How to Use Extract Data to Solve Looker Studio GA4 Connector Quota Limit Errors

What is Looker Studio GA4 Connector Quota Limit Errors

Looker Studio GA4 connector quota limit errors are errors that occur in reports created with the GA4 Connector due to the GA4 API query limit settings announced by Google in November 2022.

As a result of the release, Google received many complaints and took measures to increase the query limit and display the number of currently used queries, but many reports continue to fail and cannot be used properly.

Property quota limits example

1. 1,750 tokens per hour
2. 25,000 tokens per day
3. 10 concurrent requests (the number of requests at once)

Official Announce

Way to Solve The Errors

Some have suggested reducing the amount of data acquired to avoid this error, but the following three methods are currently considered the most effective.

1.Extract Data

This is a way to use the extract data functionality provided by Looker Studio. It is available free of charge. However, a 100 MB limit is set per property, so the data to be extracted and the period must be carefully selected. However, it is intuitive and can be used with no code.

2.BigQuery
Google Analytics data can be linked to BigQuery, and BigQuery data can be used to create reports in Looker Studio. BigQuery is a large-scale data warehouse provided by Google, andSQL is required to create reports in Looker Studio.
In addition, data cannot be accumulated without initiating a BigQuery linkage, so past data cannot be used. Furthermore, BigQuery charges a fee based on the amount of data stored and the amount of data used. For more details, please click here.

3.Google Analytics 360

Google Analytics 360 is the paid version of Google Analytics. The paid version of Google Analytics also has an API query limit, which is much higher than the free version. Therefore, if your site has a large amount of data, errors may occur even if you use the paid version. Also, the paid version is costly, so we recommend using something other than the paid version for this purpose.

Analytics 360 Property quotas limit example

1. 17,500 tokens per hour
2. 250,000 tokens per day
3. 50 concurrent requests (the number of requests at once)

Thus, the value is more than ten times higher than the free version.

In summary, a free and easy-to-use solution for now is extracting data. From this point on, we will explain in detail how to use extract data and the points to keep in mind when using it.

How to Use Extracted Data

Extracted data creates a data source from the GA4 connector data source from which only specific dimensions and metrics are extracted and uses that data source for reporting. This is the official way to avoid errors by reducing the number of API requests to the GA4 connector data source. The created data source can be automatically updated daily, weekly, or monthly, so once it is created, there is no need to update the data.

Let's take a look at how to use it.

Step1. Create GA4 datasource

First, create a GA4 connector data source to extract the data.
(If you have already created one, there is no need to create a new one to create an extracted data source.)

From the Looker Studio top screen, click "Create" in the upper left corner and select "Data source".

Select "Google Analytics".

Select the account for which you wish to creat a report and click "CONNECT".

When this screen appears, the data source has been created. Rename the data source for later clarity.

step2.Create Extract Data

Next, click "Data source" as in Step 1.

This time, select "Extract Data".

The screen below will appear, and you can select the contents to be extracted from here.

step3.Choice Dimensions and Metrics

For data source, select the data source created in step 1, and  the items you wish to use in your report. In this example, the Dimensions is a date, and the Metrics is sessions.

step4.Select Data range and Auto Update

Then select the data range to be extracted. In this case, we will extract data for the past three months, so after selecting the date range, select "Advanced" from the options in the upper right corner.

To specify data for the past three months, enter the data in this way.

Now that we have set up the system to retrieve data for the past three months, let's set up an auto-update so that we don't have to retrieve data every month. This time, we will retrieve the past three months' data on the 1st day of each month. "Auto Update" is checked, start time is set to the 1st of the following month, time is arbitrary, and repeat is set to the 1st day of every month.

Adjust the data acquisition period and update frequency according to the report you wish to create.

Finally, rename the data source for later clarity and click "SAVE AND EXTRACT" to complete the data source creation.

step5.Create Looker Studio Report

Now let's create a report using the data source you have created.

From the top left of the looker studio home page, click "Create" and select "Report".

When the screen to select a data source appears, select "My data source", then search for and select the data source you just created. Finally, click "Add" in the lower right corner.

When the report screen appears, select "Date" for the dimensions and "Sessions" for the metrics. (In some cases, these may already be set.)

Once the desired data is displayed, arrange the layout by converting the table into a chart or changing the data period to display.

Now you can create a looker studio report using extracted data.

Notes on Using Extracted Data Source

There are a few things to remember when using easy-to-use extracted data source.

sampling

For sites with high traffic, sampling of sessions and PV figures may occur, resulting in an error of a few percent relative to GA4 management screen data.

Data Verification

The correct numerical data may not be extracted if many dimensions or metrics are selected when creating anextracted data source. Once you have created a report, check it with the numbers on the Google Analytics.

Select only the required dimensions and metrics, and if necessary, create multiple data sources to extract data.

Data volume limit

Since the data volume limit is 100 MB, an error may occur in step 4. In that case, please shorten the date range or try a little more times.

Report Template Using Extract Data Source

88studio provides a report template using extracted data. Try to create a GA4 report in Looker Studio that solves the API limit issue.