Regex for SEO: The marketer’s guide to using regular expressions in search optimization

Consider this regex guide your antidote. We’ll break down the common regex symbols, show you how to use them with practical agency examples, and explain why knowing a little regex goes a long way in search reporting.

What is regex?

Regex (short for regular expression) is basically a smarter way to run a text search. Instead of relying on one exact phrase and hoping for the best, you define a search pattern that catches variations, groups, and rules—all at once.

For example, if you want to analyze search queries about iced coffee, a normal filter only catches one exact match. A regex pattern can grab all the variations:

• iced coffee recipe

• how to make iced coffee

• iced coffee at home

What does regex look like?

At first glance, regex looks a bit like programming code—messy, confusing, and a bit complicated. But once the meta characters click, everything gets easier. You can run searches for hyper-specific patterns, filter data faster, and finally surface the patterns you’ve been trying to see.

Here’s a quick cheat rundown of the most common regex operators (symbols):

Common regex use cases for SEOs

Here are a few of the most helpful ways agencies use regex for SEO. We’ll walk through the big ones first, then list a few more you can keep in your back pocket.

Brand vs. non-brand queries

Brand searches show how many people went looking for your client directly. Non-brand searches tell you who found them through broader topics, product terms, and general SEO visibility. 

Showing this split helps your client understand where their traffic really comes from. Are people typing the brand because they already love it? Or are they showing up because your content ranked for a related search query?

Google Search Console now includes a built-in Branded/Non-branded filter in the Performance report that classifies queries automatically. But if you want more control (or if your client’s brand name has six spellings and a mystery hyphen), regex still gives you the cleanest way to define the exact variations you care about.

To exclude branded searches with regex, you’d use a pattern like:

Then, switch that to “matches regex” to see how branded traffic compares.

Long-tail keyword grouping

Long-tail queries are where real intent shows up. With regex, it’s easy to pull longer searches into structured groups, so you can see where your client is meeting user needs—and where content gaps are holding them back.

A quick pattern like this pulls the usual intent signals:

Commercial-intent signals

Clients love seeing where buyers show up in the data. Commercial-intent terms—best, vs, review, alternatives—are basically little flags saying “this person is close to choosing something.” Regex lets you grab all of those flags in one clean sweep with a simple pattern like:

Other helpful regex use cases

And if you want to go deeper, regex also makes it easier to:

• Pull question-based queries for informational-intent reporting and early-funnel insights.

• Filter keywords and search terms that normal filters miss—especially anything with a special character or odd formatting.

• Clean huge keyword exports in Google Search Console data.

• Create GA4 segments based on URL patterns, page paths, or events for cleaner behavior reporting.

• Exclude internal traffic, test pages, or staging URLs without rewriting ten separate filters.

• Group multiple related keywords in one pattern.

• Group performance by section—blog, resources, collections—so reporting stays consistent across dashboards.

• Review server log files during a technical SEO audit to spot crawling issues faster.

• Spot patterns in funnel drop-off or navigation behavior.

• Keep everything consistent across Search Console, Google Analytics, and dashboards with reusable regex patterns.

How to use regex in Google Search Console

Still confused? Totally normal. We’ll test regular expressions in Google Search Console together, step by step.

In the Performance report, Google Search Console only gives you two regex options—matches regex and doesn’t match regex—but that’s really all you need. Together, those two settings let you filter queries, pages, and URL patterns faster and more precisely than the standard filters ever will.

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Let’s say you want to pull every “how to” query without scrolling through your entire list. Since you’re looking for specific search queries, you’ll use the Query filter.

Step 1: Open Performance → Search results.

Step 2: Click + New and choose the filter you want (Query, Page, Country, or Device). For this example, you’ll choose Query.

Step 3: Under the filter options, select Custom (regex).

Step 4: Choose “matches regex” so you only see queries that fit your pattern.

Step 5: Add your regex pattern and hit Apply. For “how to” queries, use: (^how to).

Step 6: Once you hit Apply, Search Console will instantly filter your list, leaving you with only the queries that start with “how to.”

How to use regex in Google Analytics (GA4)

Google Analytics (GA4) doesn’t use the same “matches regex/doesn’t match regex” setup you see in Google Search Console, but it still supports regex when you’re filtering page paths, events, and user behavior. 

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Let’s say you want to pull every pageview that includes a specific product category, like “shoes,” “boots,” or “sandals”. Since you’re filtering on URL structure, you’ll use the Page path and screen class dimension.

Step 1: Open Explore → Free Form.

Step 2: Under Dimensions, add Page path and screen class (or the dimension you want to filter).

Step 3: Drag that dimension into the Filters section.

Step 4: Change the filter type to “matches regex”.

Step 5: Add your regex pattern. For category groupings like this, use: (shoes|boots|sandals).

Step 6: Hit Apply, and GA4 will instantly filter your table, leaving you with only the URLs that match your pattern.

Google Search Console regex examples for SEO professionals

Handling search engine optimization for a roster of clients can get overwhelming fast. Regex gives you a cleaner way to handle SEO analysis and SEO tracking, so you spend less time coaxing filters and more time actually finding answers. Here are just a few examples agencies use in Google Search Console.

