Google Analytics integration summary

Stitch’s Google Analytics integration allows you to create custom reports by selecting the metrics and dimension you want to replicate. You can create multiple reports and configure each of them individually. Refer to the Schema section for more info and an example table schema.

This integration:

  • Supports creating multiple custom reports
  • Supports custom metrics and dimensions
  • Doesn’t currently support Lifetime Values and Cohorts
  • Doesn’t currently support Filters or Segments

Google Analytics feature snapshot

A high-level look at Stitch's Google Analytics (v1) integration, including release status, useful links, and the features supported in Stitch.

STITCH
Release status

Released on March 30, 2020

 Supported by

Stitch
Stitch plan

Standard

 API availability

Available
Singer GitHub repository

singer-io/tap-google-analytics
REPLICATION SETTINGS
Anchor Scheduling

Supported

 Advanced Scheduling

Supported
Table-level reset

Supported

 Configurable Replication Methods

Unsupported
DATA SELECTION
Table selection

Supported

 Column selection

Supported
Select all

Unsupported
TRANSPARENCY
Extraction Logs

Supported

 Loading Reports

Supported

Connecting Google Analytics

Google Analytics setup requirements

To set up Google Analytics in Stitch, you need:

  • At least Read & Analyze permissions in the account you want to connect to Stitch. See Google’s documentation for more info.

  • To have recent data in the account you want to connect to Stitch. Verify that there is data from the past 30 days in the account before continuing.

  • To pause all ad-blocking software. Because Google authentication uses pop ups, you may encounter issues if ad blockers aren’t disabled during the setup.

Step 1: Add Google Analytics as a Stitch data source

  1. Sign into your Stitch account.

  2. On the Stitch Dashboard page, click the Add Integration button.

  3. Click the Google Analytics icon.

  4. Enter a name for the integration. This is the name that will display on the Stitch Dashboard for the integration; it’ll also be used to create the schema in your destination.

    For example, the name “Stitch Google Analytics” would create a schema called stitch_google_analytics in the destination. Note: Schema names cannot be changed after you save the integration.

Step 2: Configure your custom reports

Next, you’ll configure the custom report(s) you want to replicate. The report(s) you enter on this page are used to create the tables in your destination.

In the Report Name field, enter the name of report. This will be used to dynamically create the name of the report’s corresponding table in the destination:

Creating a custom Google Analytics report named Visitor Traffic

To add another report, click Configure another report and enter a name for the report.

Step 3: Define the historical replication start date

The Sync Historical Data setting defines the starting date for your Google Analytics integration. This means that data equal to or newer than this date will be replicated to your data warehouse.

Change this setting if you want to replicate data beyond Google Analytics’s default setting of 1 year. For a detailed look at historical replication jobs, check out the Syncing Historical SaaS Data guide.

Step 4: Create a replication schedule

In the Replication Frequency section, you’ll create the integration’s replication schedule. An integration’s replication schedule determines how often Stitch runs a replication job, and the time that job begins.

Google Analytics integrations support the following replication scheduling methods:

To keep your row usage low, consider setting the integration to replicate less frequently. See the Understanding and Reducing Your Row Usage guide for tips on reducing your usage.

Step 5: Authorize Stitch and select a Google Analytics profile

Selecting a Google Analytics profile.

  1. Next, you’ll be prompted to log into your Google account and approve Stitch’s access to your Google Analytics data. Note that we will only ever read your data.
  2. Click Allow to continue.

  3. After your credentials are validated, you’ll be prompted to select the Google Analytics profile you want to connect to Stitch.

    Remember: Profiles need to have Read & Analyze permissions to be detected by Stitch. If you don’t see the profile you want in this list, we recommend that you double-check the permission settings.

  4. When finished, click Continue.

Step 6: Set metrics and dimensions to replicate

To complete the setup, you’ll need to select metrics and dimensions for each report you want to replicate to your destination.

  1. In the list of reports that displays - or in the Tables to Replicate tab, if you skipped this step during setup - locate a report you want to replicate.
  2. To track a report, click the checkbox next to the report’s name. You’ll be redirected to a page with a list of metrics and dimensions available for replication.

  3. Select the metrics and dimensions you want to include in the report. When making your selections, keep the following in mind:

    • You can select up to 10 metrics and 7 dimensions per report. This limit is imposed by Google and can’t be changed or worked around. When you reach this limit, you won’t be able to make any other selections until you de-select a metric or dimension.
    • Metric and dimension combinations are subject to Google’s compatibility rules. When you select a metric or dimension, all other metrics and dimensions incompatible with the selection will be greyed out. To test your combos before selecting them in Stitch, use Google’s Dimensions & Metrics Explorer.
    • Custom metrics and dimensions will display as either ga:metricXX or ga:dimensionXX, where XX is replaced with the specific number of the metric or dimension. Refer to the Custom metrics and dimensions section for help identifying custom metrics and dimensions in your Google Analytics account.

