Google Rolls Out Regex Filters and Revamped Comparison Mode in Search Console

Google just rolled out regular expression (Regex) filters and a revamped comparison mode in Search Console performance reports.

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Google took to Twitter yesterday to announce they are introducing two improvements to Search Console that will make the Performance reports easier to analyze: regular expression (regex) filters and a revamped comparison mode. The official announcement was also posted in the Google Search Central Blog.

With these new improvements, site owners will now get more value from Performance reports and be able to dig even deeper into the Google Search organic traffic data. According to Google, users will be able to easily identify valuable insights about their sites’ performance data on Google. Let’s take a closer look at the new features.

Filters Now Support Regular Expressions

You are now able to capture more query data with regex filters. This becomes a new addition to the three existing but limited patterns to filter queries and page URLs. Below is an example of a more complex query using a regex filter provided by Google:

… let’s say your company is called ‘cats and dogs’ but is sometimes also abbreviated as ‘cats & dogs’ or even ‘c&d’. You can use a regex filter to capture all of your branded queries by defining the regex filter: cats and dogs|cats & dogs|c&d

As stated by Google, for the time being, queries and pages may not be available in the report due to storage limitations or to protect user privacy. If that is the case, you will see a reminder each time a relevant filter is applied.

Finally, if you want to learn more about regex filters, visit the help center page. If you need further practice with creating regex filters, try testing the tool.

Revamped Comparison Mode

Site owners can use the comparison mode to answer comparison-based questions. Until yesterday, if more than a single metric was selected, the table wouldn’t contain a comparison column. Going forward, the comparison mode will support cases where more than one metric is selected. People view results side-by-side. Look at the screenshot below:

With these Google Search Console updates, site owners will be able to get more useful reports.

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