Google Analytics - Reporting

Building Reports with Dimensions & Metrics

The building blocks of every report in Google Analytics are :

• Dimensions : A dimension describes characteristics of your data
• Metrics : Metrics are the quantitative measurements of your data

Reporting API

To use the reporting APIs, you have to build your own application. This application needs to be able to write and send a query to the reporting API. The API uses the query to retrieve data from the aggregate tables, and then sends a response back to your application containing the data that was requested.

Each query sent to the API must contain specific information, including the ID of the view that you would like to retrieve data from, the start and end dates for the report, and the dimensions and metrics you want. Within the query you can also specify how to filter, segment and order the data just like you can with tools in the online reporting interface.

Report Sampling

Report sampling is an analytics practice that generates reports based on a small, random subset of your data instead of using all of your  available data. Sampling lets programs, including Google Analytics, calculate the data for your reports faster than if every single piece of data is included during the generation process.

When does sampling happen?

• During processing
• Modifying one of the standard reports in Google Analytics by adding a segment, secondary dimension, or another customization

Adjusting the sample size

The number of sessions used to calculate the report is called the “sample size.” .If you increase the sample size, you’ll include more sessions in your calculation, but it’ll take longer to generate your report. If you decrease the the sample size, you’ll include fewer sessions in your calculation, but your report will be generated faster.

The sampling limit

Google Analytics sets a maximum number of sessions that can be used to calculate your reports. If you go over that limit, your data gets sampled.

One way to stay below the limit is to shorten the date range in your report, which reduces the number of sessions Google Analytics needs to calculate your request