    • Some metrics and dimensions are associated with products that must be enabled. If the product isn’t enabled, Stitch will encounter issues during Extraction.

      For example: Metrics and dimensions associated with DoubleClick Campaign Manager can only be replicated successfully if DoubleClick Campaign Manager is enabled.

  4. Repeat this process for your remaining reports.
  5. When finished, click the Finalize Your Selections button at the bottom of the screen to save your selections.

Note: If these settings are changed while a replication job is still in progress, they will not be used until the next job starts.

Initial and historical replication jobs

After you finish setting up Google Analytics, its Sync Status may show as Pending on either the Stitch Dashboard or in the Integration Details page.

For a new integration, a Pending status indicates that Stitch is in the process of scheduling the initial replication job for the integration. This may take some time to complete.

Free historical data loads

The first seven days of replication, beginning when data is first replicated, are free. Rows replicated from the new integration during this time won’t count towards your quota. Stitch offers this as a way of testing new integrations, measuring usage, and ensuring historical data volumes don’t quickly consume your quota.

Google Analytics replication

Custom report replication

Replication Method

Custom reports in Google Analytics are replicated using Key-based Incremental Replication with start_date as a Replication Key. A start_date value is a date in YYYY-MM-DD format.

Google Analytics report data is aggregated per day, meaning that the day’s data isn’t complete until the next day begins. For this reason, data for the current day may be re-replicated until the day is ‘complete’. Note: The attribution modeling of your account may also affect when data is considered complete.

For example: Data for 2020-03-26 isn’t considered complete by Google until 2020-03-27 begins. The integration may re-replicate data for 2020-03-26 until records for 2020-03-27 start to become available.

Renamed reports

When you rename a report after the integration has been created, Stitch will:

  1. Load data into a new table in your destination. From the date the report is renamed, Stitch will load all data into a new table. The original table will remain in the destination unless you choose to drop it.

  2. Continue replicating data from the Replication Key value saved for the table. You’ll need to reset the report to re-replicate all data from the integration’s Start Date and have it loaded into the new table.

    To reset a report, click into the report and then click Report Settings on the right side of the page. Click the Reset Report button.

  3. Retain your metric and dimension selections for the report. You won’t need to re-select metrics and dimensions.

Deleted reports

To delete a report, open the integration’s settings page, click Configure another report, and click Remove this report.

This will permanently remove the report from the integration, including any selected metrics and dimensions.

Note: Deleting a report in Stitch won’t automatically remove the corresponding table in your destination.

Metrics and dimensions

When selecting metrics and dimensions in Stitch, keep the following in mind:

Maximum selection limits

For each report in a Google Analytics integration, you can select up to 10 metrics and 7 dimensions.

These limits are imposed by Google and can’t be changed or worked around. When you reach these limits, you won’t be able to make any other selections until you de-select a metric or dimension.

Compatibility rules

The metrics and dimensions you select in custom reports are subject to Google’s compatibility rules. Refer to Google’s Dimensions and Metrics Explorer for a list of valid dimension and metric pairs.

Custom metrics and dimensions

Custom metrics and dimensions will display as either ga:metricXX or ga:dimensionXX, where XX is replaced with the specific number of the metric or dimension.

To identify a custom metric or dimension:

  1. Sign into your Google Analytics Dashboard.
  2. Open the Custom Metrics or Dimensions page by navigating to Admin > Property Column > Custom Definitions > Custom Metric/Dimension.
  3. In the row for the metric or dimension, locate the Index column.
  4. Append the value in the Index column to either ga:metric or ga:dimension. For example: If the index for a custom dimension is 1, the name that displays in Stitch would be ga:dimension1.

Google Analytics table reference

sample_report

For every report you create in the integration’s settings page, Stitch will create a corresponding table in your destination. The table will contain the metrics and dimensions you select, along with a few columns Stitch requires for replication.

Note: Every row in this table pertains to a specific day. Use the start_date and end_date columns to identify what day the row is for.

The _sdc_record_hash column is a Stitch-generated SHA 256 hash that should be used as a Primary Key. The hash consists of a UTF-8 encoded JSON list containing:

  • The account ID, web property ID, and profile ID of the associated report
  • Pairs of ga:dimension_name and dimension_value
  • The start_date and end_date values for the record, in YYYY-mm-dd format

Replication Method

Key-based Incremental

Primary Key

_sdc_record_hash

Replication Key

start_date

sample_report table schema

account_id

INTEGER

end_date

DATE-TIME

profile_id

STRING

start_date

DATE-TIME

web_property_id

STRING

_sdc_record_hash

STRING

Related Troubleshooting
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