Uncover Hidden Content Ideas in Google Search Console with a Simple Regex Filter

Google Search Console is a treasure trove of content ideas, and all you need to unlock it is a simple regex filter. Most businesses start their content calendars with brainstorming sessions or keyword tools, but this approach can lead to generic and unengaging content. By using the Performance report in Google Search Console, you can tap into the questions that real people are typing into Google before they find your site.

The trick is to use a regular expression (regex) filter to narrow down the list of queries to only those phrased as questions. This will give you a list of questions that have already connected with your audience, and often these questions are the ones that people struggle to find answers for. By answering these questions on your site, you can improve engagement, reduce bounce rates, and increase conversions.

To set up the question filter in Google Search Console, simply add a new filter to the Queries report using the Custom (regex) option. Then, paste the following regex pattern: ^(?:who|what|when|where|why|how|which|can|could|should|would|will|is|are|am|do|does|did|was|were|has|have|may|might)

This will give you a list of questions that start with one of the question words listed in brackets. From there, it's simply a matter of sorting by impressions and looking for questions that have high impression counts but low click-through rates (CTRs). These are often the most valuable questions to answer on your site.