Google Search Console (GSC) has valuable data about how people find your website, but looking through thousands of search queries manually takes too much time. Using regex (regular expression) patterns, you can quickly filter your search data by what users are looking for, helping you find opportunities to improve existing content or create new pages.
This guide shows you how to use regex filters in GSC to organise your search queries by intent type, so you can make better decisions about your content strategy. Understanding search intent is crucial for modern SEO, as it helps you create content that matches what users actually want.
Search Intent Categories with Regex Patterns
Each category below explains what the search intent means and gives you the regex pattern to use in Google Search Console.
1. Informational Intent
People looking for knowledge, instructions, or explanations. They want guides, tutorials, definitions, and how-to content.
\b(how to|guide|tutorial|step by step|tips|tricks|ways to|best way to|learn|help|explain|understand|instruction|methods|examples|meaning of|definition)\b
2. Comparison Intent
People comparing multiple options before deciding. They’re looking at different products, services, or features.
\b(best|vs|versus|compare|comparison|alternative|alternatives|better|cheaper|worse|cheapest|highest|lowest|top|difference|differences|differences between)\b
3. Commercial Investigation
People researching products or services, checking features, reviews, and details. They’re close to buying but need more information.
\b(price|cost|buy|purchase|available|best|quality|brand|reviews|ratings|features|specifications|order|discount|warranty|deal|shop|store|version|options|model|type|compare)\b
4. Transactional Intent
People ready to take action, like buying, signing up, or finding a location. These searches convert well.
\b(buy|purchase|price|cost|cheap|discount|deal|coupon|order|shop|store|near me|online|sale|best price|affordable|available|in stock)\b
5. Navigational Intent
People looking for specific brands, companies, or websites, including support pages and login portals.
\b(review|reviews|rating|ratings|customer service|support|warranty|return policy|refund|complaint|feedback|scam|legit|trustworthy|experience|testimonial|problems|issues)\b
6. SaaS/Tool-Specific Queries
Searches for software, tools, and platforms. Important for B2B and SaaS websites.
\b(?:tool|software|app|system|platform|application|program|solution|portal|suite|service)s?\b
Note: These regex patterns come from industry practitioners. Test them with your GSC data to ensure they capture the queries you want, as some patterns have overlapping terms.
How to Apply Regex Filters in Google Search Console
Google officially added regex filtering support to Search Console in 2021, making it easier to analyse search data without exporting datasets. Here’s how to use it:
Step 1: Log in to your GSC account and select your website.
Step 2: Click “Performance” in the left menu. This shows your search data, including impressions, clicks, CTR, and position.
Step 3: Click “+ New” at the top, select “Query” from the dropdown, then change the filter type to “Custom (regex)”.
Step 4: Copy one of the regex patterns above and paste it into the filter field. Click “Apply”.
Step 5: GSC now shows only queries matching your pattern. Look at impressions, clicks, average position, CTR, and individual queries.
Step 6: Export the filtered data for each intent type to see which types drive the most traffic, where you have opportunities, and what content gaps exist.
How to Use This Data for Your SEO Strategy
Content Gap Analysis: If you rank on page 2-3 for informational queries, create guides or tutorials for those topics.
Conversion Optimisation: For transactional queries with high impressions but low clicks, improve your titles and descriptions to be more compelling.
Comparison Content: If comparison queries show high volume, create detailed comparison pages or “vs” content.
Product Page Updates: Commercial investigation queries show what product information users want. Update your pages with those features and details.
SaaS Content Strategy: For B2B/SaaS sites, tool queries reveal what software categories you should write about or what features to highlight.
Intent-Based Content Funnel: Map each intent type to your content funnel stages: Informational → Top of funnel (awareness) | Comparison → Middle of funnel (consideration) | Commercial Investigation → Middle to bottom | Transactional → Bottom of funnel (decision) | Navigational → Retention and support.
Best Practices and Tips
Combine Filters: Use multiple filters together. For example, filter by informational intent AND queries with position 11-20 to find quick wins.
Date Range Comparison: Use GSC’s date comparison to see how performance for each intent type changes over time.
Export Regularly: Export your filtered query data monthly to track trends and patterns.
Cross-reference with Analytics: Match your GSC intent data with Google Analytics conversion data to see which intent types bring the most valuable traffic. If you’re tracking paid campaigns, you can also import cost data from Meta Ads to Google Analytics 4 for a complete picture of your marketing performance.
Watch for Overlap: Some queries match multiple regex patterns (like “best price” matching both comparison and transactional). Consider the context when analysing these.
Find Long-Tail Opportunities: Beyond intent-based filtering, you can also find extreme long-tail keywords in Google Search Console to uncover niche content opportunities with 10+ word queries.
Conclusion
Using regex filters in Google Search Console turns overwhelming query data into useful insights. By organising your search queries by intent, you can identify content gaps, prioritise pages for optimisation, align content with user journey stages, and make better decisions about what content to create next.
Start with one regex pattern today, check the results, and use what you learn to improve your content strategy. The queries are already there—you just need to find them.
