Unified Blog Analytics Dashboard with Looker Studio (GA4 + AdSense) - Tips for Blogspot & Adsense

Ideas for a Unified Blog Dashboard with Looker Studio

💡 Build one dashboard that pulls in visitors, acquisition channels, and revenue across all your blogs—so you can scan performance in seconds, not hours.

When you run multiple blogs, you quickly care about the same core questions: How many people are visiting? Where are they coming from? Which posts hold attention? How does that relate to revenue? Google provides powerful analytics for this. The usual entry point is Google Analytics.

But the more sites you manage, the more tab-hopping and account-switching creeps into your day. Pulling simple cross-site insights starts to feel manual and brittle. You want a way to see the big picture at a glance—without losing the ability to dig into a single post when needed.

I want to see everything about my blogs in one place. What’s the most practical way to do that?

That’s exactly where Looker Studio shines. It’s a free data visualization tool from Google that lets you connect multiple data sources and present them on shareable, filterable dashboards.

Looker Studio at a Glance

💡 Create live, interactive reports from many sources—no spreadsheets or manual stitching required.

You can reach Looker Studio at https://lookerstudio.google.com/. It opens to a clean workspace where you can spin up a new report, connect data, and start visualizing key metrics in minutes.

Here’s what the initial screen looks like when you land there.

Below is a simple, beginner-friendly walkthrough. It mixes real screens with step-by-step instructions so you can replicate it even if you’re new to dashboards.

Step 1: Plan the Project and Define Your Goals

💡 Decide what you want to see before you build. Clear questions lead to cleaner dashboards.

Before you dive into Looker Studio and start connecting data sources, take a step back and think strategically. A dashboard isn’t just a collection of charts — it’s a decision-making tool. The clearer your goals are, the easier it becomes to design something useful, lightweight, and actionable.

Good dashboards don’t start with data; they start with questions. What are you trying to learn or track? Which metrics actually matter to your blog’s growth? By defining your goals first, you’ll save hours of rework later and create visuals that genuinely drive insight instead of clutter.

1-1. Define the Core Questions

💡 List the exact questions your dashboard must answer—by blog, by post, and by time period.

Every blog owner has slightly different priorities. Some care about traffic growth. Others focus on content ROI, engagement quality, or ad monetization. Whatever your focus, outline the core questions your dashboard needs to answer. Think of these as the heartbeat of your analytics routine.

Here are examples of practical questions you can start with:

• Traffic by day/week/month per blog
  Understand how audience size changes over time. Are your numbers trending up? Do weekends perform differently than weekdays? Having a timeline view helps you detect growth plateaus or seasonal dips early.
• Acquisition breakdown
  See which channels drive visitors — organic search, social media, direct visits, referrals, or email. This breakdown shows where your readers truly come from and helps allocate your promotion effort efficiently.
• Ad revenue snapshot
  Compare traffic and earnings side-by-side. Even if AdSense has precise figures, including a quick revenue view in your dashboard helps you spot efficiency patterns like “less traffic but higher revenue per visit.”
• Top revenue-driving content
  Some articles quietly outperform others in monetization. Identify posts with strong RPM (revenue per thousand views) or high click-throughs to guide what topics, tone, or structure are worth replicating.
• Engagement and loyalty
  Beyond raw visits, track how long users stay, whether they return, and how many posts they read per session. These reveal the quality of your audience and whether your content truly resonates.
• SEO impact over time
  Monitor impressions and clicks from Search Console. Are your newer articles ranking faster? Is CTR improving after headline tweaks? These metrics clarify whether your SEO efforts are paying off.

Once you’ve outlined your questions, group them by time period — daily for monitoring, weekly for performance reviews, and monthly for strategy. The right cadence keeps your dashboard useful rather than overwhelming.

1-2. Prepare the Data You’ll Need

💡 Connect Analytics, link AdSense to Analytics, and line up Search Console if you want keyword insights.

Your dashboard is only as good as the data feeding it. Before building visuals, make sure your tracking foundations are solid. Most creators use three main sources: Google Analytics for behavior data, AdSense for revenue, and Search Console for keyword performance. Together, they form a full picture — from audience acquisition to monetization.

