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Learn how to easily transform your data into engaging, interactive visual reports!
Data is no longer the sole domain of tech professionals and scientists. Whether in our personal, business, or community lives, data is rapidly increasing in both importance and sheer volume. The ability to visualize all kinds of data is now within reach for anyone with a computer and an internet connection. Google Data Studio, quickly becoming the most popular free tool in data visualization, offers users a flexible, powerful way to transform private and public data into interactive knowledge that can be easily shared and understood. Hands On With Google Data Studio teaches you how to visualize your data today and produce professional quality results quickly and easily.
No previous experience is required to get started right away—all you need is this guide, a Gmail account, and a little curiosity to access and visualize data just like large businesses and organizations. Clear, step-by-step instructions help you identify business trends, turn budget data into a report, assess how your websites or business listings are performing, analyze public data, and much more. Practical examples and expert tips are found throughout the text to help you fully understand and apply your new knowledge to a wide array of real-world scenarios. This engaging, reader-friendly guide will enable you to:
Hands On With Google Data Studio: A Data Citizens Survival Guide is a must-have resource for anyone starting their data visualization journey, from individuals, consultants, and small business owners to large business and organization managers and leaders.
LEE HURST began doing application development in 1995 as a consultant, later joining IBM where he worked as a web application developer. Since 2006 he has worked for EnPro Industries building custom eCommerce solutions and consulting for global web development, analytics solutions, and SEO. He assists small businesses and agencies through his Helpfullee website, and maintains the Google Data Studio Resource Finder, a free service he created in 2017.
Introduction xv
Part I Data Studio Basics 1
Chapter 1 Data Studio and the Data Citizen 3
Data, Data Everywhere 4
Accessibility of Data 4
Deriving Value from Data 5
The Role of Data Studio 7
A Brief History of Data Studio 9
Fundamentals First 12
Where to Go for Help 12
Time to Get Started! 13
Chapter 2 Cooking with Google Data Studio 15
Our First Example 15
Step 1. Select a Dish to Prepare: Visualizing a Bank Account 16
Before We Start: Things You’ll Need 19
Step 2. Let’s Go Shopping! Getting the Data 19
Step 3. Unpack the Groceries: Setting Up Google Drive 21
Step 4. Preparing the Ingredients: Working with Google Sheets 22
Step 5. Familiarizing Yourself with the Kitchen: Data Studio Home Screen and Starting a New Report 25
Step 6. Assemble the Ingredients: Connecting the Data to the Report 28
Step 7. Set the Table: Adding Your First Chart 35
Step 8. Keep Score with Scorecards 40
Step 9. It’s About Time: Building the Time-Series Chart 45
Step 10. Serving Suggestions: Finishing Touches and Sharing Your Report 50
Summary 55
Chapter 3 Enhancing Basic Graphs 57
Static Report Design 57
Before Getting Started: Things You’ll Need 59
Step 1. Copy the Report 60
Step 2. Modify the Header and Set the Date Range 61
Step 3. Modify Scorecards 63
Step 4. Modify Time-Series Chart 65
Step 5. Modify the Transactions Table 66
Step 6. Save the Report as PDF for Sharing 69
Summary 70
Chapter 4 Data Exploration with Interactive Elements 73
Building Our Workbench Example 73
Step 1. Selecting a Dish to Prepare: Exploration Workbench for a Bank Account 74
Step 2. Let’s Go Shopping! Getting the Data Set 77
Step 3. Assembling the Ingredients: Connecting Data to the Report 78
Adding Chart Components and Graphic Elements 82
Step 4. Reuse, Recycle, and Repurpose: Copying Elements from Other Reports 82
Step 5. Easy as Pie! Adding a Pie Chart 84
Step 6. Step Up to the Bar: Adding the Bar Chart 85
Step 7. Lining Things Up: Adding the Line Chart 90
Step 8. Tables, Again!? Setting Up the Table 91
Adding and Configuring Filter Controls 92
Step 9. Fun with Filters: Setting Up the Standard Filter Controls 92
Tips for Using Interactive Filters 94
Find the Answers: Filter Challenge 95
Summary 97
Part II Business and Marketing Applications 99
Chapter 5 Web Data Visualization with Google Analytics 101
Google Services for Websites and Business 102
A Brief Primer for Google Analytics 104
Using a Template to Create a New Report 106
Building the Google Analytics Report 110
Modifying the Charts 112
Working with the New Report 117
A Real-World Example: The Effects of a Beach Party in Spain on Web Traffic 117
The Limits of Demographic Data from Google Analytics 124
Now for a Side Dish: Adding a Page and Using Filters 126
Summary 132
Chapter 6 Using Google Search Console for Audience Insights 135
Search Console and Search Results Pages 136
Creating a Search Console Report with Data Studio 141
Step 1. Selecting the Dish to Prepare 142
Step 2. Let’s Go Shopping! 144
Step 3. Assemble the Ingredients 147
Step 4. Setting the Table 153
Bon Appetite! Using the Search Console Report 157
An Example for Your Soul! 161
Summary 170
Chapter 7 Viewing Local Organization Data from Google My Business 173
Google Search and the Local Organization 173
GMB: The New Home Page in the Search Results 175
What the User Sees in a GMB Listing 176
What the Owner Sees in a GMB Listing 180
Why Use Data Studio for GMB? 185
Step 1. Selecting the Dish to Prepare 187
The Actions Page 189
The Reviews Page 190
The Search Page 192
Before You Begin: What You Need to Get Started 194
Step 2. Let’s Go Shopping and Assemble the Ingredients 195
Step 3. Setting the Table 202
Report, Page, and Header Setup 203
Page Navigation Button Setup 206
Building the Actions Page 209
Building the Search Page 213
Building the Reviews Page 215
Summary 218
Part III Beyond the Office 221
Chapter 8 Getting Personal 223
Creating Your Own Data 223
Using Google Forms to Collect Your Own Data 225
Curating Data from Other Sources 248
Setting Up IFTTT to Capture Tweets 250
Preparing the Google Sheet for Data Studio 256
Create a Data Source for the Google Sheet 256
Create the New Twitter Report 258
Working with Data Generated for You 262
Music Service Tracking Example 262
Google Fit Community Connector Example 269
Community Connector Setup for Google Fit 270
Bringing It All Together 280
Created Data 280
Curated Data 283
Generated Data 284
Summary 288
Chapter 9 Going Public 291
Shared Data Sets 291
Searching for Data Sets 292
Getting Data from Kaggle 294
Using a Kaggle Account 294
Building the UFO Sightings Workbench 302
Dealing with Performance Issues in Reports 307
Using the Extract Data Connector to Speed Up Reports 307
data.world and Makeover Monday 314
Bringing It Home: Real Estate in Your Neighborhood 330
Selecting the Dish to Prepare 331
Going Shopping: Hunting for Housing Data 332
Unpacking the Groceries: Moving the File to Google Drive 337
Preparing the Ingredients: Fixing Data Formatting Issues 338
Assembling the Ingredients: Connecting the Data to the Report 340
Preparing the Meal: The Plan Meets Reality 340
Sharing Your Dish: Embedding Reports 346
Embedding a Report in a Google Site 351
Embedding a Report in a WordPress Site 353
Dealing with Pivoted Data 356
Summary 361
Chapter 10 Where Do You Go from Here? 363
Helping Your Audience See the Light 363
Annotation Ideas for Static Reports 364
Annotation Ideas for Interactive Reports 367
Providing Detailed Instructions for Users 371
Community Visualizations 375
Data Studio as an Application Development Platform 377
Exotic Ingredients and Your Pantry 383
Data Blending 383
File Upload 388
BigQuery for Big Data 390
Community Connectors 395
The Latest Dishes: New Developments and Releases 396
Summary 396
Index 399
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