Welcome to my Looker Studio (formerly Google Data Studio) Tutorial.
I am very excited to teach you how to use Looker Studio to visualize and analyze data.
What is Looker Studio?
Looker Studio (formerly Data Studio) is a tool used to visualize data.
Google has renamed Data Studio to Looker Studio since Google acquired the Looker visualization tool.
Google has unified their business intelligence product family under the Looker umbrella by merging the functionality of Data Studio, Looker and artificial intelligence together in Looker Studio.
All the functionality from Data Studio will be the same in Looker Studio.
Looker Studio is a cloud-based tool which means you can access it from any device/browser as long as you have access to a stable internet connection.
Looker Studio is a free visualisation tool allowing you to build great dashboards and reports.
Google also provides Looker Studio Pro, which is the paid version of Looker Studio, where you get all the features of Looker Studio plus enhanced enterprise capabilities and technical support.
Note: Looker Studio is built on Google Drive. That means you need a Google Drive account before accessing it.
Why use Looker Studio?
When you have got a lot of data to analyze, you cannot spend days or weeks analyzing hundreds or thousands of rows of data in Excel spreadsheets …. to find hidden trends and insight.
You need a tool that allows you to quickly make sense of data and determine patterns and anomalies which are otherwise….. can be extremely hard to detect in a timely manner.
This is where data visualization tools like Looker Studio come in handy. Through this tool, you can greatly speed up your data analysis.
Data visualization is the presentation of data in a graphical format.
Data visualization helps in data interpretation and data retention. It helps to tell meaningful, emotional and engaging stories to key decision-makers.
If you wish to make your data reporting more meaningful and persuasive, then you need to learn the art of storytelling by visualizing your data.
Looker Studio can make your data reporting much more meaningful and persuasive.
Looker Studio is a great visualization tool since it is versatile and easy to create, share and collaborate at zero cost.
Following are some of the main benefits of using Looker Studio as a visualization tool.
#1 Multiple data sources:
You can connect Looker Studio to multiple data sources and collect and combine data in one single report.
This way, you can measure your marketing activities across platforms and channels and generate cross-platform and multi-channel insights.
#2 Unlimited customization:
You can fully customize the Looker Studio reports.
You can use a blank canvas to design your own report from scratch, or you can use a Looker Studio template.
This makes Looker Studio a very convenient and hassle-free way to design reports and dashboards for various data platforms like Google Analytics, Google Ads, YouTube ads, etc.
#3 Dynamic and real-time reporting:
Looker Studio reports are very dynamic in nature. That means you can apply any sort of filter on a data source and narrow down the data based on date range, time, users, device category, country, etc.
Also, these reports can be made in real-time by pulling the data in real-time as it is available in the corresponding data source.
#4 Report sharing and collaboration:
Looker Studio reports can be shared in multiple formats by scheduling email delivery, creating a link for a report or downloading the report as a PDF.
You can also add your peers to the report for editing and reading purposes, making collaboration painless across the team.
#5 Zero cost:
One of the big advantages of using Looker Studio is that it is completely free to use.
Also, there is no limit to the number of users per Looker Studio account, which makes it more meaningful in a large organization.
How to access Looker Studio?
If you have never used Looker Studio before, then the best way to access it is by searching for the keyword ‘Looker Studio’ on google.com and then clicking on the first search engine listing:
Why should you pull data into Looker Studio via a spreadsheet or data warehouse?
A rookie mistake that most Looker Studio users make is pulling data directly from a data platform into Looker Studio and then trying to manipulate it there.
But Looker Studio is not meant for data manipulation. It is not a spreadsheet.
When you manipulate data in Looker Studio, it slows down your report. This is especially true for large data sets.
Manipulating data in a spreadsheet or data warehouse (like BigQuery) is much easier than manipulating data in Looker Studio.
When you choose to manipulate data in Looker Studio, you make it unnecessarily hard to use.
That is why we first pull the data from a data platform into a spreadsheet (like Google Sheets or Excel) and manipulate the data there, and only after that use that data in Looker Studio.
How to visualize data in Google Sheets via Looker Studio?
Step-1: Prepare your Google Sheet Data for Looker Studio.
Before you upload data from Google Sheets to Looker Studio, you need to make sure of two things:
You pulled data correctly into Google Sheets.
The data you pulled into Google Sheets is in the correct format.
Because this is going to affect your data visualization and data analysis in Looker Studio.
If you feed garbage to Looker Studio, then you are going to get garbage. Garbage in, Garbage out.
Following is an example of incorrectly formatted data:
The data is not formatted correctly because it has empty rows, columns, and totals.
The column headers are missing. The data is not using the correct data types.
So, for example, the field ‘order date’ is not of type ‘date’.
The ‘Revenue’, ‘Tax’ and ‘Shipping’ fields are not of type currency.
Following is an example of correctly formatted data:
By correct format, I mean:
There are no empty rows or columns.
Each column has headers that are meaningful, unique and self-explanatory.
