Google Data Studio was launched back in 2016, and most people didn’t think too much of it. They thought that Google Data Studio was one of those Google Products that were going the way of Google Goggles and that it’s not worth it to get involved. Who blamed them? Google was launching so many different products during this time period that you almost needed a spreadsheet to keep track of them.
Then it came out of Beta and fully launched. It was a shock to most developers, marketers, and even the hard to crack SEO professionals. A full platform was now online that allows you to connect to different data sources to one dashboard. The ability to craft custom dashboards based upon what data you wanted to be made it easier for everybody to craft dashboards.
The major problem with most dashboards/platforms that they weren’t flexible on how you could craft your reports. Sometimes data was based upon their limits, price points for services, and how ugly most of them looked. Nobody should pay extra just to put their company logo on the reports they need to send to clients.
Here are three reasons why you need to think about using Google Data Studio for your website, eCommerce store, digital marketing agency, or your own brand.
It’s Free. Zero. Nadda.
Google Data Studio is free. Stop paying for a portal system when you can save yourself money and just use Google Data Studio to report data on how your websites are working, sales from e-commerce, and keyword rankings. Paying for a portal system that allows your clients isn’t needed anymore either. You can create embeds of your dashboards and put them directly on your website for easy access (no-index of course). If you’re an agency you can send PDFs with your branding to the client via email, and even embed the reports on your own website to allow easy access for clients.
Data Designed
Google Analytics is perfect for people who understand how to read analytics, but sometimes you need more of a visual element to understand how data correlates. Google Data Studio allows you to filter out the data you want and make it look amazing with the customized options, charts, filters, and styling. Most paid portals don’t allow any type of this customization and that is why Google Data Studio is a must for anybody who deals with digital marketing, runs a website, or deals with eCommerceecommerce.
Visit https://datastudiogallery.appspot.com/gallery to see the different types of designs for Google Data Studio. Bookmark this website so you can have easy access to this evolving gallery data studio templates.
Integrations
You have to pay extra fees or upgrades with most portals to show off data from different data sources, but with Google Data Studio, you can create unlimited dashboards for unlimited websites for free. Google Data Studio integrates with Search Console, Analytics, Adwords, and Google Spreadsheets (great for live updating dashboards with data that doesn’t integrate) for starters.
The flexibility offered by Google Data Studio is the perfect storm for marketers who want to have all their data sources in one dashboard. If you want to find out the complete list of integrations offered by Google Data Studio, visit https://datastudiogallery.appspot.com/data to see the vast amount of data points Google Data Studio offers.
If you want to take your reporting to another level, you can hook up Google Search Console with Supermetrics and have access to social media data, social media ad accounts, and different ad platforms. Supermetrics isn’t a portal, but reporting automation tool. Supermetrics does require an account and access to your social media accounts. They have a complete guide on how to connect your social media accounts, guides on how to style the data, and examples of Data Studio dashboards.
Google Data Studio is clearly the choice for any professional who works in digital marketing, ecommerce, or maintains websites for major companies. The ability to be flexible on how you integrate, display, and report data is important for making smart decisions for growing your traffic.
Here are some links on where to learn how you can work with Google Data Studio:
https://support.google.com/datastudio/answer/6283323?hl=en&ref_topic=6267740
