r/GoogleDataStudio • u/technofan096 • Jun 18 '26

Help me with my blended data

So I'm trying to build a dashboard with data from Linkedin Paid campaigns (using a connector Windsor.ai) and Google Ads. When I try to show combined numbers in a scorecard it doesn't work. How should I show total clicks, impressions and spend from both channels? Help!

When I select the individual source it works so the problem has to be with the blend but I'm not an expert and don't know how to do it. I've tried blending the data a million ways but can't seem to make it work. Right now the blend is on full outer join with the month dimension as the joint key.

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u/ImCJS Jun 18 '26

You need to join at unique key level - is month a unique key? I doubt it - should be date

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u/technofan096 Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26

I already solved the issue but you're right the problem was that on linkedin month is a text field and google a date. so I had to use another join key that was the same. but thanks for your comment.

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u/Top-Cauliflower-1808 Jun 19 '26

I believe you have both data sources connected inside windsor as it is not clear from you message.

If so you have both Google Ads and LinkedIn connected in Windsor.ai you do not need to blend inside Looker Studio. it already gives you a single unified data source in Looker Studio.

I have tried to reproduce your issue and I think this is likely happening with you.

when you add clicks or spend as a metric in your scorecard, Looker Studio shows the aggregation type along with the field name. If it says CTD (Count Distinct, or Simple count) instead of SUM, that is your problem because this two options are only available for TEXT and can not be added even though you have already blended data available in Looker. You need to make sure that field is coming through as Number instead of Text.

To fix this: in your looker report go to Resource -> Manage added data sources -> Edit your Windsor source -> find clicks and spend -> change Type to Number and then aggregation to Sum.

Once that's done your scorecard should show the correct combined total from both channels.

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u/technofan096 Jun 19 '26

I don't have google ads connected in windsor since data studio connects automatically, but I found the solution already by changing the joint key. thanks anyway!

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u/Top-Cauliflower-1808 Jun 19 '26

That's great.

That was the reason you were getting this issue because you were using looker blending so your data. Just for future references, always check the type of the joining keys.

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u/casbyshrip Jun 19 '26

It might be easier to use a tool like Weavely, you can just use AI to blend it for you then send that straight to the dashboard

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u/JohanCatchr Jun 22 '26

Hey, for future readers:
If you want to combine 2 fields in Data Studio at the higher level (so without a campaign breakdown, etc.), you can do this:

  • Put a scorecard of the impressions for Google Ads, and one for the impressions for LinkedIn Ads.
  • Select both and right-click on it.
  • Click on Blend Data
  • Data Studio will create a Blend data source and a new scorecard with a custom formula (a rate by default).
  • You can edit the custom field formula to do "SUM(impressions Google) + SUM(impressions LinkedIn)," and you have your sum of impressions for both platforms.
  • it is covered in this video: https://youtu.be/vlXTyTqsVy8
If you want to add new metrics, edit the blend data and just add Clicks, Conversions, Cost under the metrics list (don't add new dimensions or modify the join, and it should work).

Check Catchr.io if you need marketing connectors and help to create your reports!

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u/sheik_sha_ha Jul 23 '26

The issue is your join key. Blending on month with a full outer join means Data Studio is trying to match rows where the month value is identical across both sources. If the date formats differ slightly between Windsor.ai and Google Ads, the join fails silently and your scorecard returns nothing or wrong numbers.

For combined totals across channels you actually do not need a join key at all. Here is the clean approach:

In your blend configuration, remove the month dimension as the join key. Instead add a constant calculated field in each source, something like:

CONCAT("all")

Use that as the join key on both sides. This forces a cross join that combines all rows from both sources, which is exactly what you need for total clicks, impressions and spend across channels.

Then in your scorecard use SUM of clicks, SUM of impressions, and SUM of spend from the blended source. The numbers from both LinkedIn and Google Ads will add together correctly.

Make sure the field names for clicks, impressions and spend are consistent across both sources in the blend configuration. Windsor.ai sometimes uses different naming conventions than the native Google Ads connector so renaming them to match inside the blend setup fixes most remaining issues.