Google Analytics (UA)
This page describes how to use Census with Google Analytics
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.
- 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.
Prior to adding Google Analytics as a Service Connection in Census you'll need to:
- Navigate to your Google Analytics account. Click into Admin Settings-->Custom Definitions-->Custom Dimensions
Create a Custom Dimension
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
Select a Google Analytics account
The sync will move data from your warehouse to your Google Analytics account. In this step, you'll define how that will work.
- 1.
- 2.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.
- 3.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.
- 4.Under How should changes to the source be synced?, Mirror will be automatically selected. This is the only supported sync behavior for Google Analytics.
- 5.Under Which properties should be updated? Add the fields from your data set you'd like to send to Google Analytics
- 6.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.
- 7.Confirm the data arrives in Google Analytics!
If you need any help configuring Google Analytics, contact the Census support team to get some help.
The available Objects for the Google Analytics destination are the data sets associated with your selected Google Analytics account.
Behavior | Supported? | Objects |
Mirror | ✅ | All |
- 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!
Last modified 4mo ago