How to Make a Double Bar Graph in Google Sheets

Comparing two sets of data shouldn't be a chore, and a double bar graph is one of the clearest ways to show a side-by-side comparison. Whether you're comparing this year's sales to last year's or ad performance across two different platforms, this type of chart makes your key takeaways easy to see. This guide walks you through exactly how to create, customize, and read a double bar graph in Google Sheets, step by step.

When Should You Use a Double Bar Graph?

A double bar graph, also known as a grouped column chart, is your go-to visual when you need to compare two distinct data series under the same set of categories. It places two bars next to each other for each category, making direct comparisons intuitive.

Think about scenarios like these:

• Sales: Comparing monthly sales figures for this year versus last year.
• Marketing: Showing video views versus article reads for different content topics.
• Finance: Visualizing projected budget versus actual spending for each department.
• Operations: Tracking the number of support tickets opened versus tickets closed each week.

The goal is to answer questions like, "How did Q2 this year perform compared to Q2 last year?" or "Did our 'Fall Sale' campaign generate more revenue than our 'Summer Kickoff' campaign?" A double bar graph puts the answers right in front of your eyes, no deep analysis required.

It’s important not to confuse it with a stacked bar graph. A stacked bar graph shows how different parts make up a whole, like how much revenue came from each product line to make up the total quarterly revenue. A double (or grouped) bar graph is designed purely for comparing values between a couple of series.

Step 1: Get Your Data Ready

The single most important step in creating any chart is structuring your data correctly. If your data isn’t organized properly, Google Sheets will get confused, and your chart won't make sense. For a double bar graph, you need a simple, clean layout.

How to Structure Your Data

Your data should be organized into three columns:

• First Column (Column A): This column contains your main categories. These will become the labels on your horizontal axis (the x-axis). Examples include months, employee names, marketing campaign names, or product types.
• Second Column (Column B): This column holds the first numerical data set you want to compare. This will be your first series of bars. For example, '2023 Sales'.
• Third Column (Column C): This column holds the second numerical data set you want to compare. This will be the second series of bars, appearing right next to the first series. For example, '2024 Sales'.

Make sure your first row contains clear headers for each column. These headers will automatically be used as the names in your chart's legend.

Here’s what a properly formatted data table looks like. Let's imagine we're comparing website traffic from Organic Search versus Paid Search over four months.

Example Data Structure:

This simple layout tells Google Sheets everything it needs to know: group the data by Month, and for each month, show us side-by-side bars for Organic Traffic and Paid Traffic.

Step 2: Create the Double Bar Graph (The Fun Part)

Once your data is neatly arranged, creating the chart itself only takes a few clicks. Google Sheets is quite smart and will often build the correct chart type for you automatically.

Follow these steps:

1. Select your data range. Click and drag your mouse to highlight all the cells containing your data, including the headers in the first row. In our example above, you would select cells A1 through C5.
2. Insert the chart. Go to the main menu at the top of the screen and click on Insert > Chart.
3. Check the result. Google Sheets will instantly generate a chart and open the Chart editor sidebar on the right. More often than not, it will correctly identify your data structure and give you a double bar graph (officially called a 'Column chart').
4. Choose the correct Chart type (if needed). If Google Sheets guessed wrong and gave you a pie chart or a stacked chart, don't worry. In the Chart editor, under the Setup tab, find the 'Chart type' dropdown menu. Click it and select the icon for 'Column chart'. This is the standard vertical bar graph. If you want horizontal bars, you can select 'Bar chart'.

That's it! You should now have a basic double bar graph on your sheet, showing two bars for each month to represent your organic and paid traffic.

Step 3: Make It Look Professional

A basic chart gets the job done, but a well-customized chart tells a clear story and looks professional enough to drop into a presentation or report. The Chart editor is your control center for making your graph look great.

If you closed the Chart editor, just double-click on your chart to re-open it. Let’s focus on the Customize tab within the editor.

