Category Builder

What is it?

The Category Builder is where you sort your website's pages into categories, such as Blog or Products. Advanced Analytics then reports by category. You can do this in two ways:

• Regex Rules — patterns that match URLs. A regex is a short text pattern. For example, ^/blog/ matches every URL that starts with /blog/.
• Excel Upload — a file that lists each URL and its category.

The page also shows your SEO Health Score and has a Branded Keywords tab, covered in Branded keywords.

Why use it?

Without categories, every URL is grouped as Uncategorized. With them, you can see which part of your site grows, which declines and which converts.

Before you start

Connect GA4 or Search Console. The URL lists come from those sources for the last 90 days.

How to use it

1. Open the Category Builder

   In Advanced Analytics, click Settings. To go back, click the Advanced Analytics link.

2. Open Regex Rules

   Click the Regex Rules tab.

3. Add a rule

   Click + Add rule. Fill in Category (e.g. Blog), Sub-category (optional) and Regex (e.g. ^/blog/).

4. Check the matches

   Read Matches N of N URLs (last 90 days) and the sample URLs. Then click Save.

5. Order your rules

   Move specific rules above general ones with the move up and move down buttons.

6. Make it active

   If the tab shows Use this method, click it. The tab then shows Active method.

Understanding the screen

Prism

Screenshot coming soon

Tabs and active method

The tabs are Regex Rules, Excel Upload and Branded Keywords. A green dot marks the method in use (tooltip Currently active method). Only one of Regex Rules and Excel Upload is active at a time.

Regex Rules

The Rules panel says: Checked top to bottom. A URL is assigned to the first rule it matches.

• Each rule has move up, move down, Edit and Delete. While editing, use Save or Cancel.
• Rules are case-insensitive.
• A broken pattern shows Invalid regular expression.

Rule conflicts

When URLs match more than one rule, a banner says N URLs match more than one rule — the highest-priority rule wins, the rest are shadowed. The winning rule is tagged (wins). "Shadowed" means the lower rule is ignored for those URLs. Conflicts lower your SEO Health Score and the Data reliability score in URL Breakdown.

URL browser

The URLs panel lists URLs From connected GA4 + Search Console, last 90 days… It has two modes:

• Search — find a URL.
• Regex tester — type a pattern to see Matches N of N URLs. Before you type, it says Type a pattern to test it against every loaded URL. Click Use in new rule → to turn the pattern into a rule.

Excel Upload

Upload a Category mapping — An exact URL → Category mapping — no regex needed. Re-uploading replaces the whole mapping.

On screen: Expected columns: Landing page + query string, Category, Subcategory (optional). Accepts .xlsx, .xls or .csv.

Prism reads the first sheet only. Column names are not case-sensitive:

After upload you see Imported N rows (N duplicate URLs collapsed) — N rows skipped (missing URL or Category). View uploaded file.

Every uploaded file is archived for reference. Re-uploading fully replaces the previous mapping — it never merges.

Other controls:

• Use this method is disabled until a file exists (tooltip Upload a file first).
• Search uploaded URLs… finds a row.
• Clear all asks Clear the uploaded mapping? This removes every uploaded Category/Sub-category row for this project.

Example

For example, you add two rules: Blog with ^/blog/, then Guides with ^/blog/guides/. The URL /blog/guides/seo/ matches both. Blog is higher, so it wins and Guides is shadowed. Move Guides above Blog to fix it.

Tips

• Put specific rules above general ones.
• Test each pattern in Regex tester before you save it.
• Keep a master copy of your Excel file. Each upload replaces everything.

Common issues