Categories
The history books credit William Playfair as the inventor of the bar chart. Playfair used this type of diagram to represent one year of exports and imports from Scotland.
Today, the bar graph is one of the most common and easily understood types. Not only is it one of the first graphs you learn in school, but it is also one of the most versatile options, which lends a hand to it being so popular.
Bar chart examples are handy when you need to display categorical and numerical variables together, making them a useful chart when visualizing campaign data.
In this how-to guide, you’ll explore:
Let’s start breaking down the bars!
You’re probably already familiar with the basics of bar chart examples, but here is a quick refresher course in case you slept through all your math classes as a kid.
Definition: At its core, a bar chart is defined as “a diagrammatic representation of data in quantities,” which is a roundabout way of saying it is a diagram showing you different data categories and their quantities.
The size of the bars makes it easy to compare and contrast these quantities. Each bar’s length or height is proportionally equivalent to the amount or frequency of the data category it represents.
Bars can be vertical or horizontal. In some cases, bars are shown in clusters to represent different items within the same category. Bars can also be stacked to represent two or more quantities.
Typically, bar graphs feature two axes. The bars are plotted on one axis, while the other expresses the value of each bar.
A bar graph is a graphical representation of data that uses rectangular bars or columns to represent different categories or groups. Here are some key properties and characteristics of bar graphs:
Axes:
Bars:
Categories:
Scale:
Color:
Labels:
Title:
Spacing:
Orientation:
Legend:
To better understand what a bar chart is, it’s easiest to see a bar graph example and look at each part and feature that makes up this type of diagram.
The first thing to notice is the title. This tells you exactly what the data in the chart is showing. In this case, you’re looking at the “Number of Students Interested in School Subjects.” This could be useful for a school administrator or principal who wants to see what subjects are most interesting to students.
Next, you’ll look at the labels for each axis. In this vertical bar chart example, “Number of students” is the Y-axis, ranging from 0 to 260. “Lists of subjects” are expressed along the X-axis. This sets the stage for how the data is displayed and how you need to read it.
Finally, you can look at the actual subject categories displayed along the x-axis, as well as the size of their respective bars that represent how many students are interested in each class. The longer the bar, the more students are interested in that subject.
Here is another example:
Given the labels of each axis, what would you title this bar chart example?
There are many applications of bar chart examples.
The bar chart examples pictured above show the most common use of this visualization type. The size of the bars makes it very easy to compare data across many different categories visually.
You can also use a bar graph to show changes over time. In this case, your categories (e.g., school subjects) reflect different points along the timeline, like months of the year, days of the week or years.
If you use stacked or clustered bars, you can add another dimension of data. For example, you could take the “Number of Students Interested in Each Subject” chart and divide each school subject into specific classes or teachers.
Instead of “Math,” you could have a stacked bar that shows data for algebra, calculus, geometry, etc. Stacked bar charts are sometimes referred to as “parts of the whole” chart.
Businesses can use stacked bar charts to compare costs versus returns to see how profitable certain categories are.
Again, the best time to use a bar chart is when you want to compare data across different categories.
Bar graphs are also useful whenever you are going to report your data findings to others. Since bar charts are so common and popular, most audiences are very familiar with how to read and understand this charting type.
Plus, they are far more convenient to read than a table of numbers! So, they should be used whenever you’re trying to present a spreadsheet of data, even a relatively simple one.
When selecting what type of chart to use to display your data, you always have to think about the diagram’s limitations. What could audiences potentially miss or misunderstand as a result of this chart?
The limitations of a bar chart examples are the limitations of all charting types. The chart can make data look compelling and important, but if the numbers behind the data are inaccurate or come from an unverified source, your entire chart is compromised.
You also have to consider the quantity of the data. If you don’t have a lot of data to work with, the conclusions you draw from the chart may not be as accurate. The bars may look significant in size compared to the rest, but they could only represent a small minority of the numbers.
For example, if you only looked at figures from the past three days, the data conclusions you reach will be extremely volatile compared to if you looked at numbers from the past year.
