Last Updated: November 11, 2021

By backfilling Google Analytics data in BigQuery, you can export historical data into your BigQuery project. 

Prerequisites for backfilling Google Analytics data

Before you can backfill Google Analytics data in BigQuery:

#1 You would need access to a BigQuery project which has got at least one dataset and one data table.

#2 Your BigQuery project must be associated with at least one active data transfer service.

#3 Your initial data transfer must have been completed successfully for your chosen data source.

#4 Different data sources (like Google Analytics, Google Ads, Facebook etc) have different data retention policies which could restrict the amount of data you are allowed to backfill.

If you are using a third-party solution/connector (like Supermetrics) to connect to a data source then the amount of data you are allowed to backfill will depend upon the connector being used. 

For example, ‘Supermetrics for BigQuery’ connector allows you to backfill up to six months worth of data at one time. If you want to backfill more data then you would need to do it in separate batches of six months sized.

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Follow the steps below to backfill Google Analytics data in BigQuery:

Step-1: Navigate to your BigQuery account: https://console.cloud.google.com/bigquery

Step-2: Make sure that you are in the project whose data transfer service you want to edit for backfilling Google Analytics data:

Step-3: Click on link ‘Data transfers’ from the left-hand side navigation:

Step-4: Click on the name of the data transfer service you want to edit:

You should now see a screen like the one below:

Step-5: Click on the ‘SCHEDULE BACKFILL‘ button to backfill Google Analytics data into your BigQuery data table:

Step-6: Select the start and end date for the Google Analytics backfill and then click on the ‘OK’ button to start the data transfer:

For each day in the selected date range, a new data transfer service will be added to your run history:

Step-7: Wait for the data transfer to complete. This could take some time depending upon how much data you requested to be backfilled:

Step-8: Click on the ‘SQL workspace’ link from the left-hand side navigation:

Step-9: Navigate to the dataset which contains the data table(s) that contain the backfilled Google Analytics data:

You should now be able to see the backfilled Google Analytics data for a particular day from the date drop-down menu:

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