Our Associate Search Marketing Strategist, Jeff Malczyk, teaches us all about Excel pivot tables: how to interpret data faster, easier, and more efficiently. Complete with in-depth instructions, screenshots, video, and memes. Because you have to laugh. Download the practice worksheet: http://cl.ly/2f0t3x3M0d30

1. E X C E L C R A S H C O U R S E : P I V O T T A B L E S
H O W T O I N T E R P R E T D A T A F A S T E R , E A S I E R & M O R E E F F I C I E N T L Y
!
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J E F F M A L C Z Y K
A S S O C I A T E S E A R C H M A R K E T I N G S T R A T E G I S T

2. B U T W H A T I F Y O U C O U L D T A K E T H I S …
SOMETIMES, SPREADSHEETS TEND TO LOOK LIKE THIS
x 28
A N D T U R N I T I N T O T H I S ?
x 14
x 12
x 3
x 1

3. SO WHAT IS A PIVOT TABLE?
A Pivot Table is a Data
Summarization Tool used to
automatically sort & count
data from thousands of rows
& columns in seconds…
!
…but it’s much more than that
Turning This Into This

4. HOW DO PIVOT TABLES WORK?
Using the genius, yet simple Pivot Table
Builder, you can drag and drop fields to
immediately reorganize, and more importantly,
reinterpret the data in your spreadsheet.

5. WHY SHOULD YOU BE USING PIVOT TABLES?
- Easily count how many times a group of values appear
in a spreadsheet
- Compare Performance between Ads and determine
the most effective variation
- Discover the optimal time of day and day of week to
post on Facebook or Twitter
- Show the month-over-month growth in website
visitation and page performance
- Calculate a sales Conversion Funnel using pageviews
- Can fit practically any situation involving data analysis

6. L E A R N I N G T H R O U G H E X P E R I E N C E
PLEASE DON’T CRINGE
Download and open the Excel Practice Sheet

7. FORMAT TING YOUR RAW DATA
1. Auto-Column Width
2. Format First Row
3. Freeze Panes
4. Quick-filter
5. Quick-Number-formatting
6. Inserting/Deleting Rows & Columns
7. The Status Bar

8. 1. AUTO COLUMN WIDTH
To change the width of a column, simply move the
cursor to the right edge of the column you wish to
format, click, drag, and release at the desired
column width.
!
- By double-clicking the edge, the column will
automatically expand to an appropriate width.
- You can Automatically adjust the size of all
columns in the spreadsheet by selecting all cells
(click the greyed out cell where the columns (A,
B, C…) and rows (1, 2, 3…) intersect.) Once you
have all cells selected, double-click any column
edge. this will auto-adjust the width of every
column in the spreadsheet.
!
- If you want the columns to have a uniform
length, Select All Cells and drag any column to
the desired length.
VIDEO EXAMPLES ARE ON THE
SLIDE AFTER EACH STEP

9. 2. FORMAT L ABEL ROW
- To Select an entire column, move the cursor and
click over a column label (A, B, C…). The Same
can be done with Rows (1, 2, 3…)
!
- You can change the formatting under the Home
Tab in the formatting Box. In the Practice
Spreadsheet, Change the Formatting of the First
Row to make it stand out.

10. 3. FREEZE PANES
Freezing Panes can allow you to take a row, or
number of rows and columns and freeze them so
they’re always visible while scrolling through the rest
of your spreadsheet.
!
- You can Freeze Panes by going to ‘Window’ in
the main toolbar, and clicking ‘Freeze Panes’
- When you do, Excel will freeze all of the panes to
the left and top of your cell selector.
!
- To Unfreeze Panes, go to ‘Window’ in the main
toolbar and clicking ‘Unfreeze Panes’
!
- For the purposes of this spreadsheet, select the
cell A2 and Freeze the Panes so only the first row
is frozen.

