Connecting Bold BI to Google Analytics 4 data source

The Bold BI dashboard designer supports connecting to Google Analytics 4 web services through the REST API.

Choose Google Analytics 4 data source

To configure the Google Analytics 4 data source, follow the below steps:

1. Click on the Data Sources button in the configuration panel to add a new data connection.

   

2. Click on CREATE NEW to launch a new connection from the connection panel.

3. Select the Google Analytics 4 connection in the connection panel.

   

NOTE: You can also create a data source from the home page by clicking on the Data Sources menu on the left menu panel and selecting Create Data Source from the data sources page.

Authentication with Google Analytics 4

Use the following steps to authenticate with the Google Analytics 4 web service:

1. Click on the data source, which will prompt a login window. Enter the credentials of your Google Analytics 4 account to authorize.

2. Click on Allow in the authorization window to accept the scopes requested by Bold BI dashboards.

   NOTE: If permission is denied, the account will not be accessible from the dashboard.

3. Provide a name to identify the account and click Next.

4. You have now successfully authorized your connection. Click Connect to continue with the data source connection.

5. If you want to connect via a previously connected account, refer to the Connected Accounts..

   NOTE: To connect to another account click Connect New Account.

Connect to Google Analytics 4

Create Google Analytics 4 data source

After successful authentication, the NEW DATA SOURCE configuration panel will open. Follow the below steps to create Google Analytics 4 data source.

1. Enter a name and description (optional) for the data source.

2. Select the account and property value.

3. You can choose a specific start date and end date using the date picker controls provided. If you select the launch date option, the initial launch date of Google Analytics 4 will be considered as the start date for the API. If no end date option is chosen, the current date will be used as the end date to pull data up to date during data source creation and refresh.

4. Choose multiple metrics and dimensions to replace in Raw Body.

5. Click Custom URL to enter the URL and Raw Body manually. Refer to the Google Analytics 4 API documentation for more details. URL Example:https://analyticsadmin.googleapis.com/v1beta/{entity=properties/*}:runAccessReport

   Raw Body Example: [{"dateRanges":[{"startDate":"2020-11-04","endDate":"2023-05-03"}],"dimensions":[{"name":"deviceCategory"}],"metrics":[{"name":"sessions"}]}]

6. By default, PUT method for the REST API in the Method combo box.

7. In Page(s), enter the maximum number of rows fetched from the Google Analytics 4 data source. This value is used to fetch the data from the Google Analytics 4 data source via pagination.

8. Choose a time interval for the Refresh Settings using the combo box to trigger the Reset API request periodically to keep the data in sync with our dashboard.

9. Select JSON data type in the Data Format combo box.

10. The authentication type will be automatically set to Google Analytics 4 since OAuth is used for authenticating with the Google Analytics 4 account.

    

You can also edit the connection information set here using the Edit Connection option.

Additional information

Setting up the URL and Raw Body

1. The URL is generated automatically once the properties of your account are selected.

   URL Example:https://analyticsdata.googleapis.com/v1beta/<GA4_PropertyID>:runReport

2. Generate Raw Body for Google Analytics 4 by selecting the required start date, end date, Metrics, and Dimensions from the Bold BI.

   Example: [{“dateRanges”:[{“startDate”:”<:startDate>”,“endDate”:”<:endDate>”}],“dimensions”:[{“name”:”<:dimensions>”}],“metrics”:[{“name”:”<:metrics>”}]}]({"dateRanges":[{"startDate":"2020-11-04","endDate":"2023-05-03"}],"dimensions":[{"name":"eventName"}],"metrics":[{"name":"eventCount"}]})

For more information on the API endpoints available for this data source, refer to their official API Documentation

Sample Raw Body

Event Count by Event Name:

[{“dateRanges”:[{“startDate”:“2020-11-04”,“endDate”:“2023-05-03”}],“dimensions”:[{“name”:“eventName”}],“metrics”:[{“name”:“eventCount”}]}]

Sessions by Device Type:

[{“dateRanges”:[{“startDate”:“2020-11-04”,“endDate”:“2023-05-03”}],“dimensions”:[{“name”:“deviceCategory”}],“metrics”:[{“name”:“sessions”}]}]

Preview and data import

• Click Preview & Connect to connect with the configurations that have been set.

• The Choose Schema(s) dialog opens. The schema represents the key fields of JSON data retrieved from the Google Analytics 4 Rest API request. This dialog displays a list of schemas in Treeview and their corresponding values in the grid for preview. Select the required schema(s) from Treeview to use in the designer and click Connect.

  

• Now, the data design view page with the selected table schema opens. Drag and drop the table.

• Click Save to save the data source with a relevant name.

Connected accounts for OAuth data sources

If you have already logged into the account and authenticated with the web data source, the account information will be listed here. You can select one of the accounts or connect to a new account by clicking the Connect New Account button.

