Google Analytics Data Studio | CSS-Tricks

I’ve said a number of times in the past:

I wish I could just check a checkbox and make certain Google Analytics data public.

I get that analytics can be a very private thing for some sites. I think there are just as many sites where that data just doesn’t need to be private. Not only would it be interesting, but insight might be gleaned from having more eyeballs on the data, and it could contribute to a wider data set of analytic trends.

Anyway, there is no such checkbox. But Zach Aten pointed out to me there is a thing called Data Studio that allows you to build custom visual reports, and you can make them public with the same kind of sharing controls you find in other Google products (like Google Docs).

I slapped together a quick dashboard for just raw traffic data. Not the most useful thing to look at, but sometimes the most fun. I’d embed it here, but…

Can I embed charts on other sites?

No. Data Studio is currently a stand alone product.

Embedding a Data Studio report in an iframe is blocked by Chrome as a potential security risk.

Update: apparently times have changed, and they allow embedding now.

So here’s a link to it and a picture:

Sorry about the awful design. It just, you know, proves it’s authentic. Their templates are much nicer, and all the tools are there to do as good of a job as you’d like.

Of course, you can do a way better job of not only building more beautiful and useful charts but also of collecting more useful data. If you’re using Google Analytics, doing a little bit more than using the default snippet goes a long way. Remember we have an article and video on that subject.

Julian

# February 26, 2017

Thanks for sharing!

It would be interesting to see some weighted numbers, like sessions by country, accounting for population. This would make the map more interesting: The US has 3400 sessions per million. Australia has 4150 sessions per million…. hey, that’s a bigger difference than I thought it would be. Come to Australia and talk about css. And tricks. ;)

Anthony Keal

# February 28, 2017

Thanks for sharing Chris.

I like Data Studio but keen to see some fine tune control. Ability to pull specific data in a format I want – and better still, to perform calculations and comparisons on that data.

At the moment I use the SuperMetrics chrome extension inside Google Sheets. Way more powerful.

I’ve then styled a sheet to look like a custom A4 analytics report. It updates the data automatically every month. I annotate it and send to the client. Easy :)

Waiting for that perfect solution though that is a good mix of powerful reporting and good design.

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