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How to create a segmentation
How to create a segmentation

Create page groups (segments) and categorize pages according to any metrics you want.

Updated over 2 months ago

If you're reading this page, you've understood how segmenting pages into page groups will help you read your analyses and extract actionable conclusions from your data.

In Oncrawl, a segmentation is a series of page groups that should be examined together.

How to view the existing segmentations in your project

From any dashboard, click on the Manage segmentations button at the top right.

This takes to you the My segmentations page, where you'll see the list of all of your current segmentations.

You can modify any segmentation by clicking on its name of the segmentation, or manage it by clicking on the three dots at the end of the row.

This presents a list of actions:

  • Download JSON: download the JSON file for this segmentation

  • Duplicate the segmentation to create a copy

  • Delete the segmentation

You can open the segmentation in the editor by clicking on its name. This will allow you to modify its name, its description, and the page groups themselves that make up this segmentation..

Creating a new segmentation

To create a segmentation:

  • From any dashboard page, click on the Manage segmentations button at the top right.

  • Choose how you want to create a segmentation:

    • Use the template library of common and useful segmentations provided by Oncrawl. These templates automatically adjust to fit your data.

    • Generate a segmentation automatically, based on a metric that you choose.

    • Import a segmentation in JSON format that you saved from a different project.

    • Create a segmentation from scratch by manually defining individual page groups.

In all of these cases, you'll be able to edit and adjust your segmentation once it's created.

Using a template

Select Template to go to the template library.

Previewing and using a template

Click Use this template any available template that is not greyed out to preview how it fits your site's data.

The page groups in the segmentation will be automatically adjusted to your site. For example, the ranges of number of bot hits in the Bot hits template will be based on the actual data for your site.

Add the template to your segmentations by clicking on the Use this template button at the top right of the preview screen.

Generating a segmentation automatically

Choose Generate to automatically create a full segmentation (a set of page groups) based on a single metric or field.

  1. Choose the crawl you want to use to preview your segmentation. This should be a crawl that contains the metric you want to use.

  2. Choose the metric or field that you want to use. This will automatically list all of the possibilities for the metric you selected.

  3. You can then change the number of groups you would like to display for this field. Some metrics offer a limited number of groups and can not changed.

  4. Decide whether or not you want to include a group Other for any pages that don't fall into the page groups you're creating.

  5. Click Preview to view how the pages in the selected crawl would be distributed.

  6. Click Create.

This will take you to the segmentation editor for your new segmentation, where you can pick colors for each group or make any other changes to personalize the segmentation.

Importing a segmentation using a JSON file

This option allows you to use the JSON structure for a segmentation that you already have. You can upload a segmentation that you downloaded from another project or received from someone else.

  1. Choose the method you want to use:

    Upload file:
    Drag and drop a segmentation you have previously saved to your computer onto the upload zone, or click on the zone to open a standard upload window.
    Note: The file you upload must be in the format .json.

    Paste JSON:
    Paste the full text of the segmentation.

    Note: You might see a warning if you're using a segmentation that is not based on the URL itself. It's okay. We're just reminding you that if you segment your pages based on data that isn't available in a report, we'll hide the segmentation for that report.

  2. Click Create.

This will take you to the segmentation editior for your new segmentation, where you can make any modifications or personalizations you want.

Creating a segmentation manually (from scratch)

This option will create an empty segmentation for you to modify in order to set it up exactly the way you want it.

Start by clicking on the Create a group button at the bottom right. You'll then need to define the OQL filter that targets the pages you want to put in the group.

Continue creating groups and subgroups until you are satisfied with your segmentation.

Editing a segmentation

If you've just created the segmentation you want to modify it will already be selected, and its rules and list of URLs will show up on the right.

If you want to modify an existing segmentation, on the My segmentations page, click on the name of the segmentation you want to modify.

Understanding the segmentation editor

In the list of Groups on the left, you can:

  • Change the order in which page groups are displayed, or even change their hierarchy by dragging and dropping them on top of one another

  • Change the name, change the color, or delete a page group

  • See if there are any groups that contain pages that are also in other groups

The buttons at the top of the group list allow you to apply actions on all of the groups in the list, like creating the same sub-groups under each existing group, or changing all of the colors at once, or selecting multiple groups to delete at the same time.

At the bottom of the list of groups, you can enable or disable the group Other, which includes any pages you didn't assign to a specific group in this segmentation.

On the right-hand side of the screen, you can:

  • Create and modify the pages in a specific group

  • See how many pages are in a group, and whether or not some pages appear in multiple groups

Creating a page group

  1. Click on the + (New group) button at the top of the list of Groups and choose Add a group in the list to create a new group.

