Universal Analytics Streaming

Universtal Analytics Streaming Data Source allows collecting hit-level non-sampled data with unlimited dimensions and metrics into your Google BigQuery account using your existing Google Analytics tracker even if you use a free version of Google Analytics.

Before you begin

How it works?

After simple integration with Google Tag Manager or javascript on your website, SegmentStream will start listening all Google Analytics events already implemented on the website and push same events into Google BigQuery in real-time.

Getting started

  1. Inside the admin panel navigate to the Data Sources page and click + NEW on the top right corner.
  2. Choose Universal Analytics from the list.
  3. Select the Integration type that suits you.
  4. Copy the Snippet code.
  5. Click Save and follow the further instructions to integrate the code.

Integrating using Google Tag Manager (GTM)

Choose this method if your Google Analytics is integrated using Google Tag Manager.

  1. In the Variables section click New to create a customTask variable.

    GTM Setup Step 1

  2. Click on the Variable Configuration > Custom JavaScript in Page Variables section:

    GTM Setup Step 2

  3. Set SegmentStream as a Name of the variable. Paste code from the Data Source settings modal to Custom Javascript field. Click Save.

    GTM Setup Step 3

  4. Add this variable as your Gooogle Analytics Settings customTask field

    GTM Setup Step 4.1

    In case you enabled have Enable overriding settings in this tag option switched on, you would need to define customTask field in each of your Universal Analytics tags.

    GTM Setup Step 4.2

    Important! You can’t use more than one customTask in one GTM tag. The function of each new customTask overrides the function of the previous one. If it’s required to use several customTask functions in a single tag, you should join their JavaScript code within a single customTask using this guide.

  5. Save the tag and Publish the container.

Integration with analytics.js (website code)

Choose this method if your Google Analytics integrated with website source code.

Add Snippet from analytics.js type to the website source code on each page after the command ga('create', 'UA-XXXXX-Y', 'auto'); and before ga('send', 'pageview');:

ga('create', 'UA-XXXXX-Y', 'auto');

<% snippet code from admin panel %>

ga('send', 'pageview');

Check if integration works correctly

  1. Go to your website, open console > network and filter results with track.segmentstream endpoint. If snippet integrated correctly you will see requests: GTM Setup

  2. Go to your Google BigQuery account and check if table with name from Destination table appears in your DataSet.

Sending hits using Measurement Protocol

Sometimes you might need to send some hits using Measurement Protocol. For example - transactions or refunds.

To achieve this you just need to send the same request you send to your Google Anlaytics to your SegmentStream data stream endpoint.

For example:

POST https://track.segmentstream.com/ds/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx
// Use proper endpoint from the admin panel

v=1                                   // Version.
&tid=UA-XXXXX-Y                       // Tracking ID / Property ID.
&cid=555                              // Anonymous Client ID.
&t=pageview                           // Pageview hit type.
&dh=mydemo.com                        // Document hostname.
&dp=/receipt                          // Page.
&dt=Receipt%20Page                    // Title.

&ti=T12345                            // Transaction ID. Required.
&ta=Google%20Store%20-%20Online       // Affiliation.
&tr=37.39                             // Revenue.
&tt=2.85                              // Tax.
&ts=5.34                              // Shipping.
&tcc=SUMMER2013                       // Transaction coupon.

&pa=purchase                          // Product action (purchase). Required.
&pr1id=P12345                         // Product 1 ID. Either ID or name must be set.
&pr1nm=Android%20Warhol%20T-Shirt     // Product 1 name. Either ID or name must be set.
&pr1ca=Apparel                        // Product 1 category.
&pr1br=Google                         // Product 1 brand.
&pr1va=Black                          // Product 1 variant.
&pr1ps=1                              // Product 1 position.

Table SCHEMA

Field name Type Mode Description
hit_id string Nullable Unique hit identifier
ip string Nullable Visitor’s IP address
received_at integer Nullable Hit time in milliseconds passed since January 1, 1970
ssuid string Nullable Cross-domain unique user’s identifier
payload string Nullable Raw hit payload
cookie record Repeated 1st-party cookies of major advertising platforms
cookie.name string Nullable Cookie name
cookie.value string Nullable Cooke value
date date Nullable partitition field, Date of the hit with UTC offset
user_agent string Nullable Visitor’s device userAgent

By default, SegmentStream collects the following cookies alongside with the hit data: _ym_uid, _ga, ssaid, _fbp, _fbc, tmr_lvid. The list of cookies can be expanded by request.

This document was last updated on March 5, 2021. If you notice any gaps, outdated information or simply want to leave some feedback to help us improve our documentation, please let us know!