GA4 doesn’t show you content groups by default. You have to build them. Universal Analytics had native content grouping in the admin interface. GA4 removed that—now you must send the content_group parameter via GTM with each pageview event (Google Analytics Help, 2025). Most WooCommerce stores never set this up, which is why store owners scroll through hundreds of individual URLs instead of seeing aggregated performance by page type.

The question isn’t whether content grouping is useful. It’s whether you want to keep guessing which content types drive conversions—or finally have the data to know.

What Content Grouping Actually Does

Content grouping aggregates your pages into logical categories so you can analyze performance at the category level instead of URL by URL.

Without content groups, your GA4 Pages and Screens report shows:

• /product/blue-widget/
• /product/red-widget/
• /blog/how-to-choose-widgets/
• /product-category/widgets/
• /blog/widget-care-guide/

With content groups, you see:

• Products: Combined metrics for all product pages
• Blog: Combined metrics for all blog posts
• Category Pages: Combined metrics for all taxonomy archives

Content groups let you answer questions like: Do blog posts convert better than product pages? Which product category drives the most engagement? Is your landing page content worth the investment?

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Why GA4 Makes This Harder Than It Should Be

Universal Analytics let you define content groups in the admin interface using simple URL rules. GA4 removed that capability entirely.

In GA4, content grouping requires sending the content_group parameter with every page_view event. This means GTM configuration—either using RegEx patterns to match URLs or pushing values from your data layer.

GA4 allows only one content_group parameter by default (Optizent, 2023). If you need multiple groupings—say, page type AND specific category—you need custom dimensions.

Content group data takes 24-48 hours to appear in GA4 reports after implementation (Google Analytics documentation, 2025). You can verify events fire correctly in DebugView, but the aggregated data needs processing time.

Setting Up Content Groups for WooCommerce

WooCommerce stores have a specific challenge: product categories use the product_cat taxonomy while blog categories use the standard category taxonomy. You need to handle both.

Method 1: RegEx Table Variable in GTM

The simplest approach matches URL patterns to assign content group values:

• /product/* → Products
• /product-category/* → Category Pages
• /blog/* or /category/* → Blog
• /cart/* → Checkout
• /my-account/* → Account

In GTM, create a RegEx Table variable that reads the Page Path and outputs the appropriate content group value. Then add this variable as the content_group parameter in your GA4 Configuration tag.

Method 2: Data Layer Approach

For more granular control, push content group values from WordPress directly into the data layer. WordPress category taxonomy can drive content groups automatically—your theme or a custom function outputs the current category or page type into dataLayer, which GTM reads and sends to GA4.

This method works better when you need specific WooCommerce product category names (using product_cat taxonomy) as content group values rather than just “Products” as a generic label.

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Where Content Groups Appear in GA4

Once implemented, content groups appear in the Pages and Screens report. Click the dimension dropdown (where it shows “Page path and screen class” by default) and select “Content group” to see your aggregated data.

You can also:

• Add content group as a secondary dimension to any report
• Create explorations filtered by content group
• Build audiences based on content group engagement
• Export to BigQuery for custom analysis in Looker Studio

The real power comes from comparing content groups: conversion rate by content type, engagement time by page category, revenue attributed to blog content versus product pages.

Making Content Strategy Decisions from Data

Content grouping transforms how you think about site performance. Instead of asking “which pages get the most traffic,” you can ask “which content types drive conversions.”

For WooCommerce stores, this answers critical questions:

• Is blog content converting? Compare blog content group conversion rate against product pages.
• Which product categories perform best? If you use category-level grouping, identify which product lines drive engagement.
• Are landing pages worth the investment? Group landing pages separately and measure their conversion contribution.

Server-side tracking ensures the conversion data feeding these content group comparisons is complete. Transmute Engine™ captures events through a first-party Node.js server running on your subdomain—bypassing ad blockers that would otherwise hide conversions from your content performance analysis.

Key Takeaways

• GA4 has no native content grouping UI. You must send the content_group parameter via GTM with each pageview.
• URL pattern matching works for basic grouping. Use GTM’s RegEx Table variable to assign groups based on page paths.
• WooCommerce needs dual taxonomy handling. Product categories (product_cat) and blog categories are separate taxonomies requiring different logic.
• Data appears in 24-48 hours. Use DebugView for real-time verification, but reports need processing time.
• Content groups enable strategy decisions. Compare conversion rates across content types instead of guessing what works.

Ready to track content performance with complete conversion data? See how Seresa’s first-party tracking captures what GA4 misses.