11. 4. QUICK FILTER
Quick Filtering allows you to apply simple-to-use
Sorting & Filtering capabilities to your spreadsheet.
!
- Select the First Row and click the Funnel
Shaped ‘Quick Filter’ button in the top toolbar.
Alternatively you can click ‘Data’ in the main
toolbar and selecting ‘Filter’.
From here, you can see every column label has a
drop-down menu button next to them. From you
you can sort the data Ascending, Descending, or
even by cell color. You can even filter out specific
data entries from that column.

12. 5. QUICK NUMBER FORMAT TING
Excel has a number of time-saving techniques for
you to edit and format your spreadsheet to meet
your specifications. One of these functions includes
changing the number Formatting for your cells.
!
- In the ‘Home’ tab, click the comma-shaped
button underneath the section that says
‘Number’. This will change the number
formatting to include ‘1,000-comma-indicators’
and by default, this also adds two decimal places.
- You can change how many decimal places are
shown by clicking the left and right arrow
buttons next to the comma-shaped button.
!
- Additional quick formats include currency &
percentages.

13. 6. INSERTING/DELETING COLUMNS & ROWS
Sometimes, it will be necessary to add a column in-
between two existing columns.
!
- Simply select the column to the right of the
desired location, right-click and select Insert.
!
- Alternatively, you can go to ‘Insert’ in the main
toolbar and select ‘Column’ (or row if you are
adding a row).
!
- The same process can be applied to Rows.

14. 7. THE STATUS BAR
Excel has a neat tool hidden in plain sight,
occasionally missed by spreadsheet veterans. The
Status Bar is located in the bottom of the window,
underneath the horizontal scroll Bar.
!
The Status bar has several simple functions,
including Sum, Count, Average & more. The Status
Bar will apply one of those functions to the selected
group of cells.
- For instance, If you select the entire column
labeled ‘Impressions’, you can see the status bar
at the bottom calculate the total sum of
impressions for all selected Cells.
!
Already, you can see how these couple tips and
tricks can save you a lot of time trudging through
spreadsheets. Let’s kick it to the next level, and see
what these Pivot tables are all about.

15. YOUR FIRST PIVOT TABLE
1. Create your first Pivot Table
2. Arrange fields & Values using the Builder
3. Pivot Table Field Options
4. Quick-Formatting for Pivot Tables
5. Refreshing the Pivot Table
6. Calculating Fields
7. Grouping Fields
8. Conditional Formatting
9. Advanced Field Options
10. Pivot Charts

16. 1. CREATE YOUR FIRST PIVOT TABLE
- Select Columns A through U
!
- In the Main Toolbar, Click ‘Data’ and select ‘Pivot
Table’
!
- A dialogue box will appear asking you where you
would like to place the pivot table. The Default
option of creating a new sheet for your pivot
table will meet most of your uses.
!
- Click ‘OK’

17. 2. ARRANGE FIELDS & VALUES
The Builder allows you to choose how you arrange
your fields.
!
- Click-and-drag the ‘Clicks’ Field into the ‘Values’
Box
- Click-and-drag the ‘Target’ Field into the ‘Row
Labels’ Box
- Click-and-drag the ‘Campaign Period’ Field into
the ‘Report Filter’ Box
- Click-and-drag the ‘Campaign Messaging’ Field
into the ‘Column Labels’ Box.
- Now you can see how Pivot Tables populate the
Data
!
- At the top of the pivot table, click the filter drop-
down-menu box and select only the ‘Nov to Dec’
entry.

18. 3. PIVOT TABLE FIELD OPTIONS
When you click away from the Pivot Table, the
Builder will automatically hide itself.
!
- To reactivate the Builder, simply click on the
pivot table. Alternatively, click the purple ‘Pivot
Table’ tab and select ‘Builder’.
!
- You can change the function of the formula
aggregating your data into the Pivot Table.
- To do this, click on the round ‘i’ button next to
the ‘Count of Clicks’ field in the Values Box in
the Builder. This will activate the Field Options
dialogue box.
- In the ‘Summarize by’ box, scroll up and select
‘Sum’
- Click the ‘Number’ button to change the number
formatting of the selected field. In the example, I
selected ‘Accounting’ number formatting with
‘0’ decimal points and the currency symbol
changed to ‘none’

19. 4. QUICK-FORMAT TING
- Excel has a number of Quick-Format settings for
Pivot Tables. You can scroll through them in the
Purple ‘Pivot Table’ tab under ‘Pivot Table
Styles’.
!
- Select a Pivot Table Style that suites you.

