Search Engine Marketing Pros

This is an advanced hack for Google Analytics. Unfortunately it won’t help you hack into your competitors’ accounts ;) but will help you export more data from Google Analytics pivoted tables.

This is not the same hack as the exporting more than 500 columns of data from any report. That one was one of the most annoying things I fixed (to be read hacked) long time back.

You’ll need:

- Firefox

- Live HTTP header (http://livehttpheaders.mozdev.org/)

What are we hacking?

We’ll make possible for the analyst in you to download more than 5 columns from Google Analytics’ Pivot Table reports. Warning: it may cause head bleeding from too much banging against the wall when you’ll analyze more data :)

Usually, when you download pivot tables, you will be able to download only 5 columns (pivot by landing pages – only 5 in the example below:

Only 5 Columns in Pivot Tables

Ok, let’s start:

1. Go to any report that has the pivot table option and segment the data the way you want to analyze it (for testing purposes you can use the example above: go on Traffic Sources report, then Referring Sites and then pivot by Landing Page and choose Showing Visits)
2. Start Live HTTP header (in Firefox, under Tools) – do not load any other pages between step 2 and 3
3. Make sure you checked the Capture box on live HTTP header
4. Go back to your Google Analytics window and select a new number of page rows on, under Show rows (the footer of the pivot table). At this moment, the table should reload – tricky, the URL didn’t change ;)
5. Open the Live HTTP header window
6. The first line there should be the request sent to Google Analytics in order to reload the pivot table. You should see something similar to
   

   Live HTTP Header

7. Copy the link (should be the first if you didn’t load any other page or made other HTTP request – music or video streams) and load it in another tab. You should have something similar to:
   

   Pure html table

8. Now look for the &tcols=5 parameter. Change it to &tcols=50 and load the new URL
9. Here you go, 50 columns:
   

   50 Columns In Pivot Tables

This data is what you need, but you’ll just  make your life even more miserable. You want to have this exported in Excel.

Here’s a bonus hack for Google Analytics (I feel like today you should buy me a coffee)

The URL that exports Google Analytics reports in CSV for Excel (&fmt=5) is:

https://www.google.com/analytics/reporting/export?fmt=5 and some parameters after.

You will have to copy everything starting and including &id=…. from the URL you previously modified (the one with &tcols=50) and append it to Google’s export URL. The export URL will look like:

https://www.google.com/analytics/reporting/export?fmt=5&id=1234567&esig=4&seg0=-8&pdr=20091016-20091115&cmp=visit_segments&trows=25&rpt=ReferringSourcesReport&seg=1&view=4&tchcol=0&tst=0&segkey=source&afs=false&eid=TableChanged&tab=0&tcst=0&tpivk=request_uri_1&tcols=50

Exported Pivot Columns

Now, go back and start trying to do the same.

Pitstop Media is a Vancouver based search engine marketing company which offers results oriented web analytics services. With the use of Google Analytics we’ve helped companies reduce paid advertising cost by as much as 148% while we increased their conversion rates by as much as 410%. Let us increase your conversion rates, too!

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