Originally published June 14, 2019. Updated (yes, actually) March 9, 2020
Can you automatically or programmatically add notes via a Google Analytics annotations API?
I’ve been adding annotations to Google Analytics accounts for much of the last decade. I’ve noted development go lives, Google algorithm changes, SEO questions and even holidays that affect traffic or search volume (hello huge spike in organic traffic every year on Labor Day weekend to HireAHelper’s day labor pages). Along the way, these little analytics post-it notes have come back to prove incredibly useful as we look over historical trends or climbs and drops in traffic.
The problem with something becoming more useful is that you then tend to use it exponentially more, and such is the case for us at HireAHelper. In the last 2 years we’ve almost added more annotations than in the 10 years before that!
Along the way I thought to myself, “Self, there must be some automated way to add annotations to Google Analytics, at least the programmatic updates and go lives we’re shipping regularly to our website. Maybe an Google Analytics API we can tie into?”
Ironically, after much Googling, I found there was no such unicorn API… yet.
But I did find this impossibly ancient feature request thread on Google’s Issue Tracker. Back in 2010 a user had indeed requested that Google enable us to add & update Google Analytics annotations via API…
UPDATE March 9, 2020: The clouds have parted further, and Google has taken another step towards making a Google Analytics annotations API a dream come true. On January 24th someone with an @google.com email address thanked everyone for their comments (and jokes) and shared a link to this form, asking for feedback on how we’d plan to use such an API:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc1RkL0jB06tGiZNoc3_eHGHxOqPveh3Q6IV0ofYNj4QtIgWg/viewform
Needless to say, I threw my answers into the ring, hoping to up the priority of what would be a huge time-saver. Interested in automating your Google Analytics annotations? Go fill out the form!
(the original comment from pf…@google.com here)
Google Finally Hints at an Annotation API
400+ comments later and not a whisper from Google to even acknowledge the request. There were even comments from people with addresses at bigger companies like:
But then, in April of this year (2019), all of a sudden, a light broke through the clouds:
The comment was simple and amused:
bh…@google.com added comment #402:
I wanted to acknowledge this bug. The comments are fantastic.
We hope to have an update on our plans in this space later in the year.
It was such a small blip in a long line of +1’s, me too’s and odd ball comments like,
li…@gmail.com added comment #400:
I have a habit of checking it once a year.
Like a ritual.
And definitely down for joining the celebration party.
Heck, I even changed two jobs and my kid was born during this time, haha
The comment from Google was posted so deftly, visitors to the Issue Tracker seem to have missed it entirely and have continued on, posting comments as if there’s no hope of automated API Google Analytics annotating in sight:
jo…@gmail.com added comment #404:
So I thought this feature would definitely exist in a Google-product, since we already have the same feature on New Relic and Airbrake, and I just wanted to add it to GA as well. I ended up here, and was sadly amazed! I suppose the only thing I can do now is to join the ritual on checking back every year :/
+1
lo…@firebrand.net added comment #406:
Had to explain to someone again today:
It’s incredibly important that you annotate the timeline so we can track cause-and-effect.
No. We have have to do it manually. Yes, “seriously.”
And then the most recent comment is my favorite:
da…@vocus.com.au added comment #412:
Woah the 10yr anniversary is 4 days before my 10yr wedding anniversary…
ME: Just reflecting on all the things I’ve done in that time. Got married, bought a house, had two kids, many jobs, bought another house
GA: :cricket: :cricket: :cricket:
So, can I automatically add annotations to Google Analytics via API?
The good news is, yes, according to that Googler’s cryptic response, we should be hearing more from them on how to automate annotations by the end of 2019.
The bad news? We won’t have this fun Issue Tracker post open anymore! No more annual ritual of pretending to check for a Google response, but actually really enjoying reading through the random life updates from strangers and comical replies built up from a decade of waiting.
Cheers to issue #35352433 – it was an impressive run!
to…@inchoo.net added #389
Hi guys, are we planning anything special for the 9 years anniversary of the ticket? Or should we wait for the big 10 to do some meetup with guys from Google? Will anyone from Google be able to join us?
I mean this is a very special moment for me, I’ve been dreaming about adding annotations through API for deployments done automatically for 9 years now and imagining how life would be simpler in debugging when/what went wrong with those annotations in there. I really believe we should do something special next year for the big 10 year anniversary.
Considering the widespread use of Analytics and how often this information in annotations would be useful to properly identify issues and fix them and how much time it would save I truly believe this ticket getting solved would create a significant impact on world’s productivity as a whole and could even slightly influence the economy of the world.