In today’s data-driven world, organizations need seamless access to web analytics data to make informed business decisions. Oracle Analytics Cloud (OAC) allows users to connect to various data sources, including Google Analytics, to analyze website traffic, user behavior, and marketing performance.

This article guides you through the step-by-step process of integrating Google Analytics with OAC, ensuring that you can pull insightful data into your analytics platform efficiently.

Prerequisites

• Verify the active Google Cloud Platform (GCP) account with access to the “Google Analytics API”.
• Use an OAC instance with administrator access. Ensure the Google account used has data acceSafe Domain namess to the desired Google Analytics sensitive scopes.
• API Quotas and Limits: Be mindful of the Google Analytics API usage quotas and limits to avoid disruptions in data retrieval.
• Data Security: Securely store and manage your Google Cloud Platform credentials to protect access to your Google Analytics data. Keep your Client ID and Secret confidential—don’t share them publicly.
• Data Mapping: Carefully map the dimensions and metrics from Google Analytics to the corresponding fields in Oracle Analytics Cloud to ensure accurate data representation.
• Data Refresh Frequency: Determine the appropriate data refresh frequency based on your reporting needs and the volume of data being processed.

Step 1: Enabling Google Analytics API

To allow OAC to access your Google Analytics data, you first need to enable the Google Analytics API in the Google Cloud Console. Ensure this account has the necessary permissions to manage APIs and create credentials—typically, this requires ownership or editor access to a Google Cloud project. If you don’t have a project yet, Google Cloud Console will prompt you to create one. Simply set up a new project (e.g., name it “OAC-Google-Analytics-Integration”).

a. Navigate to Google Cloud Console.

• Navigate IAM & Admin.
• Navigate to Manage resources.
• Create a project.

Google Cloud Console Create Project

b. Navigate to the Google Cloud Console home and then APIs & Services.

c. Access the API library.

• Click Library in the left navigation menu.

Google Cloud access to the API library

d. Search for the Google Analytics API.

• On the search bar, enter “Google Analytics API” and press Enter.
• Select Google Analytics API from the search results.

Search for the Google Analytics API

e. Enable the API. 

• Click Enable.
• Once enabled, Google Analytics API will be available for your Google Cloud project.

Enable the API

Step 2: Creating Credentials for API Access

After enabling the API, you need to create credentials that allow OAC to authenticate and access Google Analytics data.

a. Navigate to the Credentials section.

• In Google Cloud Console, navigate to APIs & Services and then Credentials (this button is usually located near the top-right corner of the screen).

Google Cloud Console

b. Create a new credential.

• Click Create Credentials at the top of the page.
• Select OAuth 2.0 Client ID as the authentication method.

Create credentials 

c. Set up the OAuth consent screen.

• If prompted, configure the OAuth consent screen by providing the required details:
• Application Name: Descriptive name for your connection
• User Support Email: Your contact email
• Scopes: Required scopes for Google Analytics
• Authorized Domains: Include oraclecloud.com to allow integration
• Collect URI from Oracle Analytics Cloud, Google Analytics Connection

OAuth Consent screen

d. Create the OAuth Client ID.

• Select Web Application as the application type.
• Provide a Name for the OAuth credential.
• In Authorized Redirect URIs, enter the redirect URL that Oracle Analytics Cloud uses.
• Click Create and note the Client ID and Client Secret for later use.

Create and note the Client ID and Client Secret details

e. Log in to Google Analytics.

f. Navigate to admin collect Account Id.

Collect Account Id

g. Collect the Property ID.

Collect the Property ID

Step 3: Configuring the Google Analytics Connection in Oracle Analytics Cloud

Now that you have the API credentials, you’ll need to configure the connection in OAC.

a. Open Oracle Analytics Cloud.

• Log in to your Oracle Analytics Cloud environment.

b. Navigate to the OAC Console.

c. Click Safe Domains.

d. Register the following domains as safe:

• api.google.com
• *.google.com

Safe Domains in the Console

Safe Domain names

e. Create a New Connection.

• Click Create and then Connection.
• Select Google Analytics as the connection type.

f. Enter the API Credentials.

• Provide the Client ID and Client Secret obtained from Google Cloud.
• Add the Account Id and Property ID from Google Analytics.

g. Authorize the Connection.

• OAC will redirect you to Google for authorization.

Google for authorization

h. Log in with your Google account and grant permissions to access Google Analytics data.

Your Google account and Google Analytics data permissions

i. Verify and save the connection.

• Once authorized, OAC will validate the connection.
• Click Save, and your connection will be ready to use.

Successful Google Analytics authentication

Step 4: Using Google Analytics Data in Oracle Analytics Cloud

Once the connection is established, you can start using Google Analytics data within OAC.

a. Create a dataset.

• Click Create and then Dataset.
• Select the Google Analytics Connection.
• Choose the metrics and dimensions you want to analyze.

b. Build data visualizations.

• Use OAC’s data visualization tools to create interactive dashboards.
• Analyze web traffic, user engagement, and campaign performance directly within Oracle Analytics.

OAC’s data visualization tools to create interactive dashboardsCaption

Conclusion

By following these steps—navigating to the Google Cloud Console, enabling the Google Analytics API, and creating OAuth 2.0 credentials—you’ve laid the groundwork for a seamless integration between Google Analytics with Oracle Analytics Cloud. This empowers businesses with valuable insights from their web analytics data. You can easily integrate Google Analytics data into OAC, enabling advanced reporting and visualization.

For more information:

1. Check out the Oracle Analytics Channel, Accessing Google Analytics with Oracle Analytics.
2. See the Oracle Help Center documentation, Connect to Google Drive or Google Analytics.

If you encounter issues, double-check your redirect URI, API scopes, and if you have any questions or need further assistance, feel free to reach out to us.