How to use GA Segments in PDF reports

Using segment filters in Google Analytics is a powerful way to segment or exclude data in your NinjaCat PDF reports so that you can include or restrict your data to show only what is of most interest to your advertising clients. For more detailed information on segment filters, see About Segment Filters in Google Analytics. 

Here's how it works:

Suppose you had a report on the URL referrals to your client's website and you wanted to restrict or block certain websites from showing up in your report.  Here is an example of a report table without any filters. The highlighted section is what this client wants removed from the pdf report:

The first step would be to create your segment filter in Google Analytics. Go to the "Admin" screen in Google Analytics and click on "Segments" then "New Segment".  There are many options here on conditions that should be met in your segment filter.  Give your segment a name, and enter in the settings you wish to filter upon.  

For example, to omit any traffic sources from a particular domain, select "Traffic Sources", under Source, select "does not contain" and then enter in the path you want to filter out.  Click "Save" when you have finished configuring your filter.

In Google Analytics, you can view your filter by clicking on the "Add segment" button at the top of your reporting screen.  Here is an example of what the above filter looks like in Google Analytics reports:

In order for the segment filter to be accessible to the NinjaCat Analytics account, the segment should be shared with the Analytics MCC account for your agency.  Start from the Analytics Admin section, under "Segments", select Action, Share:

For more information on sharing segment filters, see this article from Google.

The last step will be to add the segment filter into your reporting template.  Under your SEO widget, click on "Filters" and then enter in the exact name of the segment filter that you created in Analytics:

Re-run your report and your segment filter will take effect immediately to filter your data based on the settings you entered in Google Analytics. In this example, the table above will be exactly the same in your new report, but with the last line in the table removed: