How to Leverage the Default Channel Grouping in Google Analytics 4 (GA4)

Channel groupings in Google Analytics 4 are rule-based, but not so flexible as in Universal Analytics. Make sure to read this guide if you want to get the most out of them.

In Google Analytics 4 you can still work with channels as well as source/medium parameters to identify and analyze your traffic sources and performance.

Less straightforward compared to Universal Analytics, but still a powerful option to analyze performance.

As you probably know, GA4 comes with just a handful of reports out-of-the-box, but gives you powerful options to present, slice and dice the data in any way you want.

Table of Contents

• Default Channel Grouping Report in GA4
• Google Analytics 4 vs Universal Analytics
• Exploration Reports
• BigQuery
• Google Data Studio
• Concluding Thoughts

Ok, let’s dive right in!

Default Channel Grouping Report in GA4

In Google Analytics 4 it takes a few steps to find the channel reporting within the reporting interface.

Step 1: log in to a Google Analytics 4 property and click on “Reports.

Step 2: click on “Acquisition”.

Step 3: click on “Traffic Acquisition”.

Step 4: scroll down to “Session source/medium”.

Step 5: change the report dimension to “Session default channel grouping”.

Now you can review the report by default channel group.

Tips for Property Administrators:

• Use the “Customize Overview reports” functionality to change the default setup of reports.
• In addition, you can customize the report navigation to organize your reports in a different way.

Google Analytics 4 vs Universal Analytics

At the time of writing, there are quite a few differences between Universal Analytics and Google Analytics 4:

• Custom channel groupings are not available anymore again in GA4.
• You cannot create additional non-aggregated default channel groupings in GA4.
• Your cannot edit the default channel grouping setup in GA4.
• Some of the channels and channel definitions have changed.

“Make sure to follow strict rules for campaign tracking if you want to use the default channel grouping in GA4.”

Let me explain about the different channels in GA4 vs Universal Analytics.

Direct

GA4 and Universal Analytics

Source exactly matches direct AND
Medium exactly matches (not set)
OR
Medium exactly matches (none)

Organic Search

GA4 and Universal Analytics

Medium exactly matches organic

Paid Social

Only available in GA4

Source matches regex ^(internal list of social sites)$ AND
Medium matches regex ^(cpc|ppc|paid)$

Note: I haven’t located this “internal list of social sites” yet, so please let me know if you have a complete list!

Organic Social

Only available in GA4

Source matches matches regex ^(internal list of social sites)$ OR
Medium matches regex ^(social|social-network|social-media|sm|social network|social media)

Universal Analytics

Channel “Social” with rules:

Social Source Referral exactly matches Yes OR
Medium matches regex ^(social|social-network|social-media|sm|social network|social media)$

Email

GA4 (a wider definition)

Medium = email|e-mail|e_mail|e mail OR
Source = email|e-mail|e_mail|e mail

Universal Analytics

Medium exactly matches email

Affiliates

GA4 (a wider definition)

Medium = affiliate|affiliates

Universal Analytics

Medium exactly matches affiliate

Referral

GA4 and Universal Analytics

Medium exactly matches referral

Paid Search

GA4 (a wider definition)

Medium matches regex ^(cpc|ppc|paidsearch)$ AND

Ad Network does not exactly match DISPLAY)

OR

Ad Network exactly matches PAID_SEARCH

Universal Analytics

Medium matches regex ^(cpc|ppc|paidsearch)$ AND
Ad Distribution Network does not exactly match Content

Video

Only available in GA4

Ad Network exactly matches VIDEO

Display

GA4

Ad Network exactly matches DISPLAY

Universal Analytics

Medium matches regex ^(display|cpm|banner)$ OR
Ad Distribution Network exactly matches Content

Last notes:

• “unassigned” is the value GA4 uses when there are no other channel rules that match the event data.
• “(other)” is the value GA4 uses for an aggregated row due to cardinality limits. // this value is used for unassigned traffic in Universal Analytics

Tip: read this guide on Regular Expressions as they are at the base of channel group definitions and many more features in Universal Analytics and GA4.

Exploration Reports

You can also explore default channel grouping data outside of the “regular” reporting interface in GA4.

There is an “Explore” area where you can build your own reports to explore the data.

Step 1: click on “Explore” after you’ve logged in on a GA4 property.

Step 2: start a new exploration.

Step 3: prepare the report by adding dimensions and metrics and changing report titles.

Step 4: drag and drop the dimensions and metrics in the report builder.

And there you go, the report is ready to be explored.

This is just a simplified example of what you can do through the “Explore” feature in GA4.

You have many different report types and customization options at your fingertips! This feature was previously (in Universal Analytics) only available for paying customers, but can now be accessed for free.

BigQuery

BigQuery can save you a lot of headaches (if you know how to work with it!).

The challenge with the default channel grouping is that you cannot modify the rules to have an impact on historical data.

In other words, if you got the campaign tagging wrong for the last three months, there is no way to fix it in Google Analytics 4.

Happily, BigQuery can be a great help here and basically you can set up the integration for free. You can mirror the default channel grouping definitons and/or create your own custom set of rules.

Knowledge of SQL and BigQuery are a gold mine here.

Tip: read this awesome article on creating custom channel groupings in Universal Analytics and replicate it in GA4.

Google Data Studio

Another challenge currently in GA4 is that a lot of metrics are still missing. For example, conversion rate statistics are not accessible through the default metrics (yet).

Here is a list of the only “rates” that are currently available in GA:

Session

• Engagement Rate // engagementRate
  • The percentage of engaged sessions (Engaged sessions divided by Sessions).

Ecommerce

• Item list click through rate // itemListClickThroughRate
  • The number of users who selected a list(s) divided by the number of users who viewed the same list(s).
• Item promotion click through rate // itemPromotionClickThroughRate
  • The number of users who selected a promotion(s) divided by the number of users who viewed the same promotion(s).

Google Data Studio let’s you calculate all sorts of additional metrics based on the metrics and dimensions that are available. Here is a good video demonstrating how to calculate conversion rate in Google Analytics 4.

You can use this strategy to enhance your default channel grouping insights with relative performance metrics like (Ecommerce) conversion rate.

Recommended resource:

• GA4 Dimensions & Metrics Explorer.

Concluding Thoughts

In Google Analytics 4 it is still possible to work with the default channel grouping. It requires a mindful approach to campaign tagging (which you should always have) to ensure that it fits the rules.

It seems like Google is putting primary attention on “source/medium” definitions while still making channel groupings available.

Leverage Google Analytics 4, BigQuery and Google Data Studio to get the most out of channels. And if you (and your team) have the knowledge of these tools and SQL, you can customize your channel data in any way you want!

This is it from my side. Happy to hear about your experience and tips on GA4 and channel groupings below.

One last thing... Make sure to get my automated Google Analytics 4 Audit Tool. It contains 30 key health checks on the GA4 Setup.

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