What is a Series in Google Sheets Chart?

If you've ever tried to build a chart in Google Sheets, you’ve probably seen the word "series" in the chart editor and wondered what it meant. Understanding what a series is unlocks your ability to create truly effective and insightful charts that compare data and tell a clear story. This article will break down exactly what a series is, how it works in different charts, and how you can use and customize multiple series to build better visualizations.

Breaking Down the Basics: What Exactly is a Series?

In the simplest terms, a series is a set of related data points that you want to plot on a chart. Think of it as a single column or row of data in your spreadsheet that represents one category of information. For example, if you have a table tracking your monthly sales, the column containing all the sales numbers is your series.

Let's use a simple example to make this concrete. Imagine you have this data:

• Column A: Month (Jan, Feb, Mar)
• Column B: Website Visitors (1,200, 1,450, 1,600)

In this case, the 'Website Visitors' data is a single series. When you create a chart, Google Sheets plots these three data points (1200, 1450, and 1600) as a single visual element - like a single line on a line chart or a set of bars of the same color on a bar chart. The 'Month' column provides the labels (often called the X-axis labels or categories) for these data points.

Essentially, each series gets its own unique representation in the chart's legend and helps viewers distinguish between different sets of data.

How a Series Looks in Different Chart Types

The concept of a series stays the same, but its visual appearance changes depending on the chart type you choose. Seeing how it works across various charts is the best way to fully grasp the idea.

In a Line Chart

In a line chart, each series is represented by a single, distinct line. Line charts are perfect for showing trends over time, and using multiple series allows you to compare trends side-by-side. For instance, you could have one line for 'Website Visitors' and a second line for 'Free Trial Sign-ups' to see how they relate to each other over the course of a year.

Example: The solid blue line representing "Sales" is one series.

In a Bar or Column Chart

For bar and column charts, a series is a set of bars or columns that share the same color. If you're only charting one series (like 'Total sales per month'), all the bars will be the same color. If you add a second series (like 'Marketing spend per month'), you'll see two bars for each month, each with a different color - one for sales, one for ad spend.

Example: The sales figures for "Product A" form one series (blue bars), and the figures for "Product B" form a second series (red bars).

In a Pie Chart

Pie charts are unique because they are designed to show only one series of data. The chart represents a whole (100%), and each individual data point in the series is shown as a slice of the pie. You can't use a pie chart to compare two different series - for example, you couldn't show 'Sales' and 'Profit' on the same pie chart. You would instead use it to show the breakdown of one series, like sales by region.

Example: The set of website traffic sources ('Organic', 'Paid', 'Social') constitutes a single series, with each source being a slice.

In a Stacked Chart

In stacked bar or stacked area charts, each series is a block of color stacked on top of another. This is useful for comparing the total value while also seeing the contribution of each part. For example, you could track total sales, with each series representing sales from a different product line. You'd see the total revenue for the month, while also seeing which product line contributed the most.

Example: The revenue from each region ('North', 'South', 'West') represents a separate series, stacked together to show the total monthly revenue.

How to Use and Customize Multiple Series in Google Sheets

The real power comes from using multiple series to compare different data sets against the same scale (like time or categories). Here’s a step-by-step guide to setting up a chart with two different series.

Step 1: Organize Your Data

First, make sure your data is structured logically in columns. The first column should typically be your X-axis labels (e.g., months, days, categories). Each subsequent column should represent a different series you want to plot.

For example, to compare revenue from Google Ads and Facebook Ads, a good data setup would look like this:

• Column A: Month
• Column B: Google Ads Revenue
• Column C: Facebook Ads Revenue

Step 2: Select Your Data and Insert the Chart

Click and drag to highlight the entire data range, including the column headers (the headers will become the names of your series in the chart legend). Then, go to the menu and click Insert > Chart. Google Sheets will automatically analyze your data and suggest a chart type. A line chart or column chart is usually a good starting point for comparison.

Step 3: Finding the Series in the Chart Editor

Once your chart appears, the Chart editor sidebar will open. Under the ‘Setup’ tab, scroll down to the "Series" section. You'll see that Google Sheets has automatically recognized ‘Google Ads Revenue’ and ‘Facebook Ads Revenue’ as two separate series. Here, you can remove a series or specify things like which axis it should appear on (more on that later).

Step 4: Customize Your Series

Now, let's make the chart clearer by customizing each series. Click on the ‘Customize’ tab in the Chart editor. You’ll see a section titled ‘Series’. There will be a dropdown menu here allowing you to select which series you want to edit.

Let's say you select ‘Google Ads Revenue.’ You can now change several options just for that series:

• Color: Change the line or bar color to match your branding or make it stand out.
• Axis: You can assign a series to the left or right axis. This is extremely useful if your two series use different scales (e.g., 'Revenue' in thousands of dollars and 'Click-Through Rate' as a percentage). Plotting them on two separate axes makes the chart readable.
• Line dash type, thickness, and point shape: For line charts, you can make one line dotted and another solid, or change the shape of the data point markers (circles, triangles, stars, etc.).

Step 5: Add Data Labels or a Trendline

While still in the series customization options, you have a couple of incredibly useful features:

• Data Labels: Check this box to display the exact numerical value of each data point directly on the chart. This saves your audience from having to guess values based on the axis.
• Trendline: Check this option to add a line that shows the general trend of that series over time. This helps you quickly see if a particular data set is trending up, down, or remaining flat, smoothing out any day-to-day volatility.

By customizing each series individually, you can transform a confusing chart into a powerful and clear visual story.

Common Issues and Quick Fixes

Working with series data can sometimes lead to roadblocks. Here are fixes for the most common problems you'll encounter.

"How do I add a new series to my chart?"

Let's say you've already made your chart comparing Google and Facebook Ads, but now you want to add 'Organic Search Revenue'. There are two easy ways:

1. Update the Data Range: Open the chart editor, go to the 'Setup' tab. Modify the 'Data range' to include the new column of data. For instance, if your data was originally in A1:C13, and you add your new data in column D, you can just update the range to A1:D13.
2. Use the "Series" Option: In the chart editor, scroll down below "series" and select 'Add Series'. Use your mouse to click and drag to select the new data you want to add.

"My chart is showing numbers instead of my category text on the x-axis"

This happens when Google Sheets doesn’t recognize row 1 as your headers. In the chart editor, under the 'Setup' tab, look for 'Row 1' and check the 'Use Row 1 as headers' checkbox. Similarly, 'Column A' may not have been automatically detected as your x-axis. Under X-axis, you can select the "Add a X-axis label" dropdown, this will update your chart with the information you wanted.

Final Thoughts

Understanding what a series is moves you from being someone who just makes charts to someone who tells stories with data. By learning to combine, customize, and compare multiple series, you can create performance dashboards that don't just show numbers but also reveal insights and answer key business questions.

Manually creating these comparative dashboards across different platforms often involves downloading multiple CSV files and stitching them together before you can even start customizing your chart. At Graphed{:target="_blank" rel="noopener"}, we felt this pain, which is why we created a way to skip the manual work entirely. We let you connect your data sources (like Google Analytics, Google Ads, and Shopify) in one place and build custom, live-updating dashboards just by describing what you want to see - like, "Create a line chart comparing revenue from Google Ads vs. Facebook Ads traffic for the last six months." It's like having a data analyst on your team who handles the tedious parts, so you can focus on the insights.