There should not be subtotals or grand totals in your data source.
You also need to ensure you are using the correct data types. So, for example, dates are of type ‘date’, texts are of type ‘text’, numbers are of type ‘number’, and the currency is of types ‘currency’.
For example, from the screenshot above, we can see that the ‘order date’ field is of type text. It should be of type ‘date’:
Similarly, the ‘Transaction ID’ field is of type ‘date’. It should be of type ‘number’:
All the green fields represent dimensions, and all the blue fields represent metrics.
At this point, you cannot change the order of various dimensions and metrics, but you can sort them based on name, type, and default aggregation using the arrow buttons:
Step-12: Once everything looks all right then click on the ‘Create Report’ button on the top right-hand side of your screen:
You should now see a dialog box like the one below:
Step-13: Click on the ‘Add to Report’ button.
You should now see the following similar screen with a table on the canvas:
Step-14: Name your report by double-clicking on the text ‘Untitled Report’:
That’s how you can create a report in Looker Studio and visualize the data from Google Sheets.
Step-15: In order to see this table in the ‘view mode’, click on the ‘view’ button on the top right-hand side:
That’s how your report will look in the view mode:
Step-16: If you want to edit this table again, then click on the ‘Edit’ button on the top right-hand side:
That’s how you can use Looker Studio with Google Sheets.
Let’s now learn how to use Looker Studio with Google Analytics.
Following are examples of Google database platform connectors:
1. Google BigQuery – connect Looker Studio to BigQuery tables.
2. Google Cloud Spanner – connect Looker Studio to Cloud Spanner databases.
3. Google Cloud SQL for MySQL – connect Looker Studio to Google Cloud SQL databases.
4. MySQL – connect Looker Studio to MySQL databases.
5. PostgreSQL – connect Looker Studio to PostgreSQL-based databases.
6. Amazon Redshift – connect to the Amazon Redshift database
File upload connector
Use the file uploader connector to upload data from any data source (via a CSV file) to Looker Studio that is not supported by a specific connector.
Use this connector if you want to connect your Looker Studio account with Microsoft Excel spreadsheets.
If you prefer using Excel with Looker Studio, you will use this connector a lot.
I prefer to use Google sheets because it natively integrates with Looker Studio and other Google products like Google Analytics and Google Ads.
Extract data connector
Extract data connector is used to pull only a subset of data from an existing data source (i.e. data source which is already available in your Looker Studio account).
The subset of data from an existing data source is called the ‘Extracted Data Source‘.
Thus by using the Extract data connector, you can create an extracted data source in Looker Studio.
The advantage of using the Extract data connector is that when you extract only a subset of data (instead of all of the data) from a data source (to create reports and explorations), it can make your Looker Studio reports and explorations load faster.
Not only that but your reports and explorations also become more responsive when applying filters and date ranges.
Note(1): Extracted data sources can contain up to 100MB of data.
Note(2): By default, the extracted data sources contain static data. If you want the extracted data source to update automatically, then you would need to turn on the ‘Auto Update’ feature while creating the data source:
What are partner connectors in Looker Studio?
Partner connectors are connectors built and maintained by third parties like Supermetrics, Funnel, etc.
Note: Partner connectors are usually not free to use and would require a monthly/annual paid subscription.
Why do you need partner connectors in Looker Studio?
Google does not provide any connector for non-Google products.
If you want to pull data from a non-Google data platform (like Facebook Ads, Adobe Analytics, Bing Ads, etc.), then you need to use/purchase a partner connector.
Partner connectors are required when you want to consolidate data from multiple data platforms and visualize them in Looker Studio.
You can unite data from multiple marketing platforms into Looker Studio through partner connectors.
For example, you can report and compare Google Ads, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and Bing Ads campaigns in a single Looker Studio report.
Partner connectors make cross-platform reporting possible in Looker Studio.
Supermetrics partner connectors
Supermetrics is a great tool that you can use to get partner connectors.
They provide connectors for the following data platforms:
Facebook Ads
Hubspot
Microsoft Advertising
Twitter Ads
Instagram Insights
LinkedIn Ads
YouTube
Adobe Analytics
MailChimp, etc.
Supermetrics for Looker Studio is a Google Sheet add-on that lets you use several connectors for pulling data from multiple non-Google data platforms.
The daily quotas are refreshed at midnight PST (Pacific Standard Time). Whereas the hourly quotas are refreshed hourly.
Following is the complete list of various GA4 quotas in Looker studio:
The two quotas that have the biggest negative impact on the use of Looker Studio reports are:
#1 Core tokens per project per property per hour (1250)
Every component (like a data table) in your looker studio report consumes a certain number of tokens.
The number of tokens consumed by each component depends on factors like data range, filters, amount of data processed, the frequency of report refreshes, frequency of edits etc.
The more users interact with your reports, the faster you will consume the hourly token quota.
#2 Core Concurrent requests per property (10).
