How to Make a Bubble Chart in Looker with AI
A bubble chart is one of the best ways to see the relationship between three different data points all in one place. This article will walk you through how to create a bubble chart in Looker Studio (formerly Google Data Studio) step by step, and also show you a much faster way to do it using AI.
What is a Bubble Chart, Anyway?
Think of a bubble chart as a souped-up scatter plot. While a scatter plot uses two axes (X and Y) to plot points and show a relationship between two variables, a bubble chart adds a third dimension: the size of the bubble. This allows you to visualize three distinct sets of numbers at the same time.
Here’s how the three dimensions work together:
X-axis: The horizontal position of the bubble.
Y-axis: The vertical position of the bubble.
Bubble Size: The size of the bubble represents a third metric. Larger bubbles mean a higher value for that metric.
You can even add a fourth dimension using color, where different colors represent different categories, like marketing channels or product lines.
When should you use a bubble chart?
Bubble charts are perfect when you need to compare several data points at once to spot patterns or outliers. They’re excellent for:
Analyzing Marketing Campaigns: Compare campaigns by plotting cost (X-axis) vs. conversions (Y-axis), with ROI as the bubble size. You can quickly see which low-cost campaigns are driving high conversions and have a great ROI.
Evaluating Product Performance: Show the number of units sold (X-axis) vs. revenue (Y-axis), with profit margin as the bubble size for each product. This helps you identify your most profitable and popular items.
Assessing Sales Team Performance: Plot the number of deals closed (X-axis) against the average deal size (Y-axis), with total revenue as the bubble size for each sales rep.
The goal is to get a quick, visual summary of complex data. Instead of looking at a spreadsheet with dozens of rows, a bubble chart gives you an immediate high-level understanding of what's working and what isn't.
How to Make a Bubble Chart in Looker Studio
Looker Studio makes creating a basic bubble chart relatively straightforward. You’ll need a data source with at least three numerical columns for your X-axis, Y-axis, and bubble size, plus an optional text column for the category (color).
Let's walk through building one using a common marketing example: analyzing ad campaign performance.
Our data will have these columns:
Campaign Name (Dimension)
Cost (Metric for X-axis)
Conversions (Metric for Y-axis)
ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) (Metric for Bubble Size)
Step 1: Get in Looker Studio and Add Your Chart
Once you’re in your report, go to the toolbar and click Add a chart. Scroll down and select Bubble chart from the options.
Step 2: Connect Your Data Source
If you haven't already, add your data source to the report. You can use Google Sheets, Google Analytics, Ads data, or upload a CSV file. For this example, we’ll use a Google Sheet with our campaign data.
Once you place the empty chart on your report canvas, the configuration panel will open on the right. This is where you’ll tell Looker what data to show.
Step 3: Configure Your Dimensions and Metrics
This is where you bring the chart to life. You'll drag fields from your "Available Fields" list into the empty slots in the chart setup panel.
Dimension: Drag Campaign Name here. Each bubble on the chart will represent a unique campaign.
X Metric: Drag Cost here. This will set each bubble's horizontal position.
Y Metric: Drag Conversions here. This determines the vertical position.
Bubble Size: Drag ROAS here. This is the crucial third metric, the higher the ROAS, the larger the bubble.
As you add these fields, the bubble chart will update in real-time. Immediately, you'll see a visualization of how your campaigns stack up against each other.
Step 4: Style and Customize Your Chart
A functional chart is good, but a readable and visually appealing one is better. Click the Style tab in the configuration panel to start customizing.
Here are a few key tweaks to improve clarity:
Edit your Axes and Titles:
Axis Titles: Give your X and Y axes clear titles like "Total Ad Cost" and "Total Conversions." Don't make people guess what they're looking at.
Gridlines and Colors: Adjust the grid colors to be less distracting (a light gray usually works best) or remove them entirely for a cleaner look.
Color by Dimension:
If your data includes a category, like "Channel" (e.g., Facebook, Google Search, TikTok), you can use it to add color. Under the Bubble Color section of the setup tab, select Color by Dimension and choose your "Channel" field. This adds that fourth layer of information, allowing you to quickly see which channels are driving top-performing campaigns.
And that’s it! You have a fully functional, interactive bubble chart for analyzing campaign performance.
The Problem with Manual Chart Building
Building one chart this way is manageable. But what happens when your first chart leads to more questions? This is where the manual approach starts to slow you down.
Let's say your newly created bubble chart shows an outlier — a campaign with unusually high conversions but also very high costs. Your next question might be, "Is that campaign profitable?" or "How did that specific campaign perform just last week?"
To answer these follow-up questions in Looker, you have to go back to the setup panel.
You’ll need to add a filter for the date range.
You might swap a metric out to see a different angle.
You may even need to duplicate the chart and reconfigure it entirely.
This process of manually clicking, dragging, filtering, and re-configuring interrupts your flow of analysis. You spend more time being a "report builder" than an analyst actually finding insights. For every question you ask, you face a series of clicks and settings adjustments. This friction means that many teams just stick with their high-level dashboards and never dig deeper because it's too much work.
The Faster Way: Building Charts with AI
Instead of manually working through setup wizards, AI-powered analytics tools let you create complex visualizations using simple, conversational language.
Imagine if instead of all those clicks, you could just say:
"Create a bubble chart showing cost on the x-axis, conversions on the y-axis, and ROAS as the bubble size for our campaigns."
And the tool just builds it for you. Instantly.
This approach flips the script entirely. The focus is no longer on how to build the chart but on what question you want to answer. It eliminates the steep learning curve of traditional BI tools. You don't have to be a Looker or Tableau expert to get powerful insights.
Best of all, this conversational approach makes drilling down into your data seamless. A follow-up question is just as easy as the first one:
"Okay, now filter for only the Google Ads campaigns."
The chart updates instantly. No need to click away, find the filter menu, select the right dimension, and type in "Google Ads." You just ask, and you get your answer. This creates a fluid dialogue with your data, where you can follow your curiosity without ever being slowed down by the tool itself. It's the difference between doing data entry and having a productive conversation with an expert analyst.
Final Thoughts
Bubble charts are an incredibly effective tool for visualizing a lot of information in a compact way. With tools like Looker Studio, you can manually build a useful chart by configuring your dimensions and metrics step-by-step to arrive at the visualization you need.
Instead of spending hours building reports, consider using a solution like Graphed, which allows you to interact with data naturally. You simply connect your data sources — from Google Analytics to Salesforce — and describe what you need in plain English. Graphed automates the entire reporting process, giving you back hours to focus on strategy instead of struggling with chart builders.