Google Analytics: Content Grouping for Content Performance Analysis
This feature in Google Analytics may be one of the biggest and most helpful that they’ve released in a long time! As we produce content for clients, we’re always aggregating stats at a topical level to understand what contnet performs well with visits and conversions. We’ve actually mimicked this reporting behavior for clients by creating multiple accounts and adding segmented pageviews based on content… but Content Grouping within Google Analytics automates the process and integrates it into every aspect of your reporting – from visitor flow to conversion tracking.
Content Grouping lets you group content into a logical structure that reflects how you think about your site or app, and then view and compare aggregated metrics by group name in addition to being able to drill down to the individual URL, page title, or screen name. For example, you can see the aggregated number of pageviews for all pages in a group like Men/Shirts, and then drill in to see each URL or page title.
When you modify your tracking code, you use an index number (1-5) to identify the Content Grouping, and you use a group name to identify your Content Group:
analytics.js: ga('set', 'contentGroup', '');
ga.js: _gaq.push(['_setPageGroup', '', ' ']);
For example, if you’re configuring a Content Grouping for Clothing identified by the Index Number 1, and within that creating a Content Group called Men, you would have the following:
analytics.js: ga('set', 'contentGroup1', 'Men');
ga.js: _gaq.push(['_setPageGroup', '1', 'Men']);
Aside from the tracking code, you can also create Content Groups utilizing regex capture extraction, or rules.
You can even create views using Content Grouping, providing a really incredible view of your content marketing performance.
Another nice feature of Content Grouping is that the reporting is based on unique visits, not total views. This provides your business with a clear picture of how many visitors are consuming content, by topic, rather than by pageviews – which could significantly skew reporting if a specific visitor winds up visiting dozens of articles on your site with the same topic.
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