In this section, you’ll look at ChartExpo, an add-on for Google Sheets. You’ll learn the basics of this plugin and how you can use it to create several bar chart examples.
How To Install ChartExpo?
There are two methods to installing the ChartExpo add-on for Google Sheets.
There are different types of bar chart examples. A bar graph compares different categories, the bars can be vertical or horizontal. Here is a list of different bar chart examples.
Let’s learn about how to create the above-mentioned bar graph examples in detail.
A horizontal bar chart is similar to the examples from earlier, except that the axes are switched. The categories appear along the Y-axis and list from left to right across the chart, while the numerical frequency data appears on the X-axis.
For your PPC campaigns, let’s say you want to measure how many clicks you netted in a week. Your horizontal bars will represent each day of the week and the number of clicks for each day will dictate the size of the bars. Your spreadsheet data should resemble the following:
Your first column will be your days of the week, while the second column will be your click data.
Once you have your spreadsheet ready, you can open ChartExpo (same instructions as earlier). Then, choose the PPC Charts category and click Bar Chart Horizontal. Alternatively, you can search for Bar Chart Horizontal and select it that way.
You’ll be asked to select the sheet you’d like to use for the chart. For this example, you’ll want to choose Sheet 1 because that’s the spreadsheet with the data.
Then, you’ll click Add new metric and select your Clicks column.
Next, click Add New Dimensions. This time, you’ll select your categorical data (days of the week).
With all of your data selected and the right bar chart type chosen, you’re ready to click Create Chart.
Here is what the resulting chart might look like, depending on your data.
Since this guide has already talked in detail about this chart’s structure and how to read it, you don’t need to spend much time on this subject. To recap:
By comparing the lengths of the bars, you can immediately obtain insights from the data.
With this information, you can assume that it’s best to target customers with marketing messages early in the week. Since Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are the most active days, you should spend the majority of your ad budget here.
You can display the same information above but as vertical bars. This is the exact type of chart that you saw earlier in this guide. It is also sometimes referred to as a “column chart” because the bars are arranged as vertical columns.
The process of preparing the data for a vertical bar chart is the same for a horizontal one. There should be two columns: one with your categories and the other with your count or frequency data.
Again, the process is the same as the horizontal bar chart. You’re going to open ChartExpo and click on PPC Charts. The only difference is that this time you will select Bar Chart Vertical.
You will then select your sheet again, place Clicks under Add new metric and your days categories for Add New Dimension.
If you get stuck, here are some step-by-step screenshots to help:
After you enter your data, the Create Chart button will turn from gray to orange.
Click it to see the finished vertical bar chart.
You should have no problem reading this bar chart example and understanding the information.
Here are some base insights you can glean from the chart:
By understanding which days of the week generate the most clicks, you can better understand how to allocate your ad budget and align your strategies to match the points of highest activity.
A grouped bar chart, also known as a cluster bar chart or multi-series bar chart, looks at multiple items within the same category. Essentially, you’re looking at the numbers for two categorical variables inside the same grouping, instead of just one.
In other words, you’re adding a second dimension to the data.
Let’s say you have a Google Ads campaign focused on selling mobile phones. You have 9 target keywords that you’ve been working on. You want to see if your performance this month is better or worse than last, in terms of clicks.
Your spreadsheet should look something like this:
Notice that each of the 9 keywords is listed twice in Column A. This is to show the data for both the previous and current month, as shown in Column B.
Finally, Column C is our clicks data.
Open ChartExpo, as explained earlier, and open the PPC Charts category. This time, you’re going to click on the Grouped Bar Chart.
Select your Sheet Name.
Add Clicks as your metric, just as you’ve done in the last two bar chart examples.
Click on Add new dimension and select Column A with your keywords.
To add the second dimension, you’re going to click Add new dimension a second time. This will allow you to add your B Column as the second dimension.
Click Create Chart and your final result should look something like this:
Adding this extra dimension to the data opens the door to even greater insights than if you used a traditional vertical or horizontal bar chart.
Not only can you identify which keywords are producing the highest amount of clicks, but you can also compare how performance has increased or decreased. With the grouped bar chart example, you can see that:
These insights reflect that your recent efforts have paid off. Perhaps you increased your Quality Scores or changed ad copy, but the results are evident — more clicks!
