CODEWITHSUNDEEP
google-apigoogle-analytics-apigoogle-analytics-4
Sharon
Sharon

Reputation: 11

Data retrieved by Google Analytics 4 Data API doesn't match that from web interface

(My question is similiar to Difference in data between Google Analytics 4 API and UI.)

I'm using GA4 data api to get daily sales data every day for a custom analytics dashboard. The report results differ from what we see in GA4 interface (custom exploration reports) or GA4 query explorer.

Here is an example request:

{
  "dimensions": [
    {
      "name": "date"
    },
    {
      "name": "platformDeviceCategory"
    }
  ],
  "metrics": [
    {
      "name": "addToCarts"
    }
  ],
  "dateRanges":[
    {
      "startDate": "2daysAgo",
      "endDate": "yesterday"
    }
  ],
  "keepEmptyRows": true
}

In GA4 interface, the "platform/device category" dimension returns all 3 values for a specific date: report results in GA4 interface

In GA4 query explorer, the dimension also returns all 3 values for that date: report results in GA4 query explorer

However, using GA4 data api, the "platform/device category" dimension only returns 2 values for that date. The "web/tablet" row (the orange block) is missing from api response.

I have read the official guide about data sampling. I'm pretty sure that even if the date range window is 2 days in the request, the data size is still far below the sampling threshold and should NOT be sampled in my case.

After some tests, I found out that the only way to get match results from data api and web interface is to remove the "platform/device category" dimension from the request body. But this doesn't make any sense to me.

Is there a way to get api response that looks exactly like what I see in the GA4 query explorer? If not, could you explain why it doesn't match? I need to convince business users to trust the data shown on our analytics dashboard.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 3342

Answers (2)

David Pardo
David Pardo

Reputation: 31

I had the same issue where there were differences between the API and the GA4 Interface results, in particular when I added multiple dimensions. I finally found out that it was caused by the GA4 data threshold, as you Sharon also mentioned in your comment to MeasureHub.org's answer.

Using less dimensions in my queries mostly produced the same results in via the API and the GA4 Interface, but for some reporting we needed more information.

In the end, for the company it was more important to have all available data in our reporting, hence I deactivated Google Signals as suggested in the link above. Once I did it, the UI and API results were exactly the same.

If Google Signals is required, it is not possible to guarantee an exact match between the two sets of results. Careful selection of dimensions is required, together with checks between the API and the Interface, but this mostly defeats the purpose of getting the data programatically.

Upvotes: 1

MeasureHub.org
MeasureHub.org

Reputation: 26

can you try check other timeframe?

Data freshness in GA4 might cause this. GA4 got refreshed more frequently than in the API.

Also please double check the timezone setting in both UI & API ?

Upvotes: 0

Related Questions