Connecting GA4 Data in BigQuery to Looker Studio: Basic Guide

Mohamed Natheem

Nov 12, 2024, 11:41 PM

Hello! Anyone know a resource that explains how to connect GA4 data in BigQuery to Looker studio? Like creating a view or a sub-table with only the data we want from the raw GA4 table and then connecting that sub-table with looker studio? I have read some posts online but didn't find any concrete solution. Since, I have never used BQ before, need something basic to get started with.

Forwarded thread from another channel:

Dale McGeorge

Nov 13, 2024, 12:18 AM

@dana @nico Anything you would recommend?

Mohamed Natheem

Nov 13, 2024, 2:02 AM

Claude says 'Aggregated Tables' are the way to go. But looking forward for your thoughts ????

Samantha Torres

Nov 13, 2024, 5:40 AM

I did a presentation on this at Tech SEO Connect. Slides here: <https://speakerdeck.com/samtorres/tech-seo-connect-2024-bigquery-for-seos|https://speakerdeck.com/samtorres/tech-seo-connect-2024-bigquery-for-seos> video: <https://www.youtube.com/live/dzYtcm1yfq4|https://www.youtube.com/live/dzYtcm1yfq4>

Samantha Torres

Nov 13, 2024, 5:41 AM

If you get stuck anywhere, feel free to ping me on it.

Mohamed Natheem

Nov 13, 2024, 6:02 AM

that's a good one ????

So, aggregated tables is the way to go.

I will have to start with querying the data I want from GA4, store it in a new table, and then append the future data to it.

It feels like the same process @noahlearner shared for GSC.

Samantha Torres

Nov 13, 2024, 6:08 AM

yep!

Samantha Torres

Nov 13, 2024, 6:09 AM

Thing about GA4, definitely watch what events you're sending over - you're limited to 1M events per day per stream, so it can get a lil weird

Mohamed Natheem

Nov 13, 2024, 6:22 AM

Got it. Thanks

Nico Brooks

Nov 13, 2024, 6:45 AM

This is <https://github.com/google-marketing-solutions/ga4_dataform|also a great resource>. It took me a while to get my head around it, but you need a sessionized table for general purpose reporting in Looker Studio. The TL;DR version is that rolling up session and user counts by day will inflate both metrics and a lot of other metrics are based on those, so they will get messed up too. <https://datatovalue.blog/ga4-sessionization-and-traffic-source-handling-in-bigquery-eb0235959078|This article> explains why in more detail.

GitHub - google-marketing-solutions/ga4_dataform

Contribute to google-marketing-solutions/ga4_dataform development by creating an account on GitHub.

GA4 Sessionization and Traffic Source handling in BigQuery

One of the biggest changes from UA to GA4 is how the underlying data is modeled. If you still have a few blurry memories of the UA reports…

Reading time

9 min read

Medium: GA4 Sessionization and Traffic Source handling in BigQuery

Nico Brooks

Nov 13, 2024, 6:48 AM

Also, <https://www.teamsimmer.com/all-courses/query-ga4-data-in-google-bigquery/?ref=ga4bigquery.com|Johan van de Werken's course> is the best learning resource I've found by far.

Query GA4 Data In Google BigQuery | Simmer

Query GA4 Data In Google BigQuery is a comprehensive zero-to-hero course designed to teach you everything you need to know about raw data access, query, and analysis.

Est. reading time

17 minutes

Simmer: Query GA4 Data In Google BigQuery | Simmer

Nico Brooks

Nov 13, 2024, 7:25 AM

Another important gotcha that has been <https://theseocommunity.slack.com/archives/C05HC70HNLF/p1728587228262609|pointed out here> by @tony270 and @dave940 is the fact that the export data can change after it has been written. They have seen changes for up to 72 hours - some people say more than that, but I think it's pretty settled after 72. Since you probably don't want to wait 72 hours to see data, you can solve for this with a <https://cloud.google.com/dataform/docs/incremental-tables|Dataform incremental update>.

Mohamed Natheem

Nov 13, 2024, 7:52 AM

Thanks for the resources, Nico. I’ll give them a read.

Dana DiTomaso

Nov 13, 2024, 8:52 AM

I was going to say Johan's course is the way to go. I believe they're working on a new one though!

Nico Brooks

Nov 13, 2024, 9:55 AM

In the Simmer newsletter, Simo said "_The new courses will *not* be a *free upgrade*, but we will offer a discount to enrollees of the original Google BigQuery course,"_ so that's definitely a consideration. Hopefully it will be a big discount ????

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