Customize Your Chart Title and Axis Labels

Your chart title should be descriptive and leave no room for guesswork. A title like "Monthly Traffic" is okay, but "Organic vs. Paid Traffic by Month" is much better.

• Go to the Customize tab and click on the Chart & axis titles section.
• From the dropdown, select 'Chart title' and type your new, descriptive title into the 'Title text' box.
• Below the title text, you can change the font, size, format (bold, italic), and color to match your needs.
• You can also use this section to edit the titles for your horizontal (x-axis) and vertical (y-axis) labels. Clarity is key here - make sure it’s obvious what the numbers and categories represent.

Adjust Colors and the Legend

Default colors are often bland and might not align with your company's branding. Changing the bar colors is easy and makes a high-impact difference.

• In the Customize tab, go to the Series section.
• You’ll see a dropdown menu that lets you choose which data series to format. Let's start with 'Organic Traffic'.
• Once selected, you can change its color using the 'Color' palette. Pick something distinct and clear. Consider using your brand colors for a cohesive look.
• Now, use the same dropdown to switch to 'Paid Traffic' and choose a different, contrasting color for its bars. Avoid using colors that are too similar, as it can make the chart hard to read.

Fine-Tuning Axes and Gridlines

The axes and gridlines define the scale and readability of your chart.

• To edit the vertical axis, go to Customize > Vertical axis. Here you can set minimum and maximum values if your data looks squished or if the scale starts at a strange number. You can also format the numbers on the axis (e.g., adding a dollar sign for currency) using the 'Number format' option.
• For gridlines, go to Customize > Gridlines and ticks. Here you can add or remove major/minor gridlines or change their color to be less intrusive (a light grey is often best). Sometimes, less is more — too many lines can make a chart look cluttered.

Adding Data Labels

To make your chart even easier to read, you can add data labels that show the exact value on top of each bar.

• Navigate to Customize > Series.
• Select one of your data series from the dropdown.
• Scroll down and find the checkbox for Data labels. Click it.
• The exact values will appear on top of each bar for that series. You can customize the position, font, and color of these labels.
• Repeat this for the second data series for a comprehensive view.

Bonus Tips for Double Bar Graph Experts

Once you've mastered the basics, here are a few extra tips to take your charts to the next level.

Horizontal vs. Vertical Bars (Column vs. Bar Chart)

In Google Sheets, a 'Column chart' has vertical bars, and a 'Bar chart' has horizontal bars. While they show the same data, there’s a reason to choose one over the other. If your category labels (from Column A) are very long, like long campaign names, they can look cramped and unreadable on the x-axis of a column chart. Switching to a 'Bar chart' gives them plenty of space on the vertical axis, making everything much cleaner.

Adding a Third Data Series

What if you want to compare three things? No problem! Just add another column of data to your table (Column D). Following the same steps to create the chart will automatically generate a triple bar graph. Be careful, though — adding more than three or four data series to a single grouped chart can make it cluttered and difficult to interpret.

Sharing and Publishing Your Chart

Once your chart is perfect, you don't have to keep it locked in your spreadsheet. Click the three vertical dots in the top-right corner of your chart to see a menu of options. From here you can:

• Download: Save the chart as a PNG image or PDF document to use in presentations or other documents.
• Copy chart: Copy it to your clipboard to paste it into a Google Doc or Google Slides presentation, where it can be linked to the original data.
• Publish chart: Generate a shareable link or an embed code to place an interactive version of your chart directly on a website.

Final Thoughts

Creating a double bar graph in Google Sheets is a simple yet powerful way to compare two datasets at a glance. By organizing your data correctly and leveraging the intuitive Chart editor, you can build a clean, professional visual that quickly communicates insights and tells a compelling data story.

Although mastering tools like Google Sheets is incredibly useful, we know that the cycle of exporting data, wrangling it into the right format, and manually building charts week after week can really slow you down. At Graphed you can connect your data sources (like Google Analytics or Salesforce) once, and create real-time dashboards and reports simply by describing what you want in plain English, helping you get from data to decision in seconds, not hours.