How to Set Up Google Analytics (Part 1)

These steps will walk you through how to use a Google API Account to connect to Google Analytics with read-only access. In order to connect a site's Analytics to WatchTowerHQ, first you will need to retrieve the JSON key from the Google Cloud Console and then insert the JSON key in the WatchTowerHQ Google Analytics settings.

Note: To complete the Google Analytics setup, you will also need to give access to the Google Analytics API account and obtain the view ID so that the site traffic can be shared. Please refer to How to Set Up Google Analytics (Part 2) for the final steps.

Get JSON key from the Google Developer Console

1: Go to the Google API console (which can be found here). You will be taken to a page that looks similar to this one. If you already have a project created in your Google Account then it may look slightly different.
2: You can create a project now (as seen in the last photo). If you decide not to create a project at this step, Google will automatically generate one for you (as seen in the image below). If you choose not to create a project now, then you can skip ahead to step 4.
3: Give the project a name and select the organization you'd like this project to be under. Then click "Create".
4: Using the search bar at the top of the Google Cloud Platform, begin typing Google Analytics API until it has populated in the suggestions. Click on "Google Analytics API".
5: Once selected, you'll be taken to the Google Analytics API overview page. Click to enable the Google Analytics API.
6: Now that you've enabled the Google Analytics API, click on "Credentials" found in the sidebar to the left of the page.
7: Click on "Create Credentials" at the top of the page and select "Manage service accounts" from the dropdown. Or, you can simply click "Manage service accounts" found near the bottom of the page.
8: From the manage service accounts page, click "Create Service Account". Fill out the form
9: From here you will want to fill in a useful service account a meaningful name. Then click "Create". The other steps are optional. When you have finished setting this up, select "Done".
10: You should now see all of your service accounts in the table (as seen in the image below). The next step is to create a key. Click the three dots at the right of the account row and select "Create key".; Note: The email seen in the photo below will be used in Part 2 of the Google Analytics setup process. Please write this email down now for the future.
11: A pop-up should appear asking which key type you would like. Select JSON.
12: If successful, you should receive a notification that the key has been saved to your computer. Check your downloads folder to make sure that it is there.

Insert JSON key in WatchTowerHQ

1: Log into WatchTowerHQ and click on your user icon at the top right corner. In the dropdown menu, select "Settings".
2: From here, go to the Google Analytics tab and click on "Add new API credentials".
3: Name the API key. We recommend naming it the same as the Customer or Company name so that you can easily recognize which website it belongs to for that site. Then, copy the JSON key (including the curly braces) from the file you downloaded earlier and paste it in the JSON key space.
4: Once done, click "Add". The JSON key is now ready to be used. You will select this key when adding Google Analytics information to a website.