diff --git a/sphinx/util/nodes.py b/sphinx/util/nodes.py
index 7e4dba01e..d3e735f6a 100644
--- a/sphinx/util/nodes.py
+++ b/sphinx/util/nodes.py
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 from __future__ import absolute_import
 
 import re
+from typing import Any
 
 from docutils import nodes
 from six import text_type
@@ -33,6 +34,57 @@ explicit_title_re = re.compile(r'^(.+?)\s*(?<!\x00)<(.*?)>$', re.DOTALL)
 caption_ref_re = explicit_title_re  # b/w compat alias
 
 
+class NodeMatcher(object):
+    """A helper class for Node.traverse().
+
+    It checks that given node is an instance of specified node-classes and it has
+    specified node-attributes.
+
+    For example, following example searches ``reference`` node having ``refdomain``
+    and ``reftype`` attributes::
+
+        matcher = NodeMatcher(nodes.reference, refdomain='std', reftype='citation')
+        doctree.traverse(matcher)
+        # => [<reference ...>, <reference ...>, ...]
+
+    A special value ``typing.Any`` matches any kind of node-attributes.  For example,
+    following example searches ``reference`` node having ``refdomain`` attributes::
+
+        from typing import Any
+        matcher = NodeMatcher(nodes.reference, refdomain=Any)
+        doctree.traverse(matcher)
+        # => [<reference ...>, <reference ...>, ...]
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, *classes, **attrs):
+        # type: (nodes.Node, Any) -> None
+        self.classes = classes
+        self.attrs = attrs
+
+    def match(self, node):
+        # type: (nodes.Node) -> bool
+        try:
+            if self.classes and not isinstance(node, self.classes):
+                return False
+
+            for key, value in self.attrs.items():
+                if key not in node:
+                    return False
+                elif value is Any:
+                    continue
+                elif node.get(key) != value:
+                    return False
+            else:
+                return True
+        except Exception:
+            # for non-Element nodes
+            return False
+
+    def __call__(self, node):
+        # type: (nodes.Node) -> bool
+        return self.match(node)
+
+
 def get_full_module_name(node):
     # type: (nodes.Node) -> str
     """
diff --git a/tests/test_util_nodes.py b/tests/test_util_nodes.py
index d20b4b892..2fab10c1c 100644
--- a/tests/test_util_nodes.py
+++ b/tests/test_util_nodes.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
     :license: BSD, see LICENSE for details.
 """
 from textwrap import dedent
+from typing import Any
 
 import pytest
 from docutils import frontend
@@ -17,7 +18,7 @@ from docutils.parsers import rst
 from docutils.utils import new_document
 
 from sphinx.transforms import ApplySourceWorkaround
-from sphinx.util.nodes import extract_messages, clean_astext
+from sphinx.util.nodes import NodeMatcher, extract_messages, clean_astext
 
 
 def _transform(doctree):
@@ -50,6 +51,38 @@ def assert_node_count(messages, node_type, expect_count):
         % (node_type, node_list, count, expect_count))
 
 
+def test_NodeMatcher():
+    doctree = nodes.document(None, None)
+    doctree += nodes.paragraph('', 'Hello')
+    doctree += nodes.paragraph('', 'Sphinx', block=1)
+    doctree += nodes.paragraph('', 'World', block=2)
+    doctree += nodes.literal_block('', 'blah blah blah', block=3)
+
+    # search by node class
+    matcher = NodeMatcher(nodes.paragraph)
+    assert len(doctree.traverse(matcher)) == 3
+
+    # search by multiple node classes
+    matcher = NodeMatcher(nodes.paragraph, nodes.literal_block)
+    assert len(doctree.traverse(matcher)) == 4
+
+    # search by node attribute
+    matcher = NodeMatcher(block=1)
+    assert len(doctree.traverse(matcher)) == 1
+
+    # search by node attribute (Any)
+    matcher = NodeMatcher(block=Any)
+    assert len(doctree.traverse(matcher)) == 3
+
+    # search by both class and attribute
+    matcher = NodeMatcher(nodes.paragraph, block=Any)
+    assert len(doctree.traverse(matcher)) == 2
+
+    # mismatched
+    matcher = NodeMatcher(nodes.title)
+    assert len(doctree.traverse(matcher)) == 0
+
+
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
     'rst,node_cls,count',
     [