How to Export Data from Google Analytics and Search Console (without 3rd Party Software)
Google Search Console (GSC) and Google Analytics (GA) allow you to gather very valuable data about your website, especially regarding traffic. Both tools provide a platform to analyze the data (especially GA), but sometimes you may want to merge the data provided by GA or GSC with the data from other sources, like a crawl or server logs; or just dive deeper into details.
In cases such as this, a data export from Google’s tools becomes an absolute MUST.
Limitations of native exports
Google Analytics allows users to export data visible on the screen with a simple press of a button.
The catch is: You may only see 5,000 rows of data at a time, and the default is only 10 rows.
Google Search Console also allows for data export, but the limit is even lower – in this case it’s 1,000 URLs or Queries.
Possible solutions
For many website owners, 5,000 rows is laughably low. So, what do you do in such a situation? There are three ways to resolve this issue:
Use API (application programming interfaces)
Use third-party software
Use Google Data Studio
API is a great and flexible solution. The drawback? You need to develop your own application to take advantage of it, which takes time and resources. Here is how to use APIs with GA, and with GSC.
Third party software, in most cases, constitutes an API-based solution that’s ready to use. It may take the form of an Excel plugin, or a standalone app. The drawback? You may need to trust a third party app with your Google Analytics credentials. This might not be optimal for some. Also, it may need to be a paid service. Analytics Edge is an example of such software. The third and (probably) easiest solution is to use reporting from Google Data Studio. Data Studio is free, developed and maintained by Google, and connects to many data sources, including Google Analytics and Google Search Console.
