Search Console Regex: Find Every Question People Search to Reach You
One filter in Google Search Console turns your query list into a list of the exact questions people type before they land on your site. Here is the pattern, the clicks to add it, and what to do with the list once you have it.
Question queries are the most useful rows in Search Console. They tell you what people want to know, in their own words, and they are exactly the shape of search that shows up inside AI answers. The problem is that they are buried among thousands of other queries. A regex filter pulls them out in one step.
The Regex
Copy this exactly. It keeps every query that starts with a question word followed by a space.
^(who|what|when|where|why|how|which|whose|is|are|was|were|am|do|does|did|can|could|should|would|will|has|have|may|if|isnt|isn't|arent|aren't|wont|won't|cant|can't|dont|don't|doesnt|doesn't)\sHow to Add It, Step by Step
You need a computer for this. The Search Console phone app does not have regex filters.
- Go to search.google.com/search-console and pick your property from the dropdown in the top left.
- In the left menu, click Performance, then Search results.
- Click the Date chip at the top and choose Last 16 months. That is the most history Search Console keeps, and more history means more questions.
- Click + Add filter in the same row as the Date chip, then choose Query.
- In the panel that opens, click the dropdown that says Queries containing and change it to Custom (regex).
- Leave the next dropdown on Matches regex.
- Paste the regex above into the box.
- Click Apply.
- Scroll down to the table, make sure the Queries tab is selected, and click the Impressions column header to sort. These are the questions people ask where Google already shows your site.
- Optional: switch on Average position in the cards at the top. Questions sitting between position 5 and 15 are your easiest wins, because you are already close.
To keep the list, click Export in the top right and choose Google Sheets or CSV. Search Console does not save filters, but the filter usually stays in the page address, so you can bookmark the page and check that the bookmark reopens with the filter applied.
What Each Part Does
| Part | What It Does |
|---|---|
^ | The query has to start here. Without it, "how" in the middle of a query would count too. |
( ... | ... ) | A list of options. The pipe | means "or", so the query can start with any one of the words. |
who|what|how ... | The question words. Add or remove words to suit your niche. |
isnt|isn't | Both spellings, because people rarely type the apostrophe on a phone. |
\s | A space after the word. This stops "how" matching "howard" and "is" matching "isthmus". |
Three More Patterns Worth Saving
Question words anywhere in the query. The main pattern only catches queries that start with a question word, so "seo cost how much" slips through. This one catches the word anywhere. It is noisier, so use it as a second pass.
\b(who|what|when|where|why|how|which|should|can)\bLong, conversational searches. Queries of seven words or more are usually written the way people talk to ChatGPT or Gemini. They show you how your audience phrases full problems, which is the language AI answers are built from.
^\S+(\s\S+){6,}$Buying intent. Searches that mention price, comparisons or reviews come from people close to a decision. These are the queries worth a dedicated page. No regex? The Search Console AI filter builds the same buyer filter from one plain sentence.
\b(price|pricing|cost|cheap|buy|best|vs|alternative|alternatives|review|reviews|near me)\bTo remove your own brand name from any of these, add a second Query filter, choose Custom (regex), switch the dropdown to Doesn't match regex and enter your brand name.
What to Do With the List
- Answer the question on the page that ranks. If a page already gets impressions for a question, add a short heading with that question and a direct two or three sentence answer underneath. This is the cheapest ranking gain in SEO.
- Group near-duplicates. "how much does an seo audit cost" and "what does an seo audit cost" are one question. Answer it once, well.
- Build an FAQ from the real phrasing. Use the searcher's words, not your internal jargon. That same phrasing is what gets pulled into AI answers.
- Write a new page only when no page fits. A question with impressions but no page that genuinely answers it is a content gap you can see, not a guess.
The Traps Worth Knowing
- Curly quotes break patterns. Notes apps and documents turn straight quotes and apostrophes into curly ones. Search Console treats them as literal characters, so "aren’t" with a curly apostrophe will not match what people type.
- Search Console uses RE2. Groups, the pipe,
\sand\ball work. Lookaheads and backreferences do not. - Patterns are case sensitive. Queries are almost always lowercase, so this rarely matters. Start the pattern with
(?i)if you want to be safe. - Rare queries are hidden. Search Console leaves out very low-volume searches for privacy, so this is the list of questions you can see, not every question that exists.
For more on reading Search Console, see our indexing verdicts cheat sheet and the monthly SEO report in 4 prompts.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I find question queries in Google Search Console?
Open Performance, then Search results. Click Add filter, choose Query, change the dropdown from Queries containing to Custom (regex), leave it on Matches regex, paste a pattern that starts with the question words (who, what, how, why and so on) and click Apply. The Queries table then only shows searches phrased as questions.
What regex syntax does Google Search Console use?
Search Console uses RE2, Google's regular expression syntax. Most everyday patterns work, including groups, the pipe for or, \s for a space and \b for a word boundary. Lookaheads and backreferences do not work. The pattern can be up to 4,096 characters long.
Is the Search Console regex filter case sensitive?
Yes. Queries are almost always stored in lowercase, so lowercase patterns catch nearly everything. If you want to be safe, start the pattern with (?i), which makes it ignore case.
Why does my regex show an error or match nothing?
The most common cause is curly quotes or curly apostrophes that came along when you copied the pattern from a notes app or a document. Search Console reads them as literal characters. Paste the pattern into a plain text box first, or retype the quotes and apostrophes by hand.
Will this show every question people ask about my site?
No. Search Console hides very rare queries to protect searchers' privacy, so part of the long tail never appears in the report. What you do see is still the most reliable list of questions you already get impressions for, which is the best place to start.