Using Google Analytics 4 Channel Groups

With the introduction of Google Analytics 4 (GA4), digital marketers have gained a more powerful toolkit for understanding where traffic comes from and how it converts. One of the most underrated features in this new setup is Channel Groups.

Unlike Universal Analytics, where categorising traffic sources was difficult, GA4 enables you to create custom channel groups tailored to your business model, marketing strategies, and attribution needs.

Understanding Channel Groups

Channel groups in GA4 are designed to categorise traffic sources into specific, manageable groups that align with your marketing objectives. 

By grouping channels such as direct, organic search, and social media, you can gain a clearer picture of where your traffic is coming from and how different channels contribute to your marketing goals.

Key Benefits of Channel Groups

1. Clarity Over Your Campaign Performance

Grouping similar channels gets you a more organised view of your data, making it easier to draw insights.

2. Enhanced Analysis

By understanding the performance of grouped channels, you can better assess the effectiveness of your marketing strategies. For example, you might prefer to consider traffic from chatgpt.com to be bucketed into the “Organic search” channel rather than the “Referral” channel or vice versa.

3. Enhanced Attribution Reporting

Whether you’re running local or national campaigns or want to differentiate between affiliates and influencers, grouping channels provides a more accurate view of what’s working.

Creating Effective Channel Groups

Creating a custom channel group is easier than you think. Setting up channel groups in GA4 involves a few key steps:

1. Review Channel Data: Before creating groups, thoroughly review your existing channel data. Identify the channels driving the most traffic and conversions. You can do this in your Acquisition reports. View the video below to see how.

2. Define Group Rules: Create rules for each channel group. For example, you might group all paid social ads based on a specific URL being used or campaign name.

3. Setup in GA4: Navigate to “Admin” menu (bottom left side gear icon) and “Data display” under the ‘Channel Groups‘ section, set up your defined groups by specifying the rules and channels included.

4. Validate and Test: Once created, test your channel groups to ensure they accurately capture data. Use real-time reports to verify that the groups reflect your defined rules.

Step-by-Step: How to Set Up a Custom Channel Group in GA4

Creating a custom channel group involves a few steps. Here’s the workflow, inspired by the walkthrough from Ray Pastoors.

Step 1: Go to the Admin Menu

• Log in to GA4
• Click the gear icon (bottom left) to enter the Admin panel
• Navigate to “Data Display” → “Channel Groups”

Step 2: Create a New Group

• To avoid starting from scratch, select the existing channel group using the three dots.
• Choose the option “Copy to create new” so you don’t lose the other standard rules.
• You’ll see an interface that allows you to name your group and start adding rules.

Step 3: Define Your Custom Channels

• Click the “+” icon to add a new custom rule
• Set conditions like Session Source, Medium or Campaign Name
• Use operators like “contains,” “matches regex,” (for advanced users only) or “exactly matches”

Tip: The order of your rules matters. GA4 reads them sequentially—so put the most specific rules first, followed by the broader ones.

Step 4: Save and Preview

• After you’ve built out your group, preview the data to check that your traffic is being sorted correctly.
• To preview the data, you can use the “Reports” and “Realtime overview”.
• To make this work, select “Add comparison” and then “Create new”.
• Choose the “Default channel group” option, then “Exactly matches”.
• Select the channel group you want to check, e.g. Referral, then press “Save”.
• Follow the rule by going to the channel itself and then going to your website. Or mask it by using the Google URL builder.
• Check the realtime report. Look for “First user” and see if it matches your rule.
• If this fails, you can also wait for your traffic data to appear in your standard Reports and select the channel group you want to check in your Traffic Acquisition report. Use the dropdown to select the channel group you created. This will be located after the line graph and next to the search bar.

 Step 5: Set It As Primary (Optional)

• You can set your new channel group as the primary view in reports (excluding the conversion path report).
• This means every time you check GA4, your new group will be the default.
• Go to Admin, then select “Data display” and “Channel groups”.
• Click the pencil icon on the right-hand side, then select your channel group to mark it as the primary.
• The new channel group will be the default now for standard reports once you save your changes.

Here are some of the most effective ways to use channel groups:

1. Local vs. National Campaigns
If you run both local and nationwide campaigns, you can split traffic based on geo-targeted sessions. This is great for businesses with physical stores or regional service areas.

2. Event or Webinar Tracking
Group traffic that originates from your event registration campaigns. This helps you attribute webinar signups or attendance back to specific sources.

3. Influencer and Aggregator Sites
Instead of just “Referral,” create groups for Influencer Traffic or Aggregator Platforms (e.g., Honey, Rakuten). This way, you can directly assess the return on investment (ROI) of those relationships.

4. Directory Listings
Group traffic from sites like Yelp, Yellow Pages, or industry-specific directories to measure referral performance.

5. Blog Traffic as a Separate Group
If you publish a lot of blog content for other websites, tracking its traffic separately allows you to gauge the value of your content strategy.

6. Fix Facebook or Paid Social Tracking
Sometimes Facebook traffic shows up under “Unassigned” due to missing UTMs or odd redirect behaviour. Channel grouping can correct this if you define specific rules for Session source = facebook.com or utm_medium = paid_social.

7. Create Funnels like Groups
Another strategic use of GA4 channel groups is to mirror your marketing funnels—from awareness to conversion—by grouping channels based on intent and behaviour stage.

Best Practices for Channel Grouping

To ensure your groups are effective:

• Use consistent UTM parameters across all marketing channels
• Think strategically—not every source needs a new group
• Test before relying on reports—verify accuracy using sample data
• Review regularly—update as your campaigns and strategies evolve
• Group by intent, not just source—e.g., “Conversion-focused” vs. “Awareness” channels

Utilising Channel Groups

Once your channel groups are established, they can be used to enhance your marketing analysis:

Compare Performance: Regularly analyse how different channel groups perform against each other. This comparison can help you identify which channels are most effective at driving traffic and conversions.

Optimise Campaigns: Use insights from channel group data to adjust your campaigns, whether that means boosting efforts in high-performing channels or reevaluating underperforming ones.

Custom Reporting: Incorporate channel group data into custom reports for a more nuanced presentation of your marketing performance.

Bonus: It Retroactively Fixes Past Data

One of the most powerful features? Once you define and apply your custom channel groups, past data gets recategorised according to the new rules. You don’t lose your historical performance analysis, and you don’t need to wait weeks to start seeing cleaner insights.

Channel Groups Are the Secret Sauce in GA4

GA4 is complex, but it’s also far more adaptable than the old Universal Analytics—if you take advantage of its tools. Channel groups aren’t just a “nice to have”—they’re a must-use feature for any marketer serious about attribution, segmentation, and campaign analysis.

When set up correctly, they:

• Help you uncover the true value of your marketing channels
• Remove ambiguity from your reports
• Empower data-driven decision making
  

Whether you’re just starting with GA4 or fine-tuning your setup, investing time in channel groups will pay back with smarter, more actionable insights.

To get your Google Analytics 4 set up and ensure your data is healthy, check out our packages.