4.3. Understanding Aggregation (Looker Studio Masterclass) (Google Data Studio Tutorial)

In this lesson, I take a deep dive into one of the foundational principles of data analysis - aggregation. Using Looker Studio, I demonstrate how we can reduce complex data into understandable metrics. We look at different ways to summarize sales data from multiple dates into a single value like total sales, average sales, or even maximum and minimum sales values.

But this video isn't just about numbers, it’s about making sense of data in new ways. I show you how to aggregate dimensions as well. For instance, understanding unique product offerings or distinct landing pages becomes simple when we use count or distinct count aggregations. I also touch on the importance of communicating changes in aggregation methods, an often overlooked but critical point when presenting data.

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- Dive into aggregation in Looker Studio, a basic yet crucial concept for data analysis.
- Learn to summarize complex sales data into understandable metrics like total, average, minimum, and maximum sales.
- Explore how to aggregate dimensions, including distinct count and count aggregations to identify unique offerings or landing pages.
- Understand how to change aggregation methods and the importance of communicating these changes effectively.
- Develop the skills to transform raw data into valuable business insights through effective data aggregation.

00:00 Introduction to Metrics and Aggregation
00:27 Aggregation as the Fundamental of Modeling
01:32 Different Methods of Aggregation
02:18 Types of Aggregation in Data Studio
03:02 Aggregation Implementation in Data Studio
04:10 Working with Data Source and Fields
05:00 Aggregating Dimensions and Metrics
06:34 Counting Distinct Values in Dimensions
07:13 Aggregating Values per Category
08:24 Understanding Grand Total Aggregation

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Aggregation is a fundamental data modeling function in Looker Studio.

Aggregation is the act of *reducing* and *summarizing* data.

In this lesson we will discuss the built-in aggregation methods available in Looker Studio and how we can utilize them to better answer our report users’ questions.

**Aggregation: Live Demo**

Let’s see how aggregation works in Looker Studio using a sample data source.

In particular, we will cover:

- How aggregation works in a scorecard
- Different aggregation methods: Sum, Average, Minimum, Maximum, etc.
- How aggregation works for a dimension

**Aggregation per Category**

We will cover how aggregation by category works in this demo.

In addition, we will also discuss how the grand total field works differently in certain situations and when we apply aggregation by category.

We will also discuss why renaming an aggregated field is a simple but important task to do to prevent confusion or data miscommunication with report users.

[iggymach]

Thanks for your aggregation videos. I am facing a challenge with my report and I was wondering if you could help.

I have a field with account names and another field with their profits.
Because of other fields, the account names repeat multiple times down the report, and with it the related (invariable) profit values.

I want to create a scorecard showing the total profit of all the (unique) accounts, but it is aggregating the profit of all instances, including the repeated account_name rows.
Is there any way to sum the profit per unique account ignoring repeated instances, outside a table? I need it in a Scorecard.

I would appreciate any recommendation 🙂

[Diegovatouch]

Hi Ahmad, Thanks for your great video! I have the following concern with Looker Studio. I need to calculate the mode, but I believe that google extract that function of "agregations". There is another method to calculate mode?

[rezasemnani]

Hi Ahmad, if we have our data in a .csv file, would it still be possible to use it as a Data Source or do we have to import it to the Google sheet to be able to use it as a Data Source? Many thanks