20. 5. REFRESHING THE PIVOT TABLE
Pivot Tables are not a live representation of your
source data. If you ever add, remove, or edit rows or
entries in your Raw Data tab, that change WILL NOT
be reflected in the pivot table automatically. You
ALWAYS need to manually refresh your pivot table
anytime you make a change to that data.
!
- To Refresh your data go to the Purple ‘Pivot
Table’ Tab and click the Refresh Button, and
select ‘Refresh All’

21. 6. CALCUL ATING FIELDS
Pivot Tables have the ability to calculate new fields
not present in your original Raw Data File. In this
example, we are going to add a ‘Click Through Rate
(CTR)’ field to our Pivot Table.
!
- Select your Pivot Table and in the Main Toolbar,
click ‘Insert’ and select ‘Calculated Field’. Type
‘Click Through Rate (CTR)’ into the Name box.
- In the Fields list, select ‘Clicks’ and click ‘Insert
Field’.
- In the Formula, type ‘/‘
- In the Fields list, select ‘Impressions’ and click
‘Insert Field’
- The Formula Bar should look like this:
Clicks / Impressions
- Click ‘Add’ and ‘OK’ to return to the Pivot Table.
- Using your prior knowledge, format the ‘Click
Through Rate (CTR)’ field to a Percentage.

22. 7. GROUPING FIELDS
You can group together certain types of data in pivot
tables. For Instance, you can group dates to display
Weeks, Months, or even Years as needed.
!
- Click-and-drag the ‘Target’ Field back into the
rest of the Fields list. Replace it with the ‘Date’
field.
!
- Click into the Dates on the Pivot Table, Right-
Click and select ‘Group & Outline’ and then
‘Group…’
- In the ‘By’ list, select ‘Days’ and change the
‘Number of Days’ to 7 to represent a full week.
!

23. 8. CONDITIONAL FORMAT TING
Conditional Formatting is like a Formula that
changes the color, size and shape of the cells based
on their values. In this example, we will be applying a
3-color scale to a range of Cells.
!
- Select the range of Cells in column ‘D’ and in the
Main Toolbar, select ‘Format’ and select
‘Conditional Formatting’.
!
- To Add a new Rule, Click the ‘+’ button in the
bottom Left Corner of the dialogue box.
- Change the ‘Style’ to a ‘3-Color-Scale’. You can
change the cell fill here if you wish to. Click ‘OK’
in both dialogue boxes.
!
- You can copy and paste conditional formatting
using the copy formatting tool (it looks like a
paintbrush in the excel toolbar)

24. 9. ADVANCED FIELD OPTIONS
Excel has a number of Advanced Field Options that
can allow you to view the same data in a different
light. In this Example, we will be comparing the
volume of clicks to the previous week’s volume of
clicks.
!
- Remove the ‘CTR’ field from the Values Box and
click the ‘i’ button in the ‘Sum of Clicks’ Field to
open the Pivot Table Field Dialogue Box.
- Click the ‘Options>>’ button to reveal advanced
options.
- In the ‘Show Data As’ drop-down-list, select
‘% Difference From’ and in the ‘Base Item’ as
‘(previous)’. Click OK

25. 10. PIVOT CHARTS
Lastly, Pivot Tables have the ability to quickly create
charts based on all of the data presented in the Pivot
Table.
!
- Simply select your pivot table, and in the ‘Charts’
tab, select Column, and then ‘Clustered Column’

26. LOOK AT YOU! ALL PRO

27. T H A N K Y O U F O R W A T C H I N G !
!
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