How to enable Google Analytics for Datawrapper visualizations | GA3 (Universal Analytics)

 ⚠️ If you're still using Universal Analytics, we recommend that you migrate to Google Analytics 4 before July 1, 2023, when Universal Analytics will stop processing data. Read how to set up the most recent version of Google Analytics (GA4) here. 

To track how often your visualizations are used, you can include a Google Analytics tracking script in your published visualizations. This is a free feature for every Datawrapper user.

This article explains how to enable our Google Analytics integration.

How to find your Google Analytics Tracking ID

To activate this Datawrapper integration, you first need a Google Analytics account and the Tracking ID that comes with it. Here's how to find it: 

1

Visit analytics.google.com. In the bottom left corner, click on Admin:

2

Below Property, click on Tracking Info, and then on Tracking ID in the dropdown menu that opens. 

3

And that's it! You should now see your tracking code. It always starts with UA-....

Now that you got your Tracking ID, you can use it with Datwrapper visualizations. Here's how:

How to activate the Google Analytics integration in Datawrapper 

1

Go to your settings ( app.datawrapper.de/account/teams) and then select the team you want to enable the integration for. In our case, that's Newsroom A:

2

This will bring you to the settings for the selected team. Here, select Integrations on the left:

3

And now scroll all the way down on the Integrations page, until you see the words Google Analytics. Enable the integrations with a click on Enable Google Analytics integration, then add your Tracking ID:

If you entered a valid Tracking ID, Datawrapper will tell you that "✓ All visualizations published by your team will now include the tracking script." 

If you have any problems setting up our Google Analytics integration, don't hesitate to get in touch with us at support@datawrapper.de

Where to find your chart views in Google Analytics

Once you've created a Tracking ID and set up the Google Analytics integration in Datawrapper, all visualizations that are published inside your team will have this Tracking ID. The Tracking IDs will only be added to those that have been published or republished after enabling the GA integration so if you want to track old charts you've created in the past, you'll have to republish them again.

To view your readers' interactions with your visualizations, go to your Google Analytics page, then on the left panel, click on Real-time > Content. You should see the chart ID as well as the title. You can also go to Behavior > Overview to see the page views.