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. On screen: Group your connected GA4 and Search Console URLs into Category / Sub-category — pick one method below. Only one is active at a time, but switching back and forth never loses the others' work.

You can sort pages 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 at the top.

2. Open Regex Rules

   Click the Regex Rules tab. The page opens on the tab of the method that is active now.

3. Add a rule

   Fill in Category (e.g. Blog), Sub-category (optional) and Regex (e.g. ^/blog/). Category and Regex are required.

4. Check the matches

   Read Matches N of N URLs (last 90 days) and the sample URLs. Then click + Add rule. New rules go to the bottom of the list.

5. Order your rules

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

6. Make it active

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

Understanding the screen

Prism

Screenshot coming soon

Tabs and active method

The tabs are Regex Rules, Excel Upload, AI Agent 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. The other method keeps its rules or file, so you can switch back at any time.

The Branded Keywords tab is not a method. It is always in effect.

Regex Rules

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

• Rules are matched against the page path and query string, such as /blog/seo-tips/?page=2. The domain name is not part of it. Anchor links (#…) and UTM tags (utm_…) are removed first.
• Rules are case-insensitive.
• Each rule has Move up, Move down, Edit and Delete. While editing, use Save or Cancel.
• A broken pattern shows Invalid regular expression, and the + Add rule button stays greyed out.
• Two rules cannot use the same regex. Prism shows A rule with the same category, sub-category and regex already exists, or This regex is already used by "…" — a URL only ever matches the first rule that applies, so this new rule would never fire.
• With no rules you see No rules yet — add one above to start categorizing your URLs.

Rule conflicts

When URLs match more than one rule, and those rules give different categories, a banner says N URLs match more than one rule — the highest-priority rule wins, the rest are shadowed. Click the banner to see each URL. The winning rule is tagged (wins). The others are crossed out. "Shadowed" means the lower rule is ignored for those URLs.

Conflicts are checked only for Regex Rules, and only when you have two or more rules. They 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 — browse to write regex against real paths. The number next to each URL is its GA4 Google-organic sessions + Search Console clicks. The list shows up to 200 URLs at a time.

It has two modes:

• Search — find a URL with Search URLs….
• Regex tester — type a pattern in Test a regex (e.g. ^/blog/) 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 copy the pattern into the new rule form.

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. The file can be up to 10 MB.

Prism reads the first sheet only. Column names are not case-sensitive. Row order and extra columns don't matter.

• You can use full URLs or paths. Prism keeps only the path and query string, and removes anchor links and UTM tags.
• If the same URL is listed twice, the last row wins.
• The Format example panel shows the shape: Match this shape for headers — row order and any extra columns don't matter.

Choose a file, then click Upload (it shows Uploading…). 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 greyed out until a file exists (tooltip Upload a file first).
• Search uploaded URLs… finds a row by URL, category or sub-category. The list shows the first 200 matches, with N URLs mapped at the bottom.
• 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.
• Watch the SEO Health Score at the top. It updates after each change to your rules or file.

Common issues