Also, how keywords move up and down, in terms of the total number of clicks, tells of how your audiences are searching and what terms they are using. Even your most popular keywords can lose popularity. It is crucial to track these kinds of changes on a week-to-week or month-to-month basis.
A stacked bar comparison chart is similar to a grouped bar chart. The difference is that bars are stacked on top of each other, instead of being placed next to one another.
The bar stacked comparison chart can compare multiple values. This is very helpful for PPC campaign management because you can compare keywords based on various metrics, instead of one at a time. This gives you a more complete view of your performance.
Continuing with the scenario above, 9 keywords related to a mobile phone store. In the previous bar chart example, clicks were compared between two periods. You’ll compare the same 9 keywords across cost, impressions, clicks and conversions in this chart.
To achieve this, you need a slightly more robust spreadsheet than the past examples.
Open ChartExpo again and open the PPC Charts category. For this chart, click on the Bar Stacked Comparison Chart.
As always, enter your Sheet Name to get started.
Next, you need to begin adding your metric data. Bear in mind, Column B represents your metric categories. This is not what you want to enter as your actual metrics. For this chart, you want to enter Column D — your measure or count data — for Add new metric.
Next, you will have to click Add new dimension and select each category, starting with your keywords in Column A and ending with your time period data in Column C.
Once finished, press Create Chart and take a look at your finished result!
There is a lot of data and plenty of insights to unpack here. This is a great chart because you can see all of your selected keywords and how they perform for a range of different metrics.
There are a lot of different ways you can read the data. You can go line-by-line and decide whether the performance of the keywords (impressions, clicks and conversions) is enough to offset the costs.
Alternatively, you can try and identify your best and worst performers based on these performance metrics. Pay particular attention to high spikes in certain metrics, especially costs and conversions.
You don’t want to overpay for keywords that aren’t performing and you also want to know which ones are producing a high amount of conversions.
In the above bar stacked comparison chart, several interesting insights appear:
The longer you study this chart, the more insights you find!
So what you are waiting for? Why not try the awesome ChartExpo library now and give your data a beautiful visualization?
There are many types of bar chart examples: Bar chart, Stacked bar chart, Grouped bar chart, Matrix chart, Progress chart, Pareto chart
Bar charts are used for comparing different metric values. Because you can see which group is higher than the other groups.
In presentations and reports, bar graphs are a very effective visual. They are popular because they help the reader to detect patterns or trends significantly more simply than looking at a table of numerical data.
Bar charts contain two types of variables: dependent variables, and independent variables. The dependent variables may be discrete or continuous. But independent variable only contains discrete values.
The height is the dependent variable, which is plotted on the vertical or horizontal axis. Because we’re attempting to establish a link between two measures.
Charting and reporting your data is often the final stage in data analysis. It is a crucial step in the process, so you don’t want to let a lack of charting options handcuff you.
ChartExpo allows you to explore all of the bar graph examples discussed on this page, as well as many more PPC charts and general analysis visualizations.
With more charting options, you have several new ways to depict your data visually. View it from fresh angles and bring new insights to the surface with each unique bar chart example!
How much did you enjoy this article?
We will help your ad reach the right person, at the right time
Actionable insights discovered for you. Now you can do more in less time.
PPCexpo Keyword Planner will help you align your keywords with the customers’ intent.
Frequent audits will help you optimize your PPC campaign for success.
Visualizations give you the ability to instantly grasp the insights hidden in your numbers.
Experience the new revolution in reporting … click your way to insights, don’t scroll.
Calculate the number of combinations in your PPC campaign. It may surprise you.
Related articles
What is causal analysis? It's a method to find the root cause of problems. This blog explains the types, methods, and steps for causal analysis.
This blog explains ABM, its benefits, and types. You’ll learn how to create and implement an ABM strategy to improve ROI and build strong client relationships.
Learn how to make a table in Google Sheets with easy-to-follow steps. This guide covers everything from using pre-built templates to customizing your table.