Here’s a simple starting point:

Data Type	Source	Key Metrics / Dimensions
Blog traffic & engagement	Google Analytics (GA4)	Sessions, Views, Users, Engaged sessions, Avg. engagement time, Source/Medium, Page title
Ad revenue	Google AdSense (linked to GA4)	Estimated earnings, Impressions, Clicks, Page RPM
Organic search	Google Search Console	Queries, Clicks, Impressions, CTR, Position

This setup is light but powerful. It covers the essentials most bloggers need without complexity. Once your base data is clean and connected, you can easily expand later — for example, by adding:

• Affiliate performance data from networks like Amazon Associates or Commission Junction
• Newsletter metrics from email tools like MailerLite or ConvertKit
• Social referral data from platforms like Facebook Insights or Twitter Analytics
• Manual spreadsheets for experiments, campaign tagging, or sponsored posts

Make sure all sources use consistent naming (for example, the same blog titles or campaign tags). That consistency will make it much easier to blend and compare later inside Looker Studio.

By the end of Step 1, you should have a short checklist like this:

• Clear objectives and questions written down
• Key metrics defined for each blog
• Analytics, AdSense, and Search Console accounts connected
• Optional datasets (affiliate, social, etc.) ready for later integration

Once this groundwork is done, you’re ready to start building your dashboard with purpose instead of guesswork.

Step 2: Open Looker Studio and Create a New Report

💡 Spin up a fresh report, give it a clear name, and get ready to connect your data sources.

1. Go to Looker Studio

2. Click + Blank Report

3. Name it (e.g., “Unified Blog Dashboard”)

4. You’ll see a blank canvas—perfect for wiring up your first data source.

Step 3: Connect Your Data Sources

💡 Link GA4 first, then bring AdSense into GA4. Add Search Console if you want keyword views.

Create a new report and add data sources

3-1. Connect Google Analytics

💡 Make sure every blog is sending data to GA4. One property per site keeps filtering simple.

Before connecting, confirm each blog is properly integrated with GA4. If any site isn’t, complete that setup first so your dashboard isn’t missing data.

Choose the Google Analytics tile

1. From the data source gallery, pick Google Analytics.
   You can also go to Resources → Manage added data sources → Add a data source and select the GA4 property for a given blog.
   
   

   

   Select the blog property and click Add

3-2. Bring in AdSense

💡 Link AdSense to GA4 and surface revenue signals in Looker Studio without a separate connector.

Instead of pulling AdSense straight into Looker Studio, connect AdSense to GA4. Once linked, earnings metrics can be visualized through the same GA4 data source. No extra connector required.

3-3. Add Search Console (Optional)

💡 If you care about keyword-level views, add the Search Console connector and join by landing page.

With Search Console connected, you’ll see queries, clicks, and impressions. In this tutorial, we’ll focus on GA4 + AdSense. You can always add GSC later and blend it by Landing page to keep things tidy.

Once these are connected, Looker Studio exposes your fields in the right-side panel. You’ll drag and drop dimensions and metrics into charts, tables, and scorecards.

Step 4: Visualize the Data

4-1. Scorecards for Views, Active Users, Avg. Engagement Time, and Revenue

💡 Start with a compact header: four scorecards, a rolling date control, and a blog filter.

In my case, I manage two fresh blogs—“Rakiwa” and “Mumyeong Kitchen_Old.” I want to compare them instantly. The top row of the dashboard shows yesterday and today’s views, active users, average engagement time, and estimated revenue.

In Looker Studio, drop scorecards onto the canvas and map each to the right metric. Add a period-over-period comparison and optional sparkline to quickly spot trends.

Example of a compact, comparable header

Here’s a quick demo of adding a “Views” card.

Repeat the same process for Active Users, Average engagement time, and Total revenue. Use clear labels and consistent date windows so comparisons stay apples-to-apples.

Suggested field mapping for the “Views” scorecard is shown below. Replicate it with the other metrics using the corresponding GA4 fields.

Suggested settings for “Views”

 

4-2. Per-Post Table: Source, Views, Active Users, Avg. Time, Revenue

💡 Use a tidy table for per-post insights—far easier to scan than a complex chart.

This view shows, for each post, where visitors came from, how many landed, how long they stayed, and how much revenue the post contributed.

Set up a flexible table like this:

Per-post source and performance table

For example, if you published “How to Maintain Your Blog,” you’ll see which channels drove readers, how many visits it earned, the typical time spent, and the revenue it generated. This helps separate noise from signal.

The build process is similar to the scorecards: drag fields into a Table element and set the right dimensions and metrics. Start with Page title, then add Session source/medium, Views, Active users, Average engagement time, and Estimated revenue.

Here’s a reference for the settings:

First, search for Page title and drop it into the table to initialize the layout. Then add the traffic source dimension and the metrics listed above.

