Google Analytics vs. Adobe Analytics - Data Sharing & Integrations

Report Exports

• The legacy Reports & Analytics interface makes it possible to export data using PDF, CSV, Excel, and Word formats.

• Analysis Workspace allows data exports in CSV and PDF formats. 

• The Classic Google Analytics interface allows data exports in PDF, CSV, Excel formats as well capabilities to export data to Google Sheets. 

Scheduled Report Exports

• Scheduled delivery of reports is available within both Reports & Analytics and Analysis Workspace.

• Adobe's Report Builder tool is an Excel plug-in which can be used to automate the delivery of exported data and also segment/filter/format/curate Adobe Analytics data and present it natively within a spreadsheet.

• Google Analytics allows the scheduled exports of data via email in PDF, CSV, and XLSX formats along with customizable settings for the frequency and duration of the automated exports. 

• The Google Analytics Spreadsheet Add-On and a variety of Excel Plugins can be used to automate the delivery/curation of Google Analytics data inside a spreadsheet interface.

Exports of High Cardinality or Unsampled Data

• Adobe Data Warehouse feature allows the export of high-cardinality data without any row limitations. 

• Adobe Data Feeds can be used to export raw, hit-level data with capabilities to select what fields are part of the export. Adobe Data Feeds can be configured to export data to FTP/SFTP locations, AWS S3 or Azure storage.

• Google Analytics 360 customers can configure a special type of export, termed "Unsampled Report" which can be used to work around sampling restrictions. 

• Another Google Analytics 360 feature called Custom Tables can be used to bypass issues with high-cardinality dimensions.

• For 360 accounts Google BigQuery can be used to automatically export hit-level Google Analytics data for any GA property and bypass any cardinality or sampling limits.

• The native export of data to BigQuery unlocks significant new capabilities in aspects such as: querying raw data, integrating Google Analytics data with other third party tools, or even running advanced data science models against GA data directly in BigQuery.

• Adobe Analytics has enabled an API for programatic retrieval of data.

• Google Analytics also offers a reporting API allowing the programatic integration of GA data in custom applications. 

Segment/Audience Management

• Segments created in Adobe Analytics are available as reusable components and can be shared with other Adobe offerings, including Adobe Audience Manager, Adobe Target, and Adobe Campaign. 

• Adobe has invested in a separate product - Adobe Audience Manager (previously known as Demdex) - a data management platform, specifically built for the management of audiences.

• Through the creation of traits and segments, Adobe Audience Manager can create robust visitor profiles leveraging data from multiple offline and online data sources. The visitor profiles can be in turn targeted/activated across different delivery networks.

• Google Analytics segments/audiences can be similarly used by other Google products such as Google Optimize, Search Ads 360, Google Ads, etc.

• In 2016 Google unveiled a DMP (Google Audience Center 360) which is no longer available as a product offering.

• Adobe Analytics integrates with Adobe Target. 

• Target can be configured to measure activities using Adobe Analytics metrics or Target-native reporting. 

• Target Activities and Experiences are auto-populated as dimensions inside Adobe Analysis Workspace. Such dimensions can be used as any other dimension and combined with other metrics, dimensions, calendar selections, or segments. 

• Target Activities and Experiences can be configured to target a particular segment of visitors. 

• Google Analytics integrates with Google Optimize. 

• Optimize has a paid version Google Optimize 360 which allows a larger number of simultaneous tests, more flexibility in setting experiment targets, along with different SLAs and support options. 

• Experiences created in Optimize can be measured against Google Analytics-created goals, e-commerce metrics, standard metrics, custom events, or pages matching a particular pattern. 

• Vice-versa, Optimize experiment id's are available as elements for segment creation in Google Analytics.

• Optimize experiences can be targeted towards audiences defined in Google Analytics or set through rules in Google Tag Manager.

• Experimentation data in Google Analytics is also available in Google Data Studio. 

• Advertising Analytics works by adding an extended set of metrics and dimensions to Adobe Analytics reporting (across Reports & Analytics and Analysis Workspace). The integration makes available Google and Bing paid search data points such as Clicks, Cost, Impressions, Average Position, Keywords, Campaigns. The dataset represents summary data and does not integrate on a hit/visit/visitor level with the rest of the data natively collected by Adobe Analytics.  