  2. Enter a name for the group of pages. For example, if you're creating groups based on how many incoming links the pages have, you might want to name your first group 0-50 Inlinks.

  3. Choose a color that will represent this group in certain Oncrawl charts.

  4. Click Apply.

Your new group appears in the Groups list on the left, and its information is automatically displayed on the right.

Changing the pages that are part of a page group

If you've just created a page group, you'll already be on the right page to set up the pages that will go into this group.

If you want to modify an existing page group, on the page for the segmentation that lists the page groups, click on the name of the group you want to modify.

In the top section on the right, you can use filters to set the pages that you want to include in (or exclude from!) this group.

  1. Select a metric in the first drop-down menu. Type part of the metric you're searching for to narrow down the options. For example, to create a group of pages with 0-50 incoming internal links, we'll click, type Inlink and select No. of inlinks. We're then asked to specify if we mean follow or nofollow inlinks.

  2. In the next drop-down menu, select the way you want to evaluate the metric. To create a group of pages with 0-50 inlinks, we'll select "between".

  3. In the final field, enter the criteria you want to use to evaluate the metric. To create a group of pages with 0-50 inlinks, we'll provide those values, 0 and 50.

  4. Click Refresh matching URLs to update the previews to the left and in the list of URLs below.

You can use multiple metrics at a time to define exactly the page set that you want.

Creating sub-groups

You can create page groups within page groups. There are two ways to do this action. You can either create subgroups within one group or create subgroups automatically from group level.

Creation automatically from group level:

Click on the icon + next to groups then on Add subgroups for each group

A pop-up window will open where you will have the possibility to either :

  • create automatically subgroups based on a field chosen in the list within each group already created.

  • create automatically subgroups based on existing segmentation

Creation from one group :

Click on the three dots beside an existing group to open the menu.

Choose Add subgroup to create a group within this group.

You can also use this method to automatically generate a group of subgroups based on a field. This allows you to create groups that are contextually appropriate to this specific top-level group.

The rules of the parent group will apply before the rules for the subgroup are evaluated.

This means that even if you create a group for pages with 100+ inlinks inside of your group 0-50 inlinks, it will remain empty. In the 0-50 inlinks group, there are no pages with 100+ inlinks.

Example of an empty subgroup:

Changing the order of groups

You can change the order your groups are displayed in by dragging them and dropping them in a new position in the list Groups.

If you drop them on top of another group, it will create a subgroup.

Checking pages in a page group

You might want to include pages in multiple groups -- or you might not. Both options are possible in Oncrawl

When pages are part of more than one group, Oncrawl shows a little icon next to the groups they are part of:

If you click on that group, you can see the list of pages that create an "overlap" between this group and other groups.

Switch to the Group overlaps tab of the list of pages to see the pages that are in this group and another group.

Group pages table

The other tabs of this table help you see pages that are in this group, or aren't in any group.

You can also add columns to the table to help you better understand the information provided.

Matching URLs
These are the URLs that are placed in the group, based on the filters set up above.

You can add columns and sort by any column in order to make sure that the URLs you want appear here, and that the URLs you don't want in this group don't show up in this list.

Uncategorized URLs
These are the URLs that do not appear in any page group in the current level of your segmentation. These pages are placed in the category "Other". You have the possibility to exclude or include them in your groups.

Group overlaps
These are the URLs that currently appear in more than one page group in your segmentation. A drop-down menu at the top of the list lets you filter this list by the groups that this one overlaps with.

If you have pages in the Group overlaps list, it means your page groups overlap one another, like in a Venn diagram, and that some pages are in two groups at once. If you want each page to be part of only one group in your segmentation, you should modify the rules for your page groups so that each page is listed in one and only one group.

Removing the "Other" group

At the bottom of the list of groups, you can enable or disable the group Other, which includes any pages you didn't assign to a specific group in this segmentation.

If you choose to include it, a group will be created in your segmentation for all of the pages that aren't part of any other group in the segmentation. You'll see this "Other" group on all graphs, just like you always have. New segmentations will continue to include an "Other" group by default.

  • If you choose to exclude it, you won't see it anywhere in the crawl reports. This may make it much easier to read some charts. Keep in mind that without an "Other" group, your segmentation's total pages may not represent all pages on your website.

You can change your mind at any point. Go back to the segmentation editor to switch the "Other" group on or off.

Selecting a series of groups in the list of page groups

Hold down the shift key and click to select a series of groups (including any sub-groups), instead of selecting them one by one.

Saving your segmentation

Don't forget to save your segmentation before you head off to use it in your analyses! If you navigate away from this page without saving, we'll remind you:

The save button is up at the top right of the segmentation page.

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