Issue
Numbers from a Google Analytics extract differ from numbers in the Google Analytics portal, when comparing reports from Google Analytics with data available in Tableau Desktop connected to the same data source.
Numbers from a Google Analytics extract differ from numbers in the Google Analytics portal, when comparing reports from Google Analytics with data available in Tableau Desktop connected to the same data source.
To match reporting obtained from Google Analytics, structure the data connection (the dimensions and measures imported) to the same granularity used in the Google Analytics report.
Fields such as Unique Users are calculated per the set of dimensions in the connection which causes discrepancies.
Google Analytics is different from other supported data sources in a number of ways. One major difference is that Google Analytics provides Tableau with data that has already been aggregated to some degree. Because of this, you may see issues with non-additive aggregates such as unique visits. Although Tableau will use the numbers based on unique visits per day, it cannot differentiate between the same visitor who visits multiple days and a visitor who only visits once.
Mirroring reports is often difficult in Tableau Desktop due to the fact, that all the information and level of information detail used to make reports in Google Analytics is not always externally available. The following tools provided by Google allow for deeper exploration of available data:
If the results are still not the same, import data from Google Analytics in a raw form and compare the results with the data imported from Google Analytics in Tableau Desktop.
More information from Google on the Users metric: