Half my kingdom for a decent report!
We all have simple questions like:
- What’s the conversion rate across different regions?
- Which traffic sources bring the most users? And which actually convert?
- And a dozen more just like these.
Once upon a time, Google Analytics made it easy to build custom reports. But those days are gone.
Why is this a headache?
- Standard reports are a mess — tiny charts, weak comparison tools, and clunky segmentation.
- Customization is hit-or-miss — available metrics and dimensions change from one report to another.
- The Explore section is better, but you can’t always save reports. So guess what? You’ll need to dig up that link every single time.
So, what’s the fix?
- Accept that GoogleAnalytics is not built for speedy reporting. For that, you need raw data.
- Get crystal clear on what you actually want to know—your questions define your report.
- Pick your weapon:
• Tweak a standard report
• Build one in Explore
• Pull your data into Looker Studio, Google Sheets, or another tool
Bottom line:
1. If you don’t know what you’re looking for, no report will magically help.
2. GA4 reports aren’t easy, but there are workarounds—exports, Explore, or external tools.
If you work with GA4 to BigQuery exports, be sure to check out my SQL cheat sheet.