Step 5: Use Starter Templates

💡 Templates jump-start your layout. Customize metrics, filters, and styles once the frame is in place.

Looker Studio includes ready-to-use templates. If you don’t want to design from scratch, grab a GA4 template and swap fields to fit your blogs. Then add a few controls—like a Blog selector and date range—to make it feel bespoke.

Starter templates to speed up layout

 

The GA4 template gives you a solid baseline in minutes:

A GA4 template customized for blogs

• Swap in your blog property.
• Add a Blog dimension (site name) if you centralize multiple sites in one view.
• Include a Date range control and a Channel grouping filter for quick pivots.

Step 6: Put the Dashboard to Work

💡 Use it to choose topics, tune SEO focus, and prioritize posts for UX edits and length tweaks.

With the dashboard live, you can choose which search engine to optimize for, identify topics to double down on, and spot posts that need content or UX improvements. The goal isn’t just reporting—it’s making faster, better calls.

As you review, think about:

• Topic selection: Compare revenue per view by topic cluster. Favor depth where payoff is clear.
• SEO focus: Watch channel shifts by blog to calibrate where to invest time—search vs. social vs. referrals.
• Engagement fixes: Posts with high entrances but short engagement may need intros, subheadings, or media.
• Cadence: If weekly posts move the needle more than daily, reclaim time for research and updates.

You can also make the report responsive so it’s readable on mobile. Handy when you’re checking numbers on the move.

Wrap-Up

💡 Follow the steps and most beginners can ship a solid unified dashboard within a day or two.

Looker Studio lets you centralize blog analytics and lightly integrate revenue signals. With one link, you can monitor visitors, acquisition, engagement, and earnings. It’s flexible enough to reflect what you care about, not just what standard templates assume.

Everyone values different metrics. The beauty of Looker Studio is how easily you can adapt the report to match your style of decision-making.

Use this walkthrough to assemble your first version, then iterate. As your questions evolve, your dashboard can evolve with them.

Pro Tips: Make It Reliable and Easy to Read

💡 Keep naming consistent, add filters up top, and constrain date windows for faster loads.

Naming conventions. Prefix charts with the entity and time window, e.g., “Blog · 28d · Views.” You’ll never wonder what you’re looking at.

Global controls. Put a date picker and blog selector on the top bar. Apply them to all charts for consistent filtering.

Fast load times. Default to the last 28 days. Give a separate page for long-range views like 12 months rolling.

Annotations. Add a small note layer for major events—migrations, redesigns, or ad experiments. You’ll avoid false alarms later.

Calculated Fields You’ll Actually Use

💡 Create lightweight KPIs such as RPM, Views per User, and Revenue per View.

• Views per user = Views / Users
• Revenue per view = Estimated revenue / Views
• RPM approximation = (Estimated revenue / Views) × 1000

These expose quality—are we attracting the right readers, or just more sessions?

Design for Scannability

💡 Limit colors, align columns, and show trendlines where it helps, not everywhere.

• Use one accent color for highlights, grey for secondary labels.
• Right-align numeric columns and show totals at the bottom.
• Sparklines are great for scorecards but skip them in dense tables.

Common Pitfalls

💡 Don’t mix incompatible date ranges, and avoid double-counting when blending.

• Apply the same date window to all elements on a page unless you’re clearly comparing periods.
• When blending GA4 and other sources, join on a stable key like Landing page and keep one metric grain per chart.

FAQ

💡 Quick answers to the most frequent setup and reporting questions.

Q1. Do I need to pay for Looker Studio?
No. The core product is free. Some third-party connectors can be paid, but GA4, AdSense, and Search Console are free connectors.

Q2. Can I compare multiple blogs side by side?
Yes. Use a Blog dimension or a filter control per property. Scorecards and tables will update based on the selection.

Q3. My numbers don’t match AdSense exactly. Why?
AdSense is the source of truth for payouts. GA4-linked revenue in reports is best used for trends and directional comparison, not accounting.

Q4. What’s the easiest way to spot posts worth updating?
Sort the per-post table by Views descending and scan for low Avg. engagement time or below-average Revenue per view. Tweak structure, improve intros, and add context.

Q5. How do I share the dashboard with collaborators?
Click Share in Looker Studio and grant view or edit access. You can also embed the report in a private page if needed.

Q6. Can I add affiliate data later?
Yes. Bring in a CSV or a connector from your affiliate platform, then blend by landing page or post slug.

Q7. Is there a mobile-friendly mode?
Use responsive layout controls and test on a phone. Keep the header slim and avoid wide tables on small screens.