Content Grouping with Properties

Content grouping lets you categorize pages into logical groups for easier analysis. This can be done with properties or through the settings UI.

Two Approaches

1. Property-Based (This Page)

Set content group as a property in your tracking code:

_sm('pageview', {
  properties: {
    content_group: 'Products',
    content_subgroup: 'Electronics'
  }
});

Best for: Dynamic content, complex logic, developer control

2. Rule-Based (Settings)

Define rules in the Sealmetrics UI that automatically assign groups:

Rule: URL starts with /products/ → Group: Products
Rule: URL starts with /blog/ → Group: Blog

Best for: Simple patterns, non-technical users

See Settings-based Content Grouping →

Property-Based Content Grouping

Basic Implementation

// Determine content group based on page
function getContentGroup() {
  const path = window.location.pathname;

  if (path.startsWith('/products/')) return 'Products';
  if (path.startsWith('/blog/')) return 'Blog';
  if (path.startsWith('/help/')) return 'Support';
  if (path === '/') return 'Homepage';
  return 'Other';
}

// Send with pageview
_sm('pageview', {
  properties: {
    content_group: getContentGroup()
  }
});

Hierarchical Groups

Create multi-level grouping:

_sm('pageview', {
  properties: {
    content_group_1: 'Products',           // Level 1
    content_group_2: 'Electronics',        // Level 2
    content_group_3: 'Headphones'          // Level 3
  }
});

Analysis enabled:

Products
├── Electronics
│   ├── Headphones (1,234 views)
│   ├── Speakers (892 views)
│   └── Cameras (567 views)
├── Clothing
│   ├── Men (2,345 views)
│   └── Women (3,456 views)
└── Home (1,890 views)

From Data Layer

Read from existing data layer:

// If your site sets:
// dataLayer.push({ pageType: 'product', category: 'Electronics' });

_sm('pageview', {
  properties: {
    content_group: dataLayer.find(d => d.pageType)?.pageType || 'Other',
    content_category: dataLayer.find(d => d.category)?.category || 'Unknown'
  }
});

From Page Elements

Read from page structure:

_sm('pageview', {
  properties: {
    content_group: document.body.dataset.pageType || 'Unknown',
    content_category: document.querySelector('[data-category]')?.dataset.category || 'Unknown'
  }
});

Platform-Specific Examples

WordPress

// In your theme's functions.php or header.php
<script>
_sm('pageview', {
  properties: {
    content_group: '<?php
      if (is_front_page()) echo "Homepage";
      elseif (is_singular("post")) echo "Blog Post";
      elseif (is_singular("product")) echo "Product";
      elseif (is_category()) echo "Category Archive";
      elseif (is_search()) echo "Search Results";
      else echo "Other";
    ?>',
    content_category: '<?php
      $categories = get_the_category();
      echo !empty($categories) ? esc_js($categories[0]->name) : "Uncategorized";
    ?>'
  }
});
</script>

Shopify

<script>
_sm('pageview', {
  properties: {
    content_group: '{% if template == 'index' %}Homepage{% elsif template contains 'product' %}Product{% elsif template contains 'collection' %}Collection{% elsif template == 'cart' %}Cart{% elsif template contains 'page' %}Page{% else %}Other{% endif %}',
    {% if collection %}
    content_category: '{{ collection.title | escape }}',
    {% elsif product %}
    content_category: '{{ product.type | escape }}',
    {% endif %}
  }
});
</script>

React/Next.js

// In your layout or _app.js
import { useRouter } from 'next/router';
import { useEffect } from 'react';

function getContentGroup(pathname) {
  if (pathname === '/') return 'Homepage';
  if (pathname.startsWith('/products')) return 'Products';
  if (pathname.startsWith('/blog')) return 'Blog';
  if (pathname.startsWith('/docs')) return 'Documentation';
  return 'Other';
}

export default function App({ Component, pageProps }) {
  const router = useRouter();

  useEffect(() => {
    const handleRouteChange = (url) => {
      window._sm('pageview', {
        properties: {
          content_group: getContentGroup(url)
        }
      });
    };

    router.events.on('routeChangeComplete', handleRouteChange);
    return () => router.events.off('routeChangeComplete', handleRouteChange);
  }, [router]);

  return <Component {...pageProps} />;
}

Common Group Structures

E-commerce

const contentGroups = {
  '/': 'Homepage',
  '/products': 'Product Listing',
  '/products/[id]': 'Product Detail',
  '/cart': 'Cart',
  '/checkout': 'Checkout',
  '/order-confirmation': 'Order Confirmation',
  '/account': 'Account',
  '/blog': 'Blog',
  '/about': 'Company Info'
};

SaaS Marketing Site

const contentGroups = {
  '/': 'Homepage',
  '/features': 'Features',
  '/pricing': 'Pricing',
  '/customers': 'Social Proof',
  '/blog': 'Blog',
  '/docs': 'Documentation',
  '/login': 'Login',
  '/signup': 'Signup'
};

Media/Publishing

const contentGroups = {
  '/': 'Homepage',
  '/[year]/[month]/[slug]': 'Article',
  '/category/[name]': 'Category',
  '/author/[name]': 'Author',
  '/search': 'Search',
  '/subscribe': 'Subscription',
  '/video': 'Video Content'
};

Analyzing Content Groups

In Reports

Filter by content group:

Traffic Report
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Breakdown by: content_group

Content Group    Sessions    Pageviews    Avg. Time
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Products          12,345      45,678       2:34
Blog               8,901      23,456       4:12
Homepage           6,789       6,789       0:45
Support            3,456      12,345       3:21
Other              1,234       2,345       1:15

Conversion Analysis

See which content groups drive conversions:

Conversions by First Content Group Visited
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

First Visit         Conversions    Conv. Rate
─────────────────────────────────────────────
Blog Article             234          4.5%
Product Page             189          3.2%
Homepage                 156          2.1%
Landing Page             123          5.8%

Content Performance

Compare engagement across groups:

Content Group Performance
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Group          Bounce Rate    Pages/Session    Time
──────────────────────────────────────────────────
Blog              35%            2.3           4:12
Products          42%            3.8           3:45
Support           28%            4.1           5:30
Homepage          55%            1.8           0:45

Best Practices

Keep Groups Manageable

// Good: 5-10 main groups
content_group: 'Products' | 'Blog' | 'Support' | 'Account' | 'Other'

// Bad: Too many groups
content_group: 'Product-Electronics-Headphones-Sony-WH1000XM5'

Use Hierarchy for Detail

// Manageable top level
content_group: 'Products'

// Detail in subgroups
content_subgroup: 'Electronics'
content_category: 'Headphones'
content_brand: 'Sony'

Handle Edge Cases

function getContentGroup() {
  const path = window.location.pathname;

  // Handle known paths
  if (path === '/') return 'Homepage';
  if (path.startsWith('/products/')) return 'Products';

  // Handle 404s
  if (document.title.includes('404')) return '404 Error';

  // Catch-all
  return 'Other';
}

Consistent Naming

// Good: consistent format
'Products', 'Blog Posts', 'Support Articles'

// Bad: inconsistent
'products', 'Blog', 'SUPPORT'

Troubleshooting

Content Group Not Appearing

1. Check property is being sent (debug mode)
2. Verify property name matches expected
3. Wait for data processing (1-2 hours)
4. Check for JavaScript errors

Wrong Group Assigned

1. Check your logic handles all cases
2. Verify URL/data layer values
3. Check execution timing
4. Debug with console.log before sending

Mixed with Rule-Based Groups

If you use both:

• Code-based properties take precedence
• Rule-based fills in where code doesn't set
• Be consistent to avoid confusion