You can edit, delete, and re-authorize this account from the Connected Accounts page.

NOTE: To obtain the client ID and client secret for the Google-related data sources, Refer to the Google OAuth Documentation.

Connecting Google Ads Data Source using Google Analytics 4 (GA4)

With the deprecation of Universal Analytics, Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is the standard analytics platform. Google Ads integration is now handled within GA4, and Bold BI retrieves this data via the GA4 connector.

NOTE: Ensure that Google Ads is properly linked to GA4 before attempting to access Ads data in Bold BI.

Link Google Ads with Google Analytics 4 (GA4)

In order to access Google Ads data in Bold BI, it is necessary to link your Google Ads account with your Google Analytics 4 (GA4) property. This linkage enables GA4 to gather and provide Google Ads campaign information

1. Sign in to Google Analytics 4 (GA4) using the Google account that has access to both the required GA4 property and the associated Google Ads account.

2. From the Google Analytics home page, click Admin (gear icon) in the lower-left corner and confirm that the correct GA4 property is selected.

3. Under the Property column, click Google Ads Links to manage the integration between Google Analytics 4 and Google Ads.

4. Click Link to begin the process of linking a Google Ads account with the selected GA4 property.

5. Select the appropriate Google Ads account from the list, review the available linking settings, and configure them according to your requirements.

6. Click Submit to complete the process and successfully link the Google Ads account with Google Analytics 4.

NOTE: This step is mandatory. Without linking Google Ads to GA4, Google Ads data will not be available in Bold BI.

Enable Auto-Tagging in Google Ads

1. Sign in to Google Ads using the Google account that has administrative or standard access to the required Google Ads account.

2. Navigate to the Admin section and select Account Settings to access configuration options for the Google Ads account.

3. Enable Auto-tagging to allow Google Analytics 4 to automatically tag and track Google Ads campaign data accurately.

NOTE: Auto-tagging is required to ensure accurate campaign tracking and proper attribution of Google Ads data in Google Analytics 4.

Required Access Permissions for Google Analytics (GA4) and Google Ads

Google Analytics (GA4)

1. Sign in to Google Analytics using the Google account that has administrative access to the required GA4 property.

2. Click Admin (⚙️ icon) located at the bottom-left corner of the Google Analytics interface.

3. Under the Property column, select Property Access Management to manage user permissions for the selected GA4 property.

4. Click Add Users to begin adding a new user to the property.

5. Enter the user’s email address and assign an access role of Viewer or higher based on the required permission level.

6. Click Add to grant access to the user for the GA4 property.

Google Ads

1. Sign in to Google Ads using a Google account with administrator or standard access to the required Google Ads account.

2. Click Admin (⚙️ icon) located at the bottom-left corner of the Google Ads interface.

3. Select Access and Security to manage user access permissions.

4. Click Add to invite a new user to the Google Ads account.

5. Enter the user’s email address and assign an appropriate role such as Standard or Admin.

6. Click Send Invitation and have the user accept the invitation received via email to complete the access provisioning process.

Configure Google Ads Data in Google Analytics 4 Data Source

After completing the access permissions and linking setup, you can now configure the Google Analytics 4 connector in Bold BI to retrieve Google Ads data.

NOTE: The connection between Google Analytics 4 and Bold BI is already established in the previous sections. The following steps explain how to configure and retrieve Google Ads data using that connection.

Configure Data for Google Ads

To retrieve Google Ads data, you can configure the connector in two ways:

Option 1: Standard Dimensions & Metrics

Use the built-in configuration UI in Bold BI to select commonly used fields.

Dimensions

• campaignId
• source
• medium

Metrics

• Sessions
• totalUsers

This option is recommended for quick setup and standard reporting.

Option 2: Custom URL & Raw Body JSON

If you need more control or want to directly query the GA4 API, use a custom request.

1. Click Custom URL to enter the URL and Raw Body manually. Refer to the Google Analytics 4 API documentation for more details. URL Example:https://analyticsdata.googleapis.com/v1beta/<GA4_PropertyID>:runReport

   Raw Body Example: [{"dateRanges":[{"startDate":"2020-11-04","endDate":"2023-05-03"}],"dimensions":[{ "name": "campaignName" },{ "name": "source" },{ "name": "medium" }],"metrics":[{ "name": "Sessions" },{ "name": "totalUsers" }]}]

   

NOTE: Replace <GA4_PropertyID> with your actual GA4 property ID. You can modify dateRanges, dimensions, and metrics based on your reporting needs. Use Preview & Connect in Bold BI to validate and load the data.

Related links

Data Transformation

Editing a Data Connection

Dashboard Designer Walkthrough

Google Analytics 4 Integration

How to set up OAuth 2.0 authorization to access Google applications in Bold BI