Resources
Notes on data, tracking & AI-readiness.
Practical write-ups, not thought-leadership filler. Updated as new articles are published.
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"Finally, a Conversions API setup that doesn't require web developers" - Read this before acting
You may have received an email recently from Meta with the subject line "New: Set up the Conversions API without a developer." It points to a short video tutorial introducing the Conversions API Gateway, a hosted way to get server-side conversion data flowing to Meta without building your own server container. However, it is worth reading this before you get started.
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BigQuery's AI agents, August to September 2026: A timeline of access and guardrails
If you've been waiting for one big Google announcement that says "AI agents are now safe to point at your data warehouse", you're going to be waiting a long time. It hasn't arrived as one announcement, but as a steady drip of small release-notes entries since August, each one giving BigQuery's AI agents a bit more capability, and most of them paired with a bit more governance to go with it.
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Google adds diagnostics, a new uplift metric and Meridian integration to Data Manager
If you've ever set up Enhanced Conversions or a first-party data import in Google Ads, things are about to get easier thanks to Google's latest measurement update in Data Manager.
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How to Build a Data Agent in BigQuery Conversational Analytics
The overview piece on Conversational Analytics covered what a Data Agent actually is and why the glossary and verified query features matter more than the chat interface itself. This is the follow-up for anyone who read that and wants to build one.
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Explaining BigQuery Conversational Analytics
BigQuery has had a way to ask your data questions in plain English for a while now. What's changed is that it's stopped being a demo feature and started being something you can actually govern, reuse, and hand to people who don't write SQL.
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Google is testing payments to publishers for content used in AI answers
If you publish content online, you have probably wondered whether any of it is worth something to Google now that so many answers come from Gemini, AI Overviews and AI Mode instead of a blue link. Google has started testing an actual answer to that question, quietly, for a small number of publishers.
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Exploring Databricks' Lakehouse Industry Data Models
Databricks recently released a browsable catalog of pre-built data model schemas, one for each of 40 industries, that you can inspect for free and then deploy directly into your own Databricks workspace.
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Google Analytics now has native, drag-and-drop dashboards
Google Analytics has recently added the ability to build your own custom drag-and-drop dashboards in Reports.
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ChatGPT ads expand to Europe, with a new measurement pixel and Conversions API
OpenAI announced on 18 August 2026 that ChatGPT ads are expanding into 31 European countries, including Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, and the Nordics among them. This follows on from the four launch markets of US, UK, Canada and Japan. If you run paid media for a brand with any European audience, this is a new channel worth understanding now, not once self-serve access opens.
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BigQuery pipelines can now document themselves
Two useful BigQuery updates landed in mid-August. The first being a routine model bump, whilst the second is a great example of what "AI-ready data" looks like.
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Merchant Center is redefining "organic traffic" on August 24
If you report on Shopping performance for a brand or a client, put a reminder in your calendar for August 24. Google is changing what several core Merchant Center metrics actually mean. Also, and in an unusual step for Google, they are applying the new definitions retroactively to data going back to 1 July.
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The App Tracking Transparency prompt was never neutral. Germany just made Apple prove it.
Anyone who has been working in native app analytics and marketing over the last few years will be familiar with the challenges that Apple's App Tracking Transparency Framework (ATTF) has brought, along with the perceived "unfairness" of Apple's own ability to track and advertise. Now a regulator has officially confirmed that they do not see Apple's tracking prompt as a neutral privacy control, rather a competition problem, and Apple has just agreed to fix it.
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The GA4 session_start Conundrum: How to Work With Impacted Data
Ever since Google Analytics 4 was first released, we have seen countless conversations and articles relating to session and attribution issues that are caused by problems with the session_start event. Now, of course, the main priority is to fix this at source. However, if your data has already been impacted, we have created the below guide to help you fix inaccuracies in the short-term.
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Layer Lens v1.2: See Exactly Where Your Email Goes in An Analytics Stack
Latest update to Layer Lens allows users to search specifically for their email address inside the data layer and in Google Analytics requests, even when it's hashed!
analytics chromeextension debugging googleanalytics datalayerRead article → -
Building a Firebase Analytics Error Tracking Dashboard
An easy to use dashboard to support your Firebase Analytics debugging, all taken directly from BigQuery.
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Introducing Layer Lens: Search Your GTM & GA4 Data in Real Time
Your go-to Chrome extension for searching directly by data layer and Google Analytics values. Find any text or value on the page that's sent to GA.
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How to Deploy a Firebase Website as an App on Your iPhone
To use your Firebase-hosted website exactly like a native app on an iPhone, you need to turn it into a Progressive Web App (PWA). This can be particularly useful for those trying to vibe-code their own projects as personal apps.
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How to Secure Gemini API Keys in Google Cloud & Firebase
Don't make the mistake of exposing your Gemini API Keys and potentially ending up with large Google Cloud bills!
Gemini GeminiApi GoogleCloudPlatform Firebase APIRead article → -
Automate Server-Side Google Tag Manager Updates on Cloud Run
Take the stress out of ensuring your Cloud Run services needing to be updated manually when you have traffic spikes.
googletagmanager googlecloudplatform googlecloud googlecloudrun automationRead article → -
Updating Google Tag Manager Server Side Tagging Servers
An easy to follow guide on how to keep your Cloud Run services updated as you scale your server-side Google Tag Manager.
googletagmanager googlecloudrun serverside gtm googlecloudplatformRead article → -
Deploying Websites Using Firebase
A quick and easy guide to deploying websites using Firebase Hosting.
firebase firebasehosting webhosting websitehosting deploymentRead article →