Tableau is an awesome tool for data visualisation, and it has connectors for a wide range of data sources. Its Google analytics connector, however, only goes so far. For serious users of Google Analytics, Analytics Canvas provides a whole next level of data access- find here the top ten ways Analytics Canvas helps get the Google Analytics data you need into Tableau.

1. 10
Reasons
to Choose
Analytics Canvas
To Get GA Data
Into Tableau

2. While Tableau’s connector might be sufficient for
simple Google Analytics queries, it will limit your
ability to take full advantage of your Google Analytics
data.
Here, we would like to show you how you can
improve your analysis, and illustrate the important
differences between connecting to Google Analytics
with Analytics Canvas and with Tableau.

3. 1. Querying multiple Google Analytics
accounts and profiles at once
Working with one account at a time means
low productivity.
For starters, Tableau allows you to connect to
only one account and one view (profile) at a
time.
Simple Google Analytics implementations
mean one account and just a few profiles, but
most of the companies which are serious
about Google Analytics have dozens – or even
hundreds – of profiles. Analysts are pushed to
prioritize and keep up with only a handful of
them.
With Analytics Canvas, companies with robust
Google Analytics implementations that
involve multiple accounts and profiles save
time and increase analyst productivity.
Analytics Canvas users query dozens, even
hundreds or thousands of profiles at once and
put all the data into a single TDE.

4. 2. Including ALL the dimensions you want
Don’t avoid looking at the detail you need
because it will be “Too much data”
For sites with lots of traffic from lots of
sources to lots of content, sometimes the long
tail is important. Looking at high level
summaries just won’t give you the insight you
need.
If you have an e-commerce site with tens of
thousands of products, you need to know in
detail what is happening, and that might
mean tens or hundreds of thousands of rows
per day. Reloading everything every time just
won’t work. Picking and choosing which
dimensions to not consider means losing the
detail you need.
With Analytics Canvas and the speed and
efficiency of the TDE extracts it can create,
you can push the limits of what Tableau can
do with high resolution Google Analytics data.

5. 3. Cleaning data consistently
Sometimes your Google Analytics data needs
a bit of cleaning. (Or a lot).
Once a bit of data is stored in Google
Analytics, its there for good. Any errors in
tagging or links etc. means that you end up
with extra values you don’t want- “email” and
“Email”, or “campaignA” and “campainA”.
While you can use Tableaus features to group
such values, if its done in each workbook, it
has to be re-done again and again, and might
not always be done the same, making reports
inconsistent.
Analytics Canvas gives you the ability fix
issues once, and have the right data in all your
TDEs so every dashboard sees the same
version.
Email
email
Campaign A
campaign A
Campagn A
…
Arrrrrrrg!

6. 4. Filtering of the data before import
Loading unfiltered data results in inefficient
use of resources.
Frequently, analysis requires a deep dive into
a specific subset of the website traffic: for
example, hourly data for a specific country by
region, or a regex on a page path to focus in
on a few pages out of hundreds.
Tableau’s connector cannot filter by
dimensions and metrics other than the date
dimension. This means you have to import
ALL the data- often making the volume
unworkable.
If you have a large amount of data in Google
Analytics, a large query will take a long time to
process, waste your API quota, and slow down
your workbooks.
In Analytics Canvas, you can add detailed
filters, to query only what you need.

7. 5. Using all Google Analytics dimensions and
metrics as soon as they become available
Getting the latest version of API means
staying competitive.
When Google Analytics adds new dimensions
and metrics, you want to start using them
right away.
In Tableau, you might have to wait for months
or even years before the connector gets
updated with the latest API version.
Dimensions are only included in a new
release- you have to upgrade.
Until then, you are stuck with reporting the
old way – as your competition is busily
running new reports and gaining new insights.
With Analytics Canvas, you can access the
newest dimensions and metrics as well as API
updates, the day they become available,
without even upgrading the software- Canvas
uses the Google Analytics meta data API, and
checks it every time you run.

8. 6. Automatically refreshing GA extracts
directly to Tableau Online and Server
Automatic refreshing of data sources allows
you to avoid repetitive work, and saves time.
Are your dashboards up-to-date?
With Tableau, if the connector isn’t
supporting what you need, it is difficult to
automatically update data sources and
schedule automatic publishing of refreshed
data sources to Tableau Online and Tableau
Server.
Analysts and business users have to regularly
reopen their workbooks to reload Google
Analytics data loaded manually to update all
visualizations.
Analytics Canvas has the capability to
automatically refresh your data sources and
publish them to Tableau Server and Tableau
Online in a single flow. Once built, every night
the entire process runs and every dashboard
has fresh updated data.

9. 7. Saving your queries. You don’t have to click
on the same dimensions again and again
Get to your visualizations right away with
saved queries.
Repeat queries are common in analytics -
what if we look at the same data from a new
perspective? With Tableau’s connector there’s
no quick access to Google Analytics queries
that you frequently make.
In Analytics Canvas, you can save your
favorite queries in the query library, where
you can have speedy access to them, even if
you are creating a new workflow from
scratch.
What if your colleague wants to recreate a
query that you’ve made, with another Google
Analytics account or profile? Analytics Canvas
allows you to share your queries with your
colleagues, including dimensions, metrics,
complicated filters, and advanced segments
that you’ve set up.

10. 8. Analyzing how your marketing channels
work together with Multi-Channel Funnels
Look across your channels to tie your efforts
to ROI.
Tableau’s connector queries only the Core
Reporting API; it doesn’t have the metrics and
dimensions needed for analysis of conversion
paths, identifying which channels assist to
conversions, or what role each channel plays
in the conversion process.
Analytics Canvas connects to Multi-Channel
Funnels API, allowing you to explore what role
prior website referrals, searches, and ads have
played in conversions, and how much times
passes between the user’s initial interest and
his or her purchase.

11. 9. Visualizing and analyzing custom funnels
Analyzing funnels means understanding
where your website visitors get stuck.
Understanding task abandonment and task
completion is fundamental to optimizing
website performance. Consider the most
important behavioral metrics: Goal
Conversion Rate, Bounce Rate, Exit Rate.
Funnel analysis allows you not only to find out
these metrics, but to understand the details:
how far do visitors get in the conversion
process? Exactly what step of the funnel
needs to be improved?
Tableau’s connector does not offer funnel
analysis.
Analytics Canvas helps analysts and business
users focus their website optimization efforts
with the guidance of funnel analysis. With
Analytics Canvas it is possible to do custom
funnel analysis, even without a Google
Analytics Premium account.

12. 10. Analytics 360 BigQuery Analysis
Fully utilize your Analytics 360 Big Query
analysis with funnel analysis and SQL
Generation.
Companies with Google Analytics 360 can
have their raw data pumped into BigQuery,
and Tableau has a BigQuery connector, but
the Tableau BigQuery connector can’t just
connect directly to the tables and return
meaningful results.
To really take advantage of the hit level data,
GA Premium users potentially have to write
hundreds of lines of SQL code in BigQuery to
create even a basic funnel analysis.
Analytics Canvas makes it easy to create a
complex funnel analysis using BigQuery, to
analyze page-hit data and gain insights at
even the most detailed levels using a
graphical user interface. Point and click, and
watch the SQL code get generated
automatically, then pipe your data into a TDE,
and publish it automatically.

13. Analytics Canvas offers a complete solution, that
allows you to quickly connect, transform and
seamlessly bring your data into Tableau for
visualization.
Try it free for 30 days and discover how much better
your GA data in Tableau can be.
www.AnalyticsCanvas.com