CODEWITHSUNDEEP
google-analytics
Pablo
Pablo

Reputation: 3467

Mixable metrics and dimensions in google analytics

I'm doing some complex reports for google analytics and would like to ask you if the following is possible. The client wants to have just organic data for a bunch of metrics. Like pageviews, visitBounceRoutes, etc. The query I ended up with is the following: 

https://www.googleapis.com/analytics/v3/data/ga?dimensions=ga:source,ga:medium,ga:keyword,ga:day,ga:month,ga:year&end-date=2013-11-20&fields=columnHeaders/name,rows,totalResults,totalsForAllResults&filters=ga:medium==organic&ids=ga:79067749&metrics=ga:pageviews,ga:pageviewsPerVisit,ga:visitors,ga:avgTimeOnSite,ga:newVisits,ga:visitBounceRate&start-date=2013-10-20

However the response is as follows:

'{"totalResults":0,"columnHeaders":[{"name":"ga:source"},{"name":"ga:medium"},{"name":"ga:keyword"},{"name":"ga:day"},{"name":"ga:month"},{"name":"ga:year"},{"name":"ga:pageviews"},{"name":"ga:pageviewsPerVisit"},{"name":"ga:visitors"},{"name":"ga:avgTimeOnSite"},{"name":"ga:newVisits"},{"name":"ga:visitBounceRate"}],"totalsForAllResults":{"ga:pageviews":"0","ga:pageviewsPerVisit":"0.0","ga:visitors":"0","ga:avgTimeOnSite":"0.0","ga:newVisits":"0","ga:visitBounceRate":"0.0"}}'

Can the dimensions ga:source,ga:medium,ga:keyword be mixed with the above metrics? It seems they can't since if I omit them the API returns an array of values 1 per each day within the specified range.

Where can I find more information about this and what categories are mixable? https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/reporting/core/dimsmets just shows all the available metrics but do not explains how they are combined and which one would be valid requests. I'm new at the analytics API and would be great any kind of help or guidance

Thanks a lot

Upvotes: 0

Views: 1380

Answers (2)

Mark Hansen
Mark Hansen

Reputation: 1062

As Mike said, there is no problem with the combination of metrics and dimensions you are using.

If you are entering the URL query directly in the browser problem might be the lack of URL encoding in your query string. For example, you need to convert == to %253D%253D

For example, instead of ga:medium==organic, you need ga:medium%253D%253Dorganic

If you build your query in the Google Analytics Query Explorer as Mike suggests, you can grab the direct link to your report by clicking the link symbol in the upper left:

galinker

Upvotes: 1

mike
mike

Reputation: 7177

Google Analytics Query Explorer is your friend for playing around with analytics dimensions/metrics/filters ;-)

Try http://ga-dev-tools.appspot.com/explorer/?dimensions=ga:source,ga:medium,ga:keyword,ga:day,ga:month,ga:year&metrics=ga:pageviews,ga:pageviewsPerVisit,ga:visitors,ga:avgTimeOnSite,ga:newVisits,ga:visitBounceRate&filters=ga:medium%253D%253Dorganic&start-date=2013-10-20&end-date=2013-11-20&max-results=100

Some thoughts:

  1. Those dimensions & metrics should work -- maybe there was no organic data recorded during that time range?
  2. Try removing the ga:medium==organic filter and see what your data looks like.
  3. Does the profile you're using (ga:79067749) have any filters on it? If so, maybe try a different profile that has unfiltered data. (Analytics best practices -- make sure you have a profile with no filters applied that captures all data.)

Upvotes: 3

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