The more people view your looker studio report simultaneously, the faster you will consume this quota.
The more components you use in your looker studio report, the faster you will consume this quota.
You can monitor the GA4 token (data) usage of your report or report component in Looker Studio.
To see the GA4 token usage of your report, right-click on the report canvas and then select ‘Google Analytics Token Usage’ from the drop-down menu:
To see the GA4 token usage of a report component (like a data table), right-click on the report component and then select ‘Google Analytics Token Usage’ from the drop-down menu:
You don’t have to worry about the tokens consumed if you do not directly pull the GA4 data into Looker Studio if you do not use the GA4 connector for Looker Studio.
Instead, do what I do and recommend.
Pull the GA4 data into Google Sheets/BigQuery, manipulate it there and then send it to Looker Studio.
What are the data sources in Looker Studio?
A data source is a Looker Studio file that defines how a connector should pull data from a specific data set and then send it to the report(s) in Looker Studio.
When you log in to Looker Studio, Google gives you the option to create a new data source or edit an existing data source:
But the name ‘data source’ (in the context of Looker Studio) is a misnomer.
You are not creating a data source in Looker Studio.
What you are actually creating is data source schema which defines how a connector should pull data from a specific data set and then send it to one or more reports.
The data set that you use is your actual data source. You create a data source schema for a specific data set.
So if you want to display data from a data set in your Looker Studio report, then you would need to create a data source schema for that data set and then add the data source schema to your report.
What are data source schema fields in Looker Studio?
A data source schema is made up of a set of fields called data source schema fields:
A connector pulls these fields from the data source.
Only the fields provided by the connector are the ones available to use in your schema and reports.
A dimension is the attribute of your website visitors. It is used to describe or categorize your data.
Dimensions in your data source schema appear as green fields:
What are the metrics in Looker Studio?
A metric is a number that is used to measure one of the characteristics of a dimension.
Metrics in your data source schema appear as blue fields:
Note: In Google Analytics, a dimension cannot be used as a metric and vice versa. Whereas in Looker Studio, a dimension can be used as a metric and vice versa.
A report in Looker Studio is made up of one or more chart components like:
Table
Scorecard
Time Series
Bar Chart
Pie Chart
Google Maps
Geo Chart
Line Chart
Area Chart
Scatter Chart
Pivot Table
Bullet Chart
Treemap
You can access these chart components by clicking on ‘Add a Chart’ drop-down menu in the report editor:
Let’s build a chart to show website performance.
Click on the ‘Add a Chart’ drop-down menu and then click on ‘Score Card’:
On the right-hand side of your report editor, you should see the panel where you can select the metric for the scorecard.
Let’s select the ‘Sessions’ metric:
Note: You can also add filters or segments to the selected metric.
Let’s repeat this step to add a few more metrics to our report.
Once you are done, our report may look like the one below:
Now let’s add a trend chart for ‘Visits in Last Week’.
Click on the ‘Add to Chart’ drop-down menu and then select ‘Time Series’:
Under the ‘Data’ tab on the right-hand side panel, select ‘Date’ as a dimension and ‘Sessions’ as a metric:
Now our chart on the canvas may look like the one below:
Since Looker Studio supports dynamic reporting, you can also add controls to your report to give your report users more freedom to slice and dice data by selecting a date range, device type, segment etc.
Frequently Asked Questions about Looker Studio Tutorial
What is Looker Studio?
Looker Studio (formerly known as Google Data Studio) is a completely free data visualization tool which allows you to build great dashboards and reports. It is a cloud-based tool which means you can access it from any device/browser as long as you have access to a stable internet connection.
Why use Looker Studio?
Looker Studio can greatly speed up your data analysis. It allows you to quickly make sense of data and determine patterns and anomalies which otherwise can be extremely hard to detect in a timely manner. Data visualization helps in data interpretation and data retention. It helps to tell meaningful, emotional and engaging stories to key decision-makers.
What are the benefits of using Looker Studio?
Looker Studio is a great visualization tool since it is very versatile and easy to create, share and collaborate at zero cost.
– You can connect Looker Studio to multiple data sources and collect and combine data in one single report.
– You can fully customize the Looker Studio reports. You can use a blank canvas to design your own report from scratch, or you can use a Looker Studio template.
– Looker Studio is a very convenient and hassle-free way to design reports and dashboards for various data platforms like Google Analytics, Google Ads, YouTube ads, etc.
-Looker Studio reports are very dynamic in nature. That means you can apply any sort of filter on a data source and narrow down the data based on date range, time, users, device category, country, etc. Also, these reports can be made in real-time by pulling the data in real-time as it is available in the corresponding data source.
Why should I pull data into Looker Studio via a spreadsheet?
A rookie mistake that most Looker Studio users make is pulling data directly from a data platform into Looker Studio and then trying to manipulate it there. But Looker Studio is not meant for data manipulation. It is not a spreadsheet. When you manipulate data in Looker Studio, it slows down your report. This is especially true for large data sets.
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