Reporting Identity in GA4
Learn more about Reporting Identity in GA4 and how you can use it.
Content Groups in GA4
October 27, 2025
- First Published: October 27, 2025
- Last Modified: October 27, 2025
Here’s the thing: we all love the power of Google Analytics 4, but let’s be frank, the standard ‘Pages and screens’ report can be… a lot.
When you’re trying to see the bigger picture, scrolling through hundreds of individual page paths is the fastest way to get lost in the weeds.
What if you could stop analysing individual trees and finally see the whole forest?
That’s precisely what Content Groups are for.
They are, quite simply, a brilliant way to categorise your pages (or app screens) into custom buckets that actually make sense for your business.
Table of Contents
What Are GA4 Content Groups?
Think of them as custom-made labels.
Instead of just seeing data for /blog/post-a, /blog/post-b, and /service/feature-c, you could create buckets like:
Blog Pages
Service Pages
Product Pages
Contact Pages
This allows you to see metrics—like pageviews, engagement rate, and conversions—for those specific groups of pages.
The benefit of content groups in GA4
This is where it gets really useful.
Moving away from individual page metrics gives you much higher-level insights.
For an e-commerce store: You could create groups for different product categories (e.g., ‘Men’s Footwear’, ‘Women’s Tops’). You might discover that users spend more time browsing one category but purchase more from another. That’s an insight you can act on.
For a SaaS site: Group your pages by the different services you offer. You might find that users spend loads of time reading about ‘Service A’ but aren’t converting. This could flag an issue with the page content, the user journey, or the pricing for that specific service.
For an informational site or blog: This is my favourite. You can group articles by topic.
It helps you spot what’s resonating with your audience, so you can double down on what works from a content strategy perspective.
Content Group Limitations
Before you rush off, there are a couple of limitations you need to know about.
You Only Get One (By Default): Out of the box, GA4 only gives you one content group dimension. (Don’t worry, I’ll share a workaround for this in a moment).
No Historical Data: This is the big one. Content groups do not work retroactively. They will only start collecting data from the day you set them up. This means if you’re keen to use them, you should set them up as quickly as possible.
How to Set Up Content Groups (The GTM Way)
You can work with a developer to set this up using the Google tag, but my preferred method is via Google Tag Manager (GTM). It gives you more control and is surprisingly straightforward. The best way to do it is with a Regex Table variable.
Here’s a step-by-step guide:
Go to GTM and create a new Variable. Choose ‘Regex Table’ as the variable type.
Set the ‘Input Variable’. Select
{{Page Path}}. This is what GTM will use to identify the page.Create Your Rules. This is where you’ll “bucket” your pages. In the ‘Regex Table’ section, add a row for each content group you want to create.
Pattern: This is the regular expression that will match the page path. For example, to group all your blog posts, you might use
^/blog/.*(which means “anything that starts with /blog/”).Output: This is the name of your content group (e.g., “Blog Pages”).
Set a Default Value. Add one more rule: check the ‘Set Default Value’ box and set the Output to “Other”. This ensures any pages that don’t match your rules still get categorised.
Configure Advanced Settings.
Untick ‘Full Matches Only’.
Untick ‘Enable Capture Groups and Replace Functionality’.
Add the Variable to Your GA4 Tag. Now, go to your main ‘Google Analytics: GA4 Configuration’ tag.
Under ‘Shared Event Settings’, add a new row.
Field Name:
content_group(it must be exactly this).Value: Select the new Regex Table variable you just created (e.g.,
{{Regex - Content Groups}}).
Save and Publish. Save your changes and publish your GTM container. That’s it! Your GA4 property will now start populating your new content group.
Other Approaches
There are other approaches to sending content_group parameter to GA4. This includes:
- GA4 Tag
- Firebase (apps)
Google provides guidance here.
In Google Tag Manager, that regex is one approach too. You could find an alternative approach that works well for you.
How to Report on Your New Content Groups
Once it’s had some time to collect data, you can find your new dimension in a few places:
In the ‘Pages and screens’ report: Simply select ‘Content group’ from the dropdown menu (where it usually says ‘Page path and screen class’).
In an Exploration: You can add ‘Content group’ as a dimension in any custom exploration you build.
In a Custom Report: You can even build a dedicated report just for your content groups and add it to your main navigation.
This dimension is even available in Looker Studio!
Want More Than One? How to Add Extra Content Groups
Right, so what about that “one group” limitation?
If you want to categorise your content in multiple ways (e.g., by ‘Topic’ and by ‘Content Type’), you can. You just have to use custom dimensions.
The process is similar:
You’d create another Regex Table variable in GTM (e.g.,
{{Regex - Content Type}}).In your GA4 Config tag, you’d add another field. But instead of
content_group, you’d name it something else (e.g.,content_group2).In GA4, you’d have to go to ‘Admin’ > ‘Custom definitions’ and register
content_group2as a new custom dimension.
This is a more advanced technique, but it’s incredibly powerful for layering your analysis.
Ideas with Content Groups
As well as the standard reviewing of content here are some nice ideas with content groups:
- Utilise it in Audiences for Google Ads
- Build segments for further explorations
- Get more granular with content_group for content on a blog to really understand what’s happening.
Content groups are one of the simplest ways to make your GA4 data infinitely more useful. They move you away from granular, page-by-page analysis and towards genuine, high-level strategic insights.
You’ll be able to see which parts of your site are really working, which topics resonate, and where your conversion opportunities are hiding.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How many content groups can I have in GA4?
By default, you have one ‘Content group’ dimension. However, you can create additional content groups by sending custom parameters (like we did in the GTM example) and registering them as custom dimensions in the GA4 admin.
Do GA4 content groups work retroactively?
No, they do not. This is a crucial point. They will only start collecting and categorising data from the moment you publish your changes. You cannot apply them to your historical data.
What’s the difference between content groups and segments?
Content groups categorise your content (pages and screens) at the event level. Segments categorise your users or sessions based on behaviours or attributes. For example, you could create a segment of “Users who visited the Blog Pages content group.” They work together to help you answer more complex questions.
Author
Hello, I'm Kyle Rushton McGregor!
I’m an experienced GA4 Specialist with a demonstrated history of working with Google Tag Manager and Looker Studio. I’m an international speaker who has trained 1000s of people on all things analytics.