Question-based queries (GSC)

• Use it for: Early-funnel insights, content ideas, and showing clients exactly what their audience is trying to figure out.

• Pattern:  ^(who|what|when|where|why|how)

• In plain English: “Show me all the searches that start with a question word.”

• Example: what’s the best Italian restaurant in Toronto

Commercial-intent queries (GSC)

• Use it for: SERP analysis, decision-stage behavior, and showing clients where they win (or lose) against competitors.

• Pattern: (best|vs|compare|comparison|review|reviews|alternatives)

• In plain English: “Show me searches from people comparing options.”

• Example: best email marketing platform

Long-tail queries (GSC)

• Use it for: Identifying longer, more specific search queries that usually have clearer intent and lower competition.  

• Pattern: .{20,}

• In plain English: “Show me search terms that are at least 20 characters long.”

• Example: how to choose email software for freelancers

Branded searches + typos (GSC)

• Use it for: Splitting branded vs. non-branded performance in SEO analysis and client reporting.

• Pattern: (brandname|brand name|brandnmae|brandname)

• In plain English: “Catch every version of the brand name—even the messy ones.”

• Example: shopify / shopfiy / shpofiy

Regex examples that work in both Google Search Console and GA4

Ecommerce product URLs

• Use it for: Product-level SEO analysis and category performance across markets.

• Pattern: ^/products/[a-z0-9-]+

• In plain English: “Show me URLs that start with /products/.”

• Example: /products/blue-linen-dress

Content sections/clusters

• Use it for: Reporting on content hubs without sorting through every individual URL.

• Pattern: ^[0-9]{3}.[0-9]{3}.[0-9]{3}.[0-9]{3}$

• In plain English: “Match anything that looks like an IP address.”

• Example: 123.456.789.000

Exclude image files

• Use it for: Cleaning up URL reports so you’re only looking at real pages—not image files that get picked up during crawls or migrations.

• Pattern: (jpg|jpeg|png|gif)$

• How to use it: Choose “doesn’t match regex” to remove these from your report.

• In plain English: “This matches any URL that ends with an image file type.”

• Example: /media/header-banner.png

Promo or discount-related searches

• Use it for: Understanding price-sensitive behavior, especially with ecommerce clients.

• Pattern: (coupon|promo|discount code)

• In plain English: “Find searches from people looking for deals.”

• Example: Nike promo code

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Best practices and pitfalls to avoid

Regex gives you a ton of control, but it’s not forgiving when something goes off script. Use these best practices to keep your filters clean and dodge the usual regex pitfalls before they sneak into your reporting.

Start simple

Complex expressions break easily and are harder for teams to maintain. Start with basic operators before layering on anything advanced.

Example: Instead of building a huge pattern for comparison queries, begin with a simple best|vs and expand only if you need more detail for SERP analysis.

Watch for overmatching

.* (zero or more characters) can grab far more than you meant to include.

Example: /shop.* might grab /shop, /shopping-cart, /shop-old, and /shopify-migration-notes. That’s way more than you want if you’re just trying to look at the actual shop section.

Escape special characters

Periods, brackets, and plus signs behave as meta characters in regex. Escape them with a backslash when you need the literal version.

Example: Trying to match example.com as-is? Add the backslash so the period isn’t read as “any character”: example\.com 

Know what each tool supports

Google Search Console uses RE2, which keeps things fast but strips out some of the advanced regex tricks you might see online. GA4 is a little more flexible, but it’s still not full programming language territory. So if a pattern should work but doesn’t, it’s usually because of RE2’s limits.

Test patterns before running them at scale

A broken pattern can distort entire datasets. Test on a small sample before applying anything to your full SEO analytics or global SEO performance reports. It’s a lot easier to fix one filter than untangle a whole dashboard.

Keep a shared regex library

A shared library keeps your team consistent across clients and stops everyone from reinventing the wheel—handy when you’re juggling a mix of SEO analytics tools and don’t have time to rebuild the same filter five times. 

Review regex filters regularly

Site structures and naming conventions change as clients update content. Build in a monthly or quarterly check-in, so nothing slips through the cracks.

Check exclusions carefully

Negative pattern matches can hide important queries if the pattern is too aggressive. For instance, if you exclude “menu” to filter out noise, you’ll also drop searches like vegan brunch menu Toronto. That’s a high-intent query—losing it means missing what real customers are looking for.

Group patterns by use case

Organize your regex patterns into buckets—branded, commercial, local, support, URL structure, audit-related. It makes life easier when you’re hopping between clients and stops you from rebuilding the same regex patterns over and over. Plus, your team will love you for the consistency.

Pair regex with broader SEO analysis

Regex tells you what you’re looking at. It doesn’t tell you why it matters. Combine it with SERP analysis and UX and SEO insights to understand what’s happening on the results page, how users interact with your content, and where performance is getting held back.

Final thoughts

If you’re learning regex for the first time, give yourself some grace. It’s basically like picking up a new language—it takes time, practice, and a ton of patience. But once it clicks? You’ll have far more productive conversations with Google Analytics and GA4.

And when it’s time to translate all that progress into client speak? AgencyAnalytics SEO reporting for clients keeps things simple. One platform, one language, all the results that matter. Get started for free and turn your new regex vocabulary into reporting your clients can actually follow.