Data not matching when fetching from Google Analytics API (python)

Question

I'm making a script to pull data from Google Analytics API v4. The script works fine. However, when validating the data by comparing GA with my fetched data I can see some discrepancies. Not too different but I don't understand why is not the same.

Just to mention that I'm using dynamic segments on my script which has the exact same condition as the segment I have in my GA view. The segment is just filtering spam traffic by only including traffic where session duration > 1sec.

Here is the structure I'm pulling:

body={
"reportRequests":[
{
"viewId": view_id,
"dimensions":[{"name": "ga:date"},{"name": "ga:sourceMedium"},{"name": "ga:campaign"},{"name": "ga:adContent"},{"name": "ga:channelGrouping"},{"name": "ga:segment"}],
"dateRanges":[
{
"startDate":"2018-12-16",
"endDate":"2018-12-20"
}],
"metrics":[{"expression":"ga:sessions","alias":"sessions"}],
"segments":[
{
"dynamicSegment":
{
    "name": "sessions_no_spam",
    "userSegment":
    {
    "segmentFilters":[
    {
        "simpleSegment":
        {
        "orFiltersForSegment":
        {
            "segmentFilterClauses": [
            {
            "metricFilter":
            {
                "metricName":"ga:sessionDuration",
                "operator":"GREATER_THAN",
                "comparisonValue":"1"
            }
            }]
        }
        }
    }]
    }
}
}]
}]
}).execute()

Not sure if the answer to my question will be more conceptual rather than technical but just in case I'm also including the function where I bulk the results in my database:

def print_results(no_spam_traffic):
    connection = psycopg2.connect(database = 'web_insights_data', user = 'XXXX', password = 'XXXXX', host = 'XXX', port = 'XXXXX')
    cursor = connection.cursor()
    for report in no_spam_traffic.get('reports', []):
        for row in report.get('data', {}).get('rows', []):
            gadate = row['dimensions'][0]
            gadate = gadate[0:4]+'/'+gadate[4:6]+'/'+gadate[6:8]
            gasourcemedium = row['dimensions'][1]
            gacampaign = row['dimensions'][2]
            gaadcontent = row['dimensions'][3]
            gachannel = row['dimensions'][4]
            gasessions = row['metrics'][0]['values'][0]

            cursor.execute("SELECT * from GA_no_spam_traffic where gadate = %s AND sourcemedium = %s AND campaign = %s AND adcontent = %s", (str(gadate),str(gasourcemedium),str(gacampaign),str(gaadcontent)))
            if len(cursor.fetchall())>0:        #update old entries
                cursor.execute("UPDATE GA_no_spam_traffic set sessions = %s where gadate = %s AND sourcemedium = %s AND campaign = %s AND adcontent = %s", (str(gasessions),str(gadate),str(gasourcemedium),str(gacampaign),str(gaadcontent)))
                connection.commit()
            else:                               #Insert new rows
                cursor.execute("INSERT INTO GA_no_spam_traffic (gadate,sourcemedium,campaign,adcontent,channel,sessions) VALUES (%s,%s,%s,%s,%s,%s)", (gadate,gasourcemedium,gacampaign,gaadcontent,gachannel,gasessions))
                connection.commit()

    connection.close()

Any ideas what the issue might be? Thanks!!

What kind of discrepancies are you seeing between the UI and your API pulls? GA typically uses sampling to quickly display values. Have you tried specifying your sampling level? — Dascienz
– Dascienz, Commented Jan 4, 2019 at 17:12
Yes, if you are seeing small discrepancies I'd look to sampling issues. — Sal
– Sal, Commented Jan 5, 2019 at 3:47
Thanks! I shouldn't have sampling issues because I don't have much sessions. With the segment I'm having <90000 during a 35 days period. Just in case I added a parameter to my query: "samplingLevel": "LARGE" but still there is a small discrepancy: 84925 sessions (from my script) vs 86120 (from analytics) The filters I have on my property shouldn't affect, do they? thanks again — raul
– raul, Commented Jan 7, 2019 at 10:49

raul · Accepted Answer · 2019-01-08 16:56:28Z

1

I managed to improve it, although it's not exact. But well, it's an acceptable discrepancy. I had a problem with the page size so I increased the pagesize parameter.

Here's the link to the pagination section from a google guide: https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/reporting/core/v4/migration#pagination Thanks

edited Jan 8, 2019 at 16:56

answered Jan 7, 2019 at 13:36

raul

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