• AdSense allows publishers to display advertisements on their websites in text, image, or video formats. The advertisements are administered by Google with advertisers paying on a pay-per-click or a pay-per-impression model. AdSense accounts can be linked to Google Analytics properties allowing publishers to see a number of AdSense metrics directly in Google Analytics (AdSense Revenue, Ads Clicked, etc).

• Google Ads (previously known as Google AdWords) allows advertisers to bid for placements on a pay-per-click model inside the results of search engines/properties that are part of the Google Search Network. Linking Google Ads and Google Analytics allows users to view Google Ads click and cost data directly in Google Analytics. The integration also enables audiences/remarketing lists from Google Analytics to be used for the fine-tuning of Google Ads campaigns. Additionally, the integration of the two offerings allows Google Analytics Goals to be imported into Google Ads.

• Ad Exchange - similar to AdSense, Ad Exchange allows publishers to display advertisements, but with much more control over the advertisements that are being displayed. A more detailed comparison between Ad Exchange and AdSense can be found here. A Google Analytics property can be linked to an Ad Exchange account and this will populate a set of reports in the Behavior > Publisher section of the Google Analytics reports. The reports provide insights into impressions, clicks, and revenue. 

• Display & Video 360 (previously known as DoubleClick Bid Manager) enables programatic buying and real time bidding on display campaigns. Linking Google Analytics to a Display & Video 360 account enables additional metrics and dimensions to become available in GA. The DBM Sites dimension shows information on various domains where your ads are displayed along with metrics such as impressions, clicks, cost, conversions and various derived calculated metrics. Similarly to other integrations, Analytics audiences can be used to improve the targeting of D&V 360 campaigns. 

• Campaign Manager (formerly known as DoubleClick Campaign Manager) is used to manage display ads, helping advertisers with aspects such as ad serving, targeting, verification, and reporting. Integrating Campaign Manager with Google Analytics allows advertisers to see how impressions/clicks generated by Campaign Manager ads contribute to your organization's KPIs. Campaign Manager data shows up within Marketing Channels reporting as its own channel "Display". 

• Search Ads 360 is similar to Google Ads, but is not limited to the Google Search Network. Search Ads 360 offers sophisticated features for automated bidding, keyword performance analysis, automated campaign tag management, as well a single place to manage search ads across different search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc). The integration with Google Analytics allows data from Search Ads 360 to be analyzed in the context of Google Analytics.

• Ad Manager is an ad serving platform used to manage ad delivery across web pages and mobile applications. The integration with Google Analytics surface Ad Manager-native metrics (clicks, impressions, etc) inside Google Analytics reports. Lining the two systems also allows the sharing of Google Analytics remarketing audiences to Google Ad Manager.

• Adobe Campaign (a tool that allows marketers to orchestrate marketing campaigns leveraging email, personalization, design, and automation capabilities) can be integrated with Adobe Analytics to enable additional data on Adobe Campaign activities. Delivery metrics such as opens, clicks, deliveries, bounces can be examined against dimensions such as Campaign ID, Campaign Label, etc.

• Adobe Experience Manager (a content management system) offers an integration with Adobe Analytics that allows reporting on impression and click data for different AEM assets.

• Data Connectors - Adobe offers a library of data connectors for dozens of different MarTech vendors (BrightEdge, ForeSee, DemandBase, etc). The integrations normally allow data from the MarTech vendor to be exposed as add-on dimensions/metrics in Adobe.

• Google Analytics 360 makes it possible to integrate GA data with Salesforce. The result of the integration is a set of unified views that display data from GA360 properties side-by-side with CRM data from Salesforce and leverage the data for the creation of shareable segments. 

  About QA2L

QA2L is a data governance platform specializing in the automated validation of tracking tags/pixels. We focus on making it easy to automate even the most complicated user journeys / flows and to QA all your KPIs in a robust set of tests that is a breeze to maintain.

We take a smart, targeted approach to issue discovery via auto-selective site audits and scans and can help your organization on the path of improved data governance and data quality.

Contact Us