Capture groups and Content Grouping

One of the methods you have for creating a Content Group is extraction, whereby you use a regular expression to identify the web pages/app screens you want to group together. In this case, you identify those pages by using regex capture groups, as illustrated in the examples below.

In this article:

Extract the first-level sub directories in a parent directory

Say, for example, you have a retail-clothing site, and want to create a Content Grouping called Men for the content in your men directory:

Name the Content Grouping Men.

Extract all the first-level sub directories as Content Groups with the following expression:

/men/(.*?)/

This kind of expression would extract content like:

  • /men/shirts/
  • /men/pants/
  • /men/shoes/

In this case, the new primary dimension available in your reports would be your Content GroupingMen, and when you choose that dimension, you would be able to see aggregated data for the Content Groups shirts, pants, and shoes. You could drill in to each of those to see data for individual pages.

Extract product categories

Say, for example, you have a consumer-electronics site, and want to create a Content Grouping called Products for the pages in your various product categories:

Name the Content Grouping Products.

Extract all the product catgegories as Content Groups with the following expression:

/products\?.*category=([^&]+)

This expression would extract content like:

  • /products?sort=price&category=memory
  • /products?sort=discount&category=printers
  • /products?sort=date&category=laptops

In this case, the new primary dimension available in your reports would be your Content GroupingProducts, and when you choose that dimension, you would be able to see aggregated data for the Content Groups memory, printers, and laptops. You could drill in to each of those to see data for individual pages.

Learn more about Content Grouping

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