Transform Your Google Ads Data into Actionable Insights with Looker Studio

Connecting Google Ads and Looker Studio (formerly Google Data Studio) is excellent for your marketing!

Looker Studio is a powerful dashboarding tool allowing you to easily link several platforms to the same report and display KPIs.

Looker Studio can help you in 2 ways: Digging into your data to find issues and opportunities and creating beautiful dashboards to present your result.

We'll find out in this report how to connect your Google Ads account to Looker Studio and create your first report with it.

Follow this link if you'd instead use a template to start even more quickly. There is more instruction on how to copy a template here. 

Create a Google Ads data source in Looker Studio.

About connectors:

You need to use a connector to create a Looker Studio data source, but there are two kinds of connectors:

• Official: Published by Google and free to use.
• Partner: Published by Google Partner, like Catchr, and mostly pay-to-use.

Google published a Google Ads connector that is free to use, but several partners published their own Google Ads connector.

I advise using the free connector if you already know how to use Looker Studio, and every KPI you need is available in the Google connector.

If you need to learn how to use Looker Studio and are looking for great support, look on the Partners connector side. Sometimes we can access more KPIs than the official connector. Feel free to ask!

We will see how to create a Looker Studio data source using the Catchr Google Ads connector here.

 Create a Google Ads data source:

Click on this link to access our Google Ads connector on Looker Studio.

From there, go through the different authorization steps.

• The first one will create your Catchr account.

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• The second one will connect Catchr and your Google account.

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• The third one will connect Catchr, Looker Studio, and Google Ads.

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Once finished, you can select the account link to your soon-to-be Looker Studio data source. And finally, click Connect at the top right.

You just created your Google Ads data source! Rename it so you can find it later.

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This page is the field list available in this data source. You can manage their name, type, or aggregation method here. You can even create calculated fields or parameters. To learn more about this page, follow this link.

Create your Google Ads report on Looker Studio:

From your data source page, click on Create Report at the top right.

You created a report with your data source attached. You can find the data source fields list in the far right panel. 

This is your canvas. It's here that you will place charts and create your dashboard! You can have a detailed explanation of this interface in this article.

The first thing to do is to choose which KPIs we want to use:

• Cost -> How much do I spend on Google Ads?
• Impression -> How many times one of my ads were seen?
• Cost per Mille impressions (CPM)-> How much did 1000 impressions cost me?
• Reach -> How many people saw at least one ad?
• Clicks -> How many clicks were made on one of my ads?
• Cost per Click (CPC) -> How much does a single click cost me?
• Click Through Rate (CTR) -> Percent of people who saw and clicked on an ad.
• Total Conversions -> How many people made a conversion action during their visit to my website?
• Total Conversion Value -> How much revenue the conversions generate.
• Conversion Rate (CVR) -> Percent of people that click on an ad and do a conversion action.
• Return on Ads Spend (ROAS) -> How many times do my ads return my investments?

And we will breakdown with some dimensions: 

• Campaign -> To have the performance by campaigns.
• Ad group -> To have the performance by ad groups.
• Country -> To check where my ads are seen, clicks, and create a conversion.
• Age and Gender -> To better know my audience.

Now we can start creating our report.

Add a Scorecard:

We can start adding elements to the report. We'll begin by displaying a Scorecard for each chosen metric:

• Click on Add a chart, then Scorecard.
• Add it to the canvas.
• Modify the setting: under metric, choose Impressions.

• You can add the comparison to the previous period like this :

Copy and paste this Scorecard and repeat the operation for each metric.

Once every Scorecard is displayed, align them all:

• Select all the Scorecards.
• Right-click on it, then Distribute -> Horizontally.
• Right-Click on it, then Align Vertically -> Top.

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Add a table:

We will create two tables to display our performance by Campaign and AdGroup:

• Click on Add a Chart, then Table.
• Place it on the canvas.
• Change the dimension to the Campaign name.
• Add the metrics you want to break down by Campaign.

Once all the metrics are added, copy and paste this table and change the dimension to the Ad group name.

Add a GeoChart:

Adding a map to our report is a great way to visualize the repartition of your ads performance :

• Click on Add a chart.
• Select the Geo chart and place it in the canvas.

• Change the dimensions to Country.
• Change the metrics to Conversion.

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Geo Charts can only display one metric at a time, but you can use the Optional metrics option to quickly change metrics in view mode.

Change dimension and metrics for your GEO Chart

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Add bar chart:

For the Gender and Age breakdown, we will use a bar chart. It's a great way to analyze your audiences quickly:

• Click on Add a chart, then Bar.
• Add it to the canvas.

• In dimension, select Gender.
• In metrics, select the one you want breakdown by Gender.
• Repeat this operation for the Age.

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For example, you can explore the style options to modify your bar chart to display horizontally.

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Add control fields:

To finish the data part of this report, we need to add some control fields. Control fields will allow viewers to modify the selected date range and apply filters on dimensions like the Campaign Name, etc.

• Click Add a control.
• Select Date Range Control and place it on your canvas.

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• You can select a default time range in the settings column.

Now we will add a dropdown list to select only the wanted campaign. Once active, all the pages will automatically adapt to match the filter.

• Click on Add a control.
• Select the Dropdown list and add it to the canvas.
• Under dimension, choose the Campaign name.

Try to click on it to check how it works! And explore the other control fields. For example, you can find filters via text, fixed size select box, etc.

Style your Looker Studio report:

Color and size

Now that everything is displayed, we can modify the style of this report.

First things, you might feel that this report is too small:

• Go to Theme and Style, then Layout.
• Under Canvas Size, adapt the height and width as you, please. 

Then go back to Theme. Here you can choose a pre-made theme to change the color of your report's components quickly.

Title and text:

You can use a text box easily to add some titles and informative text about your performance:

• Click on the Text shortcut and place it on the canvas.
• Modify the text.

Explore the Style options. You can change the font color and size, add borders and shadows, and create the perfect text box for every situation.

Add an image:

You can add some images to your report. For example, try to add your logo or your client's logo.

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How to share your report?

You are the owner of this report now. You can share it easily with the Share button at the top right and manage which role everyone has:

• Viewer: this person can only view the report and interact with the dynamic filter and editor left in the report.
• Editor: This person can edit your report, create new pages, add charts, and modify the style.

You'll find a detailed article on how to share your report here.

A great template and how to copy it:

To save some time, you can use a template report. You can copy it with one of your data sources and have an already-styled report where you only need to adapt the KPIs.

Here is a template based on this tutorial. You'll find everything we saw in this article. And follow this link to a tutorial to copy it easily.

Quickstep to create a Google Ads Looker Studio report.

• Login to Looker Studio.
• Create a new data source using a Google Ads connector.
• Click Create Report when you finish creating your Google Ads data source.
• Click on Add a chart and place a chart on the canvas. Modify the dimensions and metrics to match your KPIs.
• Use the Theme and Layout menu to use a personalized theme quickly.

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