Show Google Analytics sampling

See how sampled data from Google Analytics is appearing in your Looker Studio reports.
This article applies to data coming from Universal Analytics properties. Data coming from Google Analytics 4 properties is not sampled.

Google Analytics applies sampling techniques to large data sets to improve the performance of its reports. You can see if Google Analytics-based charts in a Looker Studio report are using sampled data.

In this article:

How Google Analytics sampling works in Looker Studio

A Show Sampling link appears in the report footer on any page that contains charts based on Google Analytics. This link is available to all viewers of the report. (There's no way to hide the link.)

Click the Show Sampling link to place a highlight box around any charts that show sampled Google Analytics data. The sampling rate is displayed above each chart. To remove the highlight, click Hide Sampling.

Example

In the example below, the table and pie charts are both showing sampled data, while the geo chart is not. All 3 charts come from Google Analytics.

Example report showing Google Analytics sampling

Sampling in Looker Studio vs. Google Analytics

Looker Studio uses the same sampling behavior as Google Analytics. If a chart in Looker Studio creates an ad hoc request for data in Google Analytics, standard sampling rules will come into play. The actual sampling rate is determined by Google Analytics at the time of the data request. You can't change this rate in Looker Studio.

Including today’s date may have sampling implications. If you see sampling in Looker Studio but not in Analytics, make sure that you’re comparing the exact same date range and consider removing today from the date range.

Sampling and Analytics 360

Google Analytics 360 provides higher sampling rates than standard Analytics. Looker Studio supports these higher sampling rates for Analytics 360 users.

Limits of data sampling display in Looker Studio

  • Sampling display is not available in embedded reports.
  • This feature only applies to charts based on Google Analytics. Displaying sampling rates for other data sets is not supported.

Learn more about sampling in Google Analytics

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