Data size restrictions
Looker Studio places restrictions on the amount of data that can be pulled via Community Connectors. Since Ahrefs data is typically large, we abide by those restrictions by truncating most data we return to a safe limit.
This has several implications for how users should navigate and obtain accurate metrics from Ahrefs' large data sets via Looker Studio. The general approach is to rely on our connectors' configuration parameters to replicate native Looker Studio functionality while respecting the data size restriction.
The following Ahrefs report types perform data truncation.
| Tool | Ahrefs report type |
|---|---|
| Site Audit | Link explorer |
| Site Audit | Page explorer |
| Site Explorer | Top pages |
| Site Explorer | Organic keywords |
| Site Explorer | Backlinks |
Navigating via pages
For the Ahrefs report type where we truncate data, we return the first 500 rows per request.
Each connector has an optional configuration parameter called "Page", which controls the page number of the currently fetched subset of rows. For example, setting this to 2 would fetch rows 501-1000.
This paginated navigation capability can be exposed to report viewers by first making the parameter overridable in reports, and then adding a control widget for it. It is not advisable to configure this parameter directly at the data source level.
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Pagination here is not to be confused with pagination within the Looker Studio table chart type, which refers to how many rows (within the 500 returned by Ahrefs) to display in the report.
Aggregation
Looker Studio's native aggregations don't work accurately on truncated data. Please see Aggregation for the alternative way offered for the Ahrefs connectors.
Sort field
In certain chart types, Looker Studio allows rows to be sorted by a specified dimension or metric. However, the sort is performed incorrectly when applied to truncated data.
Instead, each connector has an "Order by field" configuration parameter for every Ahrefs report type that truncates rows. Ahrefs performs the sort using this field before returning the result to Looker Studio.
To correctly retrieve sorted data from report types with row truncation:
- Select a value for the "Order" configuration parameter (either "Ascending" or "Descending").
- Select a value for the "Order by field" configuration parameter of the desired report type.
- In the chart property panel, choose the same values you selected in steps 1 and 2.
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Please note that report types with row truncation currently do not support accurate secondary sort.
Comparison metrics
Ahrefs report types with truncated data do not support Looker Studio's native comparison metrics, when the true number of rows exceeds the row limit.
As a workaround, we provide fields that return such "delta" values for some report types.
We indicate delta fields by the [Delta] suffix.