What is Channel Grouping in GA4

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) offers a powerful feature for understanding your website traffic: channel grouping. This feature categorizes traffic based on its source, allowing you to analyze how different channels (e.g., organic search, social media, email) impact your website's performance. While GA4 provides default channel groupings, the true power lies in creating custom channel groups tailored to your specific marketing needs.

Differences Between Channel Grouping in GA4 and UA

• Limited Options in UA: Universal Analytics offered a limited ability to create custom channel groupings. While you could modify existing channels, the flexibility wasn't comparable to GA4.
• Focus on Source/Medium: Channel grouping in UA primarily relied on source and medium parameters. GA4 offers more flexibility, allowing you to consider additional dimensions like campaign names, content type, or even user behavior.
• Attribution Modeling: UA relied on a single attribution model (last click by default). GA4 offers multiple attribution models, allowing you to assign credit for conversions based on different touchpoints throughout the user journey.

Types of Channels in GA4:

• Default Channel Groups: These predefined categories include Organic Search, Direct, Email, Paid Search, Social, Display, Referral, and Other.

• Custom Channel Groups: User-defined groupings based on specific rules and conditions. You can create channels based on campaign names, source/medium combinations, content types, or any other relevant criteria.
• Primary Channel Group:  It acts as a replacement for the GA4 default channel group, offering more control over how traffic is initially categorized.

When to Use Custom Channels vs. Session vs. First User Channel Grouping

• Custom Channels: 

• These are user-defined categories within a channel group based on specific rules and conditions. You can create custom channels based on various parameters like campaign names, UTM parameters, source/medium combinations, or even content type.
• Example: Imagine you're running a promotional campaign with a unique UTM parameter like "utm_campaign=summer_sale" & “utm_source=klaviyo” You can create a custom channel named "Summer Sale Campaign" based on this UTM parameter. This allows you to group all traffic from this specific campaign and analyze its performance separately within the "Paid Search" or "Social" channel group (depending on your UTM source).
• Rule: utm_campaign=summer_sale & utm_source=klaviyo
  Result: All traffic with this UTM parameter gets categorized under the custom channel "Summer Sale Campaign" within the Paid Search channel group (assuming the UTM source is "google").

• Session Channel Grouping: 

• This focuses on the initial traffic source that brought a user to your website or app during a specific session. Even if the user interacts with different channels within the session (like organic search or referrals), the session channel group remains based on the initial source.
• Example:
  A user clicks on a Facebook ad (Social - Facebook Ads) and lands on your website. During this session, the user clicks on an internal link to a different page but doesn't leave the website. The entire session's channel group will still be "Social - Facebook Ads" because that's the initial source.

• First User Channel Grouping: 

• This assigns the channel group based on the user's very first interaction with your website or app within a defined timeframe (typically 30 days by default). Subsequent visits within that window will inherit the channel group from the first interaction.
• Example:
  A user clicks on a Facebook ad (Social - Facebook Ads) on Day 1. On Day 3, the same user finds your website organically and visits again.In this case, the channel group for both sessions (Day 1 and Day 3) will be "Social - Facebook Ads" because that was the initial interaction within the 30-day window.

Migrating from UA to GA4 Channel Grouping

Unlike UA's standard channel groups, GA4 empowers you with greater control. GA4 boasts a significantly expanded channel grouping system compared to UA. Here's a breakdown of the key additions:

Here's what you can do:

• Newcomers: Paid Social, Organic Social, Organic Video, Paid Shopping, Audio, SMS, Mobile Push Notifications – these channels provide deeper insights into previously uncategorized traffic sources.
• Broadened Definitions: Existing channels like Email, Affiliates, and Paid Search now encompass a wider range of traffic sources for more comprehensive analysis.
• Subgroup Structure: All GA4 channels are further categorized into four subgroups – Manual Traffic, Google Ads, Display & Video 360, and Search Ads 360 – offering a more organized view of your traffic sources.

Important Considerations for Migrating from UA:

• Limited Editability: Unlike UA, GA4 prioritizes a standardized approach. You cannot edit the rules for the default channel groups or add entirely new channels.
• Case-Insensitive UTM Tags: GA4 is case-insensitive when it comes to UTM tags. While convenient, it emphasizes the importance of creating clear and consistent UTM tags using lowercase characters and proper spacing for better readability and interpretation.

Where Can We Use Custom Channel Groups in GA4?

• Acquisition Reports: Analyze traffic acquisition across your custom channel groups. See which channels drive the most users, conversions, or revenue.

• Explorations(Custom Reports): Build reports tailored to your specific needs, using custom channel groups as a key dimension.

• Audience Conditions: Create audiences based on their interaction with specific custom channel groups for targeted marketing campaigns.

Limitations and How to Overcome Them:

• Limited Number of Custom Channel Groups: You can only create up to 25 custom channel groups per property. However, you can effectively manage this by prioritizing the most relevant channels for your analysis.
• Dimension Control: You cannot use a custom channel group as a dimension in the ‘Conversions paths report’. But there is a workaround that you can your new custom channel group as the ‘Primary Channel group’. After this settings, you will be able to use it in the ‘Conversions paths report’.

By effectively utilizing channel grouping in GA4, you can unlock a wealth of valuable insights that empower you to make data-driven decisions and optimize your marketing campaigns for maximum success.