Beginners Guide to Google Data Studio: A Visual Guide to Help you Create your First Report

In this guide you will understand the basic features of Google Data Studio, the new tool that Google developed to help create automated reports with less effort.

Google Data Studio is part of the Google Analytics 360 Suite and is offered for free to Google account users.

Data drives strategies and daily decisions, so to help your customers and partners (and even you) to understand the analytics data, Google created Google Data Studio. It allows you to turn data into easy to read presentations, and also integrate data from lots of different sources.

What is Google DataStudio?

Google Data Studio is a dashboard and reporting tool that is easy to use, easy to read, easy to build, customise, and share. You can customise it according to your customer needs and select how you want to present the data, with pie charts, bar chart, even combo charts, a recently added feature.

Benefits of using Google DataStudio

Let me show you the pros of using this tool.

Easy visualisation

Data Studio was created to simplify the way you read the data. So you can customise it changing the colours, fonts, adding logos and much more. You can present the data as you like; bar graphs, pie charts, and so on.

Combine data from multiples sources

You can connect reports from multiple Google Analytics accounts, YouTube data and even from Facebook if you export it to a Google Sheet.

Easy share

You can share with other Gmail or GSuite users. So you partners can have access to your presentation in real time.

It’s a free tool…

…and unlimited! If you have a Google account you can now create and share as many reports as you want.

You can have your report updated automatically and in real time

That really increases productivity on your day-by-day work.

More time dedicated to analysis and insights

As you can create the reports with less effort and very quickly, you can spend more time dedicated to do analysis and create strategies for your customers.

How to use Google Data Studio

First, you need to access Google Data Studio Website and then sign up for free. If you have a Gmail account you can login straight away. Same for Google Analytics and Google Search Console.

After you are logged in, you will see something similar to the following page.

How to Create Reports and Dashboards

To start a new report follow the steps below:

1 – Select Data Source

A data source provides data for charts. You can select an existing data source, or you can click Create a New Data Source as below:

2 – Selecting the Data

2.1 – Select Data Source

If you choose this option, you just need to click on the data you want and add it to the report.

2.2 – Create a new data source

If you choose this option, you need to select an Account, a Property and a View and then click on Connect.

After selecting your data source you need to add it to your report. Just double check if all the metrics that you are planning to have in your report are listed and hit Add to Report.

After you click on Add to Report a dialogue box will pop up asking you to confirm. Just confirm it and you are to start working on your report theme and layout.

3 – Layout and Theme

First things first, give your report a name. Here at Hedgehog Digital, we use the following taxonomy: (Service) + Monthly Report for + (Client Name) + Month. So a monthly report for an SEO Client would be something like this: SEO Monthly Report for Hedgehog Digital – Nov2017

Now it is time to start working on your layout and the metrics you want to add to your report. Remember that certain metrics require distinct visualisations. For instance, if you want to demonstrate the percentage of new versus returning users a pie chart is your best option.

Not sure what type of data visualisation to use? Just look into Google Analytics and more or less copy what they do.

After selecting the ideal display for your data, you can manage it individually, adding dimensions and metrics.

4 – Adding a new page to your Data Studio Report

You can add as many pages as you need by clicking on ‘Add a Page’ at the top.

5 – Revise and Share

Review all the pages of your report and share with colleagues, teammates and your clients.

It is just like sharing a Google Docs document, just add the e-mails and define editing permissions.

6 – Create a Copy

You can create a copy of your full report. This saves a lot of time!

Pro Tip: create templates for each type of service you provide. From SEO to Social Media.

7 – Stay Up to Date

The Data Studio is continuously being updated. So you can find all the new features released on the tool. As well as Video tutorials for your support.

That is it. Now you are all set to get startd with Google’s newest reporting tool.

Have you been Google Data Studio? Why not share your experiences in the comments below.

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