Intro
Track shop modifiers in GSC so you can isolate browsing-led ecommerce demand from other transactional terms.
Use this regex to capture searches that include shop when users are explicitly looking for a place to browse or purchase products.
The Regex
How This Regex Works (Explained Simply)
\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 the standalone word shop in a query.
- Separates browse-to-buy demand from broader commercial research.
- Works well for ecommerce and retail-oriented reporting.
What it does not match
- online shoe store - Store is not included unless you use the variation.
- best trainers for running - No shop modifier appears.
Edge Cases
- Shop is narrower than shopping, so add that variant only if you need it.
- The unanchored pattern matches shop anywhere in the query.
Example Matches Table
| Query | Match | Why |
|---|---|---|
| shop men's trainers | Match | Contains the standalone word shop. |
| shop coffee beans online | Match | Shop appears directly in the query. |
| online shoe store | No | Store is not included unless you use the variation. |
| best trainers for running | No | No shop modifier appears. |
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
- Measure browsing-led transactional demand.
- Compare shop modifiers against buy and order modifiers.
- Check whether collection and category pages capture shop intent.
Pro Tips
- Add store if that wording is common in your market.
- Shop queries often map better to category pages than product pages.
- Compare click-through rates against buy queries because the intent is slightly softer.
- Use this alongside local shop terms only if you want blended retail intent.
Variations
Include store queries
Broadens the browsing segment to another common retail noun.
Related Regex Recipes
Regex for Category Queries
Use this regex to isolate category-style queries in GSC when users browse a broader product group rather than a single item.
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
Regex is powerful in GSC, but manual filtering still leaves you exporting, comparing, and rebuilding the same views. Spicy Metrics turns those segments into reporting your team can reuse.
Turn regex into repeatable reporting