How to Connect Google Analytics to Power BI

The short answer: connect both to Windsor.ai, then pull your Google Analytics 4 (GA4) data straight into Power BI, no manual CSV exports or custom scripts required. Windsor.ai’s connector handles the extraction and keeps your Power BI reports current automatically.

Google Analytics 4 provides an extensive amount of data that can help run any business. But the raw website data GA4 exports isn’t built for dashboarding, and finding insights inside GA4’s own interface can be a challenge.

Power BI turns that raw data into visualizations you can actually act on. Connecting GA4 to Power BI creates what’s commonly called the Power BI Google Analytics Connector.

This article provides a step-by-step guide on how to connect Google Analytics to Microsoft Power BI. Before that, let us understand what Power BI and Google Analytics are all about.

One note on versions: Universal Analytics (the older Google Analytics) was fully retired by Google in July 2024. Every reference to “Google Analytics” in this guide, and the connector itself, refers to GA4, the current and only supported version.

 

Why do you need Power BI?

Power BI Is a Microsoft service. Microsoft offers a cloud service called Power BI Services and a desktop version known simply as Power BI Desktop. BI stands for business intelligence. This tool will allow you to make the most of the available data.

Power BI is a drag-and-drop tool that makes it easy to use. You just have to click on the field you like to look at closely and drop it onto the dashboard. And you will get the insights in no time. It can generate real-time visualizations, charts, and other reports.

Having a Power BI account means you can have both on-premise and on-cloud deployments. Microsoft offers three types of Power BI platforms:

• Power BI Desktop
• Power BI Service
• Power BI Mobile

In other words, if Google Analytics is the substance, Power BI organizes it and makes it more useful. It’ll be much simpler to analyze your data in Power BI rather than directly in Google Analytics. And here’s where Windsor.ai comes in.

 

Steps for connecting Power BI with Google Analytics with Windsor.ai

 

There are two different ways to connect Google Analytics to Power BI with the help of Windsor.ai. The first is using the Power BI desktop and the second is through Power BI Web App.

 

Power BI Desktop Connection

Make sure that you connect your Google Analytics Data to your Windsor.ai account before beginning the journey to make this integration easier.

1. Register or log in if you already have an account

 

2. Select Google Analytics as a Data Source and Grant Access to Windsor.ai.

 

 

3. Next, select your destination. You can also use the search or add fields as shown in the image below:

 

 

4. Select the fields on the right. In the Power BI account, click on “Get data” and select “WEB”.

 

 

5. Copy the URL at which the data is available in the box shown below.

 

Power BI Web App Connection

If you want to use the Power BI Web App and have not installed it, use this link

 

1. Click on Connect your data link on the yellow background at the top of the page.

2.Enter your API Key. If you do not have one, create it now

2. On the next screen click on Sign In

 

The data will start loading now and the time taken will differ according to the size of the data and may take up to a minute or two.

 

 

Google Analytics VS Power BI

According to Microsoft, when Power BI goes hand in hand with Google Analytics, the result is conducive and innovative which they call Power Analytics. What about these two platforms makes this integration special?

These days, most organizations use Google Analytics to see if their marketing goals are being met and what they could do to improve the ‘Visitor Footprints’ on their websites.

With the help of this connector, you can uncover hidden patterns and trends in the web performance data. You can identify high-traffic web pages and find multiple trends.

Google Analytics tracks customer website visitor behavior including the number of unique page visits, amount of time spent browsing, geographic location, etc.

 

How to select the date range?

Google Analytics provides different ways to select the data range. By default, it is set at 30 days worth of data. But in many cases, you may want to change it.

So, here are the different methods to select a date range:

1. Click the currently selected date range at the top of ‘Variables’.
2. Either, select a preset range, or select a custom range from the calendar.

You can stick with the default 30 days. Select an entire calendar month or select an entire week. You can also select a range of days by clicking the first and last date in the range you wish to see.

You can also use the timeline slider option to pick the date range.

3. Click OK.

 

Google Analytics Power BI Access to the Resource is Forbidden

Re-entering Credentials to Reset the Data Connection

It has been pointed out by many users that the ‘Access to the resource forbidden error’ was fixed by resetting the data connections for the data sources. To do this:

1. First, click the ‘File’ tab at the top left of Power BI.
2. Next, choose ‘Options and Settings’ on the menu.
3. Select the ‘Data Source Settings’ option.

 

4. Select the data source for which the ‘Access to the resource is forbidden’ error’ arises.
5. From the drop-down menu, select the ‘Clear Permissions’ option.
6. Click the ‘Close’ button.
7. Now, the users are allowed to re-enter their credentials when trying to connect the required data source.

 

Alternative Login Option to Connect to Data

When trying to connect data sources, if a user mistakenly selects the wrong log-in options, the ‘Access to the resource is forbidden’ error may arise.

In the image shown below, a user is trying to connect SharePoint Online via Power BI Desktop. For this, they might need to select the Organizational account log-in option instead of Windows on the window. So, try another login option.

 

 

Power BI Google Analytics Connector’s sampling issue

A sampling of data could lead you to make misguided decisions. The calculations can go wrong if the sample size is too small.

Once sampled, the patterns that arise are not representative of the entire dataset. The sample may or may not reflect the true nature of the data.

Once sampling is done, there will be an ambiguity in place which is not something that we look for when expecting analytics to work and be accurate. Click here to read more about this and learn how Windsor.ai help you to overcome this issue.

 

Power BI Google Analytics Connector Limitations

Google Analytics Integration with Power BI is a really powerful one. But there are certain limitations to this connector. Let us now look into the Power BI Google Analytics limitations:

• Google Analytics quota limits for Power BI: There are certain limitations and quotas for Google Analytics AP requests, which can be read here. But, PBI Desktop and PBI service allow the following upgraded number of requests.

• Queries per day: 1,500,000
• Queries per 100 seconds: 4000

• Power BI Online does not support queries from Google Analytics API: You are allowed to only use the pre-built data sources to connect to data. Querying Google Analytics with the help of custom queries is not supported by Power BI services.

• Google Analytics has a limit of 10,000 rows per API query. If it exceeds 10,000 queries, Power BI does not create extra queries to extract the rest of the rows.

• Impossible to sort and filter for Analytics API queries: The Google API allows you to specify filters, segments, and sort orders. This will modify the result of your Google Analytics Query even before the data reaches the Google Analytics PowerBI connector. This is not supported by the PowerBI service.

 

 

How Windsor.ai can help you create better reports

Using a platform like Windsor.ai can help connect PBI and GA4 in such a way that it lets you control every aspect of GA. All your website data can be visualized on Power BI with a few clicks.

You can merge any type of data source to have a Power BI Google Analytics dashboard containing the visualizations of your entire data. Windsor.ai helps you publish the data from your website traffic and develop suitable strategies for your business.

Once you sign in to Windsor.ai, using the easy steps that have been mentioned in this article, you will be able to create beautiful interactive dashboards of your GA data in the Power BI desktop or web app, without any hassle of integrating it yourself.

Windsor.ai makes it easier by providing a variety of templates and helps you create a report in a few simple clicks.

Windsor.ai offers a free forever plan. So you can get to see how convenient it is to connect Google Analytics and Power BI using our platform.