How do I configure and view Ghost Metrics data in Looker Studio?

Looker Studio is a powerful tool that allows you to pull data from multiple sources and use that data to create detailed, customized reports. The Ghost Metrics Connector for Looker Studio makes your Ghost Metrics reports available in Looker Studio.

Having your Ghost Metrics data available in Looker Studio can open up new possibilities in your data analyses:

• Blend your Ghost Metrics data with entirely different data sources and gain insights across your entire organization.
• Use one of the many community visualisations available to display your data exactly the way you want.
• Create reports that focus specifically on the data that’s most important to you and the users of your reports.

If you’re a user of Looker Studio and would like to use your Ghost Metrics data in the reports you create, this guide will show you how.

Ghost Metrics Connector for Looker Studio Requirements

Before you use the Ghost Metrics Connector for Looker Studio, please make sure you fulfil the following requirements:

• You will need the URL to your Ghost Metrics instance. This is the URL you use to access your Ghost Metrics instance in your browser. For example, https://example.ghostmetrics.cloud/.
• You will need to create an auth token in your Ghost Metrics prior to using the connector. You can create an auth token by following the steps in this FAQ.
• And of course, you will need a Google account from which to access Looker Studio.

Connecting to your Ghost Metrics data and adding your first report

To use the Ghost Metrics Connector for Looker Studio, you’ll want to follow Looker Studio’s workflow for adding a new data source.

1. Open the report you would like to add the Ghost Metrics Connector to. Locate the Add Data button and click it.

2. Within the connector search sheet that loads, search for Ghost Metrics Analytics.

3. There will be several third party connectors for Ghost Metrics, be sure to select the official one, that states it is created By Ghost Metrics.
   

4. Click Authorize to enable the Ghost Metrics Connector for Looker Studio. Note that the connector will only access Ghost Metrics reports to process your requests in Looker Studio. It will not collect your email address or any other personal information from your Google account.

5. Provide your Ghost Metrics credentials so the connector can access your Ghost Metrics instance and then click submit.

   • For the Username, enter the full URL to your Ghost Metrics instance, starting with https://, for example https://example.ghostmetrics.cloud/.
   • For the Token, enter the auth token you have already created for the Looker Studio connector, or you can create an auth token by following the steps.
     

   A note on security: entering these credentials will allow the Ghost Metrics Connector to get your data to Looker Studio, but we, the authors of the connector and Ghost Metrics, will not access your Ghost Metrics data. Your confidential credentials to Ghost Metrics are only directly accessible to the user that enters them. The Ghost Metrics Connector for Looker Studio will only access your credentials when requesting data from the target Ghost Metrics and for the purpose of generating your Looker Studio dashboards.

6. Select the Website/Measurable you would like to connect to and click Next.

7. You should now be able to see the configuration workflow where you’ll be able to connect the report.

   • For Report, select the report you would like to see in Looker Studio. As an example, we’ll select the Visitors > Country report. Note: due to the way Looker Studio works the connector can only connect you to a single report, but you can configure multiple data sources to get around this. We’ll show you how in the next section of this guide.
   • For Segment, select the segment you’d like data pulled from. By default, the connector will get data from the All Visits segment, but you can change this if you’d like.
   • (Optional) You can also make the segment parameterisable by checking the Allow “Segment” to be modified in reports. checkbox: This will allow report creators to change the segment, without having to configure a new data source.
   • The last option, Default Row Limit, you can most likely ignore. (By default the connector will fetch all the data for a report, but if your specific Ghost Metrics report is especially large, you may run into some of Looker Studio’s limits. In this case, you would need to set a limit on the number of rows that are fetched here, but you don’t have to think about this now. It’s something you can always come back to if it turns out to be a necessity.)

8. Once you’ve selected your report and segment, click the Add button in the bottom right of the screen. If a modal pops up asking you to confirm whether you want to add the connector to your report, confirm.

Once you’ve completed all of the steps successfully, your new data source will be available within the Data panel.

You can now create charts with it by dragging metrics and dimensions to your report canvas:

Adding a second report

To make a second Ghost Metrics report available in Looker Studio you’ll have to create a new data source with the new report. The process is identical to the above steps.

Follow the steps above again, and you should then see two data sources available in your Looker Studio report. If you do not see the new data source, you may have to close and re-open the data panel to load the new data.

Note that both sources are named Ghost Metrics Analytics. This can be confusing and can make it harder to look for the specific data source you may need at a time. So let’s go ahead and rename it.

Renaming your Ghost Metrics Reports in Looker Studio

Click the edit button that looks like a pencil next to one of the data sources:

In the upper left of the popup, you’ll see the name of the connector. You can click on it and type in an alternative title. We recommend that you edit it to include a better description of the specific report. For example, Ghost Metrics Analytics (Country).

Click Done or Finished and the name change will be saved.

What to do next?

Now that you’ve connected Ghost Metrics to Looker Studio, you can craft dynamic time series reports to inform decision-making.