10 Google Sheets Formulas Every SEO Should Master.

Introduction

As a search engine optimization (SEO) professional, one of the main tools you must master is Google Sheets. It is the go-to spreadsheet tool for digital marketers and is essential for managing, analyzing and optimizing your SEO campaign. Google Sheets is a powerful tool and provides a range of features to help you work faster and more efficiently. One of the key aspects of Google Sheets is its range of functions, or formulas. The Google Sheets formulas allow you to analyze and manipulate data quickly, helping you easily draw insights from your data.

In this blog post, we will explore 10 of the most useful Google Sheets formulas every SEO professional should know. These formulas will help you extract actionable insights from your data and ultimately help you optimize your SEO efforts. Let’s jump in!

1. COUNTIF / COUNTIFS

The COUNTIF and COUNTIFS functions are essential to analyzing data within Google Sheets. COUNTIF (single condition) and COUNTIFS (multiple conditions) both count the number of instances where a given condition is met. For example, you might count how many people engaged with your content over the last month.

The first parameter for COUNTIF is the range of cells you want to count, followed by the condition. For COUNTIFS, you simply list each condition separated by a comma. For example:
COUNTIF(A:A,”positive”) – Counts how many cells in column A contain the word “positive”
COUNTIFS(A:A,”positive”, B:B, “John”) – Counts how many cells in column A contain the word “positive” and how many cells in column B contain the word “John”

2. SUMIF / SUMIFS

Similar to the COUNTIF and COUNTIFS functions, the SUMIF and SUMIFS formulas help you analyze data quickly by summing an area of cells based on a condition. SUMIF takes two parameters – the range of cells to sum and the condition – while SUMIFS takes multiple conditions, separated by commas.

For example:

SUMIF(D:D, “Page A”, E:E) – Sums the values in column E for all rows where “Page A” is found in column D
SUMIFS(F:F, B:B, “John”, D:D, “positive”) – Sums the values in column F for all rows where “John” is found in column B and “positive” is found in column D

3. AVERAGEIF / AVERAGEIFS

The AVERAGEIF and AVERAGEIFS functions help you analyze data quickly by calculating the average of an area of cells based on a condition. AVERAGEIF takes two parameters – the range of cells to average and the condition – while AVERAGEIFS takes multiple conditions, separated by commas.

For example:
AVERAGEIF(B:B, “Page A”, E:E) – Averages the values in column E for all rows where “Page A” is found in column B
AVERAGEIFS(F:F, B:B, “John”, D:D, “positive”) – Averages the values in column F for all rows where “John” is found in column B and “positive” is found in column D

4. IMPORTXML

IMPORTXML is an advanced function that allows you to import data from external sources. The function takes two parameters – the URL of the source and an XPath query. The syntax looks like this: IMPORTXML(url, xpath_query).

This makes it a powerful tool for quickly collecting data from web pages, HTML tables or XML documents. For example, you could use this function to quickly scrape meta data from a competitor website. Here’s an example of an XPath query that will return the page title: IMPORTXML(url, “//title”).

5. IMPORTHTML

The IMPORTHTML function is a sister function to IMPORTXML and can be used to import data from web pages in HTML tables or lists. The function takes three parameters – the URL of the source, the type of data to import (table or list), and the index of the table or list.

For example, you could use this function to quickly collect the top 10 search results for a keyword from Google. Here’s an example of an XPath query that will return the first 10 Google results for a keyword: IMPORTHTML(url,”table”,1).

6. QUERY

The QUERY function is an incredibly powerful and versatile Google Sheets formula. It allows you to extract data from an entire dataset quickly by writing an SQL-like query.

QUERY takes two parameters – an array of data and an expression – and returns an array of data based on the expression. This might sound complicated but the syntax is actually quite simple. You can start by writing a SELECT statement, followed by one or more WHERE clauses.

For example, here’s an example of a query that will return all rows where the value in column B is “John”:
QUERY(A:E, “SELECT * WHERE B = ‘John’”).

7. VLOOKUP

The VLOOKUP function is a great way to quickly look up and return a value from another sheet in Google Sheets. It takes four parameters – the search key, the range of cells to search, the column to return, and an optional boolean argument to indicate whether to find an exact match or an approximate match.

For example, you might use VLOOKUP to look up the page title for a given page ID. Here’s an example of a query that will return the page title for a page with an ID of 1234: VLOOKUP(1234,A:B,2,FALSE).

8. FILTER

The FILTER function is an advanced formula that allows you to quickly filter data to create a subset of data based on your criteria. It has two parameters – an array of data and an expression. The syntax is quite similar to the QUERY function, but is more concise and works faster for large datasets.

For example, here’s an example of a query that will return all rows where the value in column B is “John”: FILTER(A:E,B:B = “John”).

9. SPLIT

The SPLIT function allows you to quickly extract parts of a string (or text) and create a new column. It takes two parameters – the string to split and the character to split the string on. For example, let’s say you have a column of names and you need to extract the first name and the last name and put them in two separate columns. Here’s an example of how to do this with the SPLIT function: SPLIT(name, ” “).

10. CONCATENATE

Finally, the CONCATENATE function allows you to quickly combine multiple pieces of data into one string. It takes one or more parameters – the strings to combine – and returns one string. For example, let’s say you have a column of first names and another column of last names. Here’s an example of how to combine them into one column with the CONCATENATE function: CONCATENATE(first_name, ” “, last_name).

Conclusion

Google Sheets is a powerful tool and its range of formulas make it even more powerful. The functions highlighted in this blog post are just some of the many useful Google Sheets formulas that SEO professionals need to know. From the COUNTIF and SUMIF functions for quick data analysis to the SPLIT and CONCATENATE functions for manipulating strings, these formulas will help you easily extract insights from your data and improve your SEO efforts.

Overall, mastering Google Sheets is an essential skill for any SEO professional. With the formulas highlighted in this post, you will be well on your way to optimizing your campaigns like a pro!