Intro
Build a broad high-intent ecommerce segment in GSC so you can monitor the strongest purchase-adjacent demand in one view.
Use this regex to capture a broad mix of ecommerce high-intent modifiers in GSC when you want one practical late-funnel reporting segment.
The Regex
How This Regex Works (Explained Simply)
()
Parentheses group terms together so GSC treats them as one unit. That is what lets one regex cover several query variants in a single filter.
|
The pipe means OR. GSC will match any term on either side of the pipe, which is useful for variants, modifiers, or alternative phrases.
\b
Backslash-b marks a word boundary. It helps stop short terms from matching inside longer words in GSC queries.
GSC regex is case-insensitive by default, so capital letters do not need separate variants. GSC also uses partial matching by default, so the regex can match part of a longer query unless you anchor it with ^ or $.
What This Regex Does
- Matches a grouped set of direct purchase and promotion modifiers.
- Creates a broader late-stage segment than any one single modifier recipe.
- Helps you report on revenue-adjacent search demand quickly.
What it does not match
- best running shoes - Commercial interest is present, but none of the grouped high-intent modifiers appear.
- what are the best trainers - This is research-led rather than strongly purchase-led.
Edge Cases
- This broad grouped set can overlap with commercial and promotional modifiers by design.
- Use smaller subsegments if you need a more defensible definition of high intent.
Example Matches Table
| Query | Match | Why |
|---|---|---|
| buy protein powder online | Match | Contains buy, which is a direct high-intent modifier. |
| running shoes sale | Match | Sale is part of the grouped high-intent terms. |
| best running shoes | No | Commercial interest is present, but none of the grouped high-intent modifiers appear. |
| what are the best trainers | No | This is research-led rather than strongly purchase-led. |
How to Use This in Google Search Console
- Open Performance and go to Search results.
- Click Add filter and choose Query.
- Select Custom (regex).
- Paste the regex and click Apply.
When to Use This
- Create one late-funnel segment for ecommerce reporting.
- Compare high-intent demand against informational or commercial traffic.
- Prioritise landing-page work for the strongest revenue-adjacent queries.
Pro Tips
- This is deliberately broad, so use narrower buy, order, and ready-to-buy recipes when you need more precision.
- Compare branded and non-branded high-intent demand separately.
- Use page filters to see whether transactional pages absorb the right high-intent traffic.
- Review assisted-conversion pages as well as last-click pages when analysing the segment.
Variations
Include checkout phrasing
Adds another strong purchase-adjacent action without changing the overall segment logic.
Related Regex Recipes
Regex for Ready-to-Buy Queries
Use this regex to isolate explicit ready-to-buy language in GSC when users appear close to completing a transaction right away.
Regex for "Buy" Queries
Use this regex to capture queries that include the standalone word buy when you want the clearest direct-purchase intent signal in Search Console.
CTA
Manual regex checks in GSC are useful, but they do not scale well across properties, date ranges, and recurring reporting. Spicy Metrics turns repeat regex workflows into faster monitoring and clearer action.
See how Spicy Metrics scales this