga:browser==Chrome. For more information on how to code dynamic segments, see the Google documentation.

Filter expression

Provide a filter in the form of a regular expression. This is an alternative filter method to the Segments field described above. For more information on how to filter data using regular expressions, see the Google documentation.

Dimension filter groups

Provide a group of dimension filters in a JSON format. This option is less resource-intensive on API calls compared with the other filters and allows you to use more complex filters. For more information on setting up Dimension filter groups, see the example below or the Google documentation.

{
    "filters":[
        {
            "dimensionName":"ga:channelGrouping",
            "operator":"REGEXP",
            "expressions":[
                "Display|Paid Social|\(Other\)|Referral|Social"
            ]
        }
    ]
}