Google Analytics (UA)
This page describes how to use Census with Google Analytics
🏃♀️ Getting Started
In this guide, we will show you how to connect Google Analytics to Census and create your first sync. The Google Analytics connection uses the Universal Analytics API. For support for Google Analytics 4, take a look at the separate Google Analytics 4 Connector docs.
Prerequisites
Have your Census account ready. If you need one, create a Free Trial Census account now.
Have your Google Analytics account ready, with admin access to create API-only users and API credentials.
Have the proper credentials to access to your data source. See our docs for each supported data source for further information.
Step 1: Configure Your Google Analytics Account
Prior to adding Google Analytics as a Destination in Census you'll need to:
Create a Custom Dimension scoped to the User (Google Documentation)
Create the Data Set (Google Documentation)
1A: Custom Dimension Set Up
Navigate to your Google Analytics account. Click into Admin Settings-->Custom Definitions-->Custom Dimensions
Create a new custom dimension or view existing ones. If creating a new one click "New Custom Dimension" then provide a name and scope it to the User.
1B: Create the Data Set
Navigate to the Data Import tab within the Settings to view existing data sets or Create a new one.
If creating a new Data Set start by setting the Data Set type to User Data
Under Data Set Details provide a name and select the views that will use the data in the Data Set
Finally, under Data Set schema Select a key from your dimensions and then select the data you'll import.
Step 2: Create the Census Connection
Navigate to the Census Destinations page and click New Destination
Select Google Analytics from the drop down list
Follow the Google OAuth flow to connect your Google Analytics account and allow Census the appropriate permissions
Once redirected back to Census select the Google Analytics account you want to sync to
Step 3: Create your first sync
The sync will move data from your warehouse to your Google Analytics account. In this step, you'll define how that will work.
From inside your Census account, navigate to the Syncs page and click Add Sync.
Under What data do you want to sync?, choose your data warehouse as the Connection and your source: either a Model from the Census Models tab or a database table.
Under Where do you want to sync data to?, choose the Google Analytics account you created in Step 2 as the Connection.
Under Object select one of the data sets you created in Step 1.
Under How should changes to the source be synced?, Mirror will be automatically selected. This is the only supported sync behavior for Google Analytics.
Under Which properties should be updated? Add the fields from your data set you'd like to send to Google Analytics
Click the Next button to see the final preview which will have a recap of what will happen when you start the sync. If you're happy, check the Sync Now checkbox and save the sync.
Confirm the data arrives in Google Analytics!
If you need any help configuring Google Analytics, contact the Census support team to get some help.
🗄 Supported Objects
The available Objects for the Google Analytics destination are the data sets associated with your selected Google Analytics account.
Contact us if you want Census to support more objects for Google Analytics.
🔄 Supported sync behaviors
Behavior | Supported? | Objects |
Mirror | ✅ | All |
Learn about all of our sync behaviors in Core Concepts.
Let us know if you want Census to support additional sync behaviors for Google Analytics.
💡 Things to know
Google Analytics has limits to how frequently properties are updated per day so you may want to avoid continuous syncs, especially if you’re importing data through other mechanisms
For many Google Analytics reports, data imported this way will only shows up if the User ID has been used as a visitor to the property in the last 30 days.
Data takes up to 24 hours to be fully indexed by google
Contact us if your use cases don't work with these limitations. We'd love to hear how we can make this connection better in the future!
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