How to Compare Months in Google Analytics

Comparing your website’s performance from one month to the next is one of the most fundamental tasks in data analysis. It’s how you spot trends, measure the impact of your new marketing campaign, and see if your overall traffic is heading in the right direction. This guide will walk you through exactly how to set up month-over-month comparisons in both Google Analytics 4 and the older Universal Analytics (UA) for your historical data.

Why Compare Monthly Data in Google Analytics?

Before jumping into the "how," it's helpful to remember the "why." Pulling a quick monthly comparison helps you answer critical business questions that would otherwise be lost in the daily noise. It gives your data context.

Here are a few key reasons to make month-over-month analysis a regular part of your routine:

• Track Growth and Identify Trends: Are your key metrics like users, sessions, and conversions growing or declining over time? A monthly view smoothes out daily fluctuations and shows you the bigger picture.
• Measure Marketing Campaign Impact: Did you launch a major content marketing push in March? Comparing March's performance to February’s is a direct way to see if your efforts moved the needle.
• Spot Seasonality: If you run an e-commerce store selling ski equipment, you’d expect November traffic to be much higher than July's. Monthly comparisons help you understand and anticipate these seasonal patterns in your business cycle.
• Diagnose Problems Early: A sudden 30% drop in organic traffic from one month to the next is a clear signal that something is wrong. Maybe a Google algorithm update hit your site, or you have technical SEO issues that need immediate attention.

How to Compare Months in Google Analytics 4

Since Google Analytics 4 is the current standard, let's start here. GA4 makes date comparisons straightforward across most of its standard reports. The process is the same whether you're looking at traffic attribution, user engagement, or monetization reports.

Step 1: Navigate to a GA4 Report

Log in to your GA4 property. For this example, let's head to a common report for a month-over-month analysis: the Traffic acquisition report.

You can find it by going to Reports > Acquisition > Traffic acquisition in the left-hand navigation menu.

Step 2: Select the Date Range

In the top right corner of the report, you'll see the current date range filter. Click on it. This will open the date range selector panel. By default, it usually shows the "Last 28 days."

Step 3: Define Your Primary & Comparison Months

In the date selection panel, you'll set both the current month and the month you want to compare it against.

1. First, set your primary date range. You can use a preset like "Last month" or manually select the dates on the calendar. For example, you could select May 1 - May 31.
2. Next, find the "Compare" toggle switch at the bottom of the panel and turn it on.
3. This reveals a second set of date selection options. To compare May to April, you can either select "Previous period" or manually select April 1 - April 30. Using "Previous period" is often easiest, as it automatically selects the preceding date block of the same length.

When you're done, the panel should show your first period (e.g., May 1 - May 31) and the second comparison period (e.g., April 1 - April 30).

Once you’re ready, click the blue "Apply" button.

Step 4: Analyze the Comparison Data

The report will now refresh with the comparison data integrated directly into the charts and tables. Here’s what to look for:

• On the Charts: The line charts and bar charts will now show two sets of data. Typically, your primary date range (May) will be a solid blue line, and the comparison range (April) will be a dotted orange line. This gives you an immediate visual sense of a trend. Did the number of Users ramp up over the course of May compared to April?
• In the Data Table: This is where the real details are. The table below the chart will now have extra columns showing the key metrics for both date ranges, along with a percentage change. For instance, you can look at the "Organic Search" channel row and see if users, sessions, and conversions went up or down. A positive change is marked in green with an upward arrow, while a negative change is shown in red with a downward arrow.

This allows you to quickly see, for example, that your overall traffic was up 10% month-over-month, but that increase was driven primarily by a 25% lift in Paid Search, while Direct traffic remained flat.

For Deeper Analysis: Use an "Explore" Report

If you need more flexibility than the standard reports offer, you can build a more customized monthly comparison in the "Explore" section of GA4.

Let's say you want to build a simple table comparing the monthly performance of different landing pages.

1. Navigate to Explore in the left menu and start a new "Free form" exploration.
2. Apply the same month-over-month date comparison you learned above (e.g., May vs. April).
3. In the "Variables" column, click the "+" symbol next to Dimensions. Find and import "Landing page + query string" and "Month."
4. Next, click the "+" symbol next to Metrics. Find and import key metrics like "Sessions," "Engaged sessions," and "Conversions."
5. Drag the "Landing page + query string" dimension to the Rows section in the main "Tab Settings" column.
6. Drag all your metrics ("Sessions," etc.) to the Values section.

GA4 will automatically generate a detailed report table. Because you have the date comparison active, it will show you the session, engagement, and conversion data for your top landing pages for both May and April, side-by-side, along with the percentage change. This is an incredibly powerful way to see which specific pages are contributing to your site's overall monthly growth or decline.

How to Compare Months in Universal Analytics (Historical Data)

While Universal Analytics (UA) stopped processing new data in July 2023, you almost certainly have years of valuable historical data sitting in your property. The process for comparing months is very similar to GA4, with just a slightly different interface.

1. Navigate to any standard report, such as Audience > Overview.
2. Click the date range selector in the top-right corner. It will open up a calendar dropdown.
3. Select your chosen month manually on the calendar (e.g., May 1, 2022, to May 31, 2022).
4. Check the box that says "Compare to:".
5. The dropdown next to it will default to "Previous Period," which will automatically select the preceding month (April 2022). You can also choose "Previous Year" for a seasonal comparison or select a "Custom" range.
6. Click "Apply."

Just like in GA4, the report will now display two lines on the graphs and will update the data table to show percentage changes for all your core metrics, giving you a clear comparison of your historical performance.

Best Practices for Monthly Data Comparisons

Getting the data is just the first step. To conduct a truly meaningful analysis, keep these tips in mind.

Compare Apples to Apples

Remember that not all months are created equal. March has 31 days and February has 28 (or 29). Comparing these can slightly skew your data. Selecting "Previous period" in the date range tool helps, but if you're selecting custom dates, try to compare ranges of the same length (e.g., a 30-day period vs. another 30-day period).

Look for the Story Behind the Numbers

Data tells you the "what," but it's your job to figure out the "why." If traffic spiked 50% month-over-month, what happened? Did a blog post go viral? Did you get a major press mention? Did you launch a big email campaign? Keep a simple log of your marketing activities. This context turns raw data into actionable insights.

Don't Forget Year-over-Year Comparisons

A month-over-month (MoM) view is great for short-term trends, but a year-over-year (YoY) view is essential for understanding seasonality. Your business might see a natural dip from December to January every single year. A simple MoM comparison would look alarming. But comparing January 2024 to January 2023 would show you if your business is actually growing after accounting for the expected seasonal slowdown. Use both MoM and YoY views for a complete picture.

Final Thoughts

Comparing your analytics data month-over-month is a foundational skill for any marketer, business owner, or analyst. It gives you critical perspective on your website's performance, helps you measure what's working, and spot potential issues before they become major problems. Regularly using the date comparison feature in Google Analytics will elevate your understanding of your audience and business trajectory.

Ultimately, while comparing data within Google Analytics is powerful, the real challenge often lies in connecting those insights to data living elsewhere - like your ad platforms, CRM, and e-commerce store. We built Graphed to erase that friction. Instead of manually pulling monthly reports from a dozen different tools, you can connect your data sources in seconds and ask simple questions in plain English, like, "Create a dashboard comparing our GA4 organic traffic against our HubSpot leads and Shopify sales over the last six months." Graphed generates a live, interactive dashboard instantly, giving you back hours of time you’d otherwise spend on manual report-building.