Creating Custom Channel Groups in GA4:
Creating custom channel groups in GA4 can provide several benefits, including:
1. Better Understanding of Traffic Sources:
By creating custom channel groups, you can group together different sources of traffic based on your business goals and marketing strategy. This will give you a more accurate picture of where your website traffic is coming from and which channels are driving the most conversions.
2. Improved Campaign Performance Tracking:
They allow you to track the performance of specific marketing campaigns more effectively. You can group together all the traffic from a particular campaign, ( e.g. pay per click) which will give you more detailed insights into how well that campaign is performing.
3. Enhanced Reporting:
Custom channel groups can help you to create more meaningful and insightful reports. You can easily filter your reports by custom channel group to get a more detailed view of your website’s performance.
4. More Accurate Attribution:
Custom channel groups can help you to accurately attribute website conversions to the appropriate marketing channels. This can help you to make more informed decisions about where to invest your marketing budget and resources to optimise your conversion rate.
5. Customization and Flexibility:
It gives you the flexibility to define channels that are unique to your business. This means that you can create channel groups that are tailored to your specific business needs, which can help you to get a more accurate view of your website’s performance.
Watch this video or following the instructions below to create a new custom channel group in GA4.
1. Review the Default Session Channel Group
Before creating a custom channel group, it’s essential to understand how GA4 currently categorises your traffic.
Navigate to the Traffic Acquisition report in the GA4 console.
Add an additional dimension by selecting “Session Source / Medium”.
Compare this with the default channel grouping to identify where more detailed breakdowns are needed.
Record key traffic sources by exporting the report or taking screenshots for future reference.
Analyse Session Campaign, Session Term, and Session Default Channel Group dimensions to determine how traffic is classified.
Use filters to isolate specific sources and uncover patterns that will inform your custom channel definitions.
2. Access Channel Groups in GA4
Once you have gathered insights from your traffic data, proceed with creating a new custom channel group:
Go to ‘Admin’ in your GA4 console.
Under Property Settings, select “Channel groups”.
3. Copy the Default Channel Group
Click on the three dots (⋮) to the right of the Default channel group.
Select “Copy to create new”.
4. Name and Describe Your Custom Group
Enter a name and description that clearly define the purpose of your new channel group.
Set rules for defining new channels:
Use Session Source, Medium, Campaign, and Term to refine traffic categorisation.
Instead of a generic “Paid Social” category, break it down by platform:
Facebook Organic: Session Source contains ‘facebook’ AND Session Medium equals ‘referral’ (to account for variations like ‘m.facebook.com’ and ‘l.facebook.com’).
Facebook Paid: Session Source contains ‘facebook’ AND Session Medium contains ‘cpc’.
Instagram Organic: Session Source contains ‘instagram’ AND Session Medium equals ‘referral’.
Instagram Paid: Session Source contains ‘instagram’ AND Session Medium contains ‘cpc’.
LinkedIn Paid: Session Source contains ‘linkedin’ AND Session Medium contains ‘cpc’.
LinkedIn Organic: Session Source contains ‘linkedin’ AND Session Medium equals ‘referral’.
Defining platforms separately ensures a more accurate grouping and prevents overly broad categories.
Make sure each rule is distinct and does not overlap with other sources.
5. Edit the Channels
Modify the channel definitions by:
Adding new channels for specific traffic sources.
Removing unnecessary channels that are not relevant.
Adjusting existing channel rules to better fit your business needs.
6. Reorder the Channels
Position new channels above the existing default channels to ensure traffic is assigned correctly to your custom definitions.
7. Modify Default Channel Names (Optional)
Rename default channels if necessary, such as changing “Paid Social” to “Other Paid Social” for a more precise classification.
8. Save and Apply Your Changes
Click “Apply” and then “Save group” to finalise your custom channel group.
9. Important Considerations
GA4 assigns traffic to the first matching channel in the group, so order matters.
Currently, GA4 does not allow custom dimensions (e.g., affiliate ID) to be used in channel definitions. If you need more flexibility, consider using Looker Studio, which allows any dimension to define custom channels.
For further details on custom channel groups in GA4, check out Google’s official documentation.
By following these steps, you can create a custom channel grouping that delivers deeper insights and improves traffic source analysis.
