This Week's BigQuery Insight: Learn to Read Queries Backwards

When you're learning SQL, don't read queries from top to bottom.

Instead, read it in this order:

FROM → WHERE → GROUP BY → SELECT → ORDER BY

1. FROM – Where is the data coming from?

2. WHERE – Which rows are being filtered?

3. GROUP BY – How is the data being grouped?

4. SELECT – What columns or calculations are being returned?

5. ORDER BY – How are the results being sorted?

This approach mirrors how SQL is logically processed, making even complex queries much easier to understand.

For example:

SELECT country,
       COUNT(*) AS users
FROM `my_dataset.users`
WHERE signup_date >= '2026-01-01'
GROUP BY country
ORDER BY users DESC;

Read it like this:

• FROM → Start with the users table.

• WHERE → Keep only users who signed up this year.

• GROUP BY → Group them by country.

• SELECT → Count the users in each country.

• ORDER BY → Show countries with the most users first.

Try it with every query you read this week, and you'll be surprised how quickly your SQL skills improve.

If you'd like to learn BigQuery and SQL through practical, real-world examples (especially using GA4 data), check out my BigQuery course.

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