There is a lot of power hidden under the hood of Google Spreadsheets to make you more efficient in everyday tasks as an SEO. I will share a few simple tips that I have picked up over the years as well as some useful tools that I have developed in Google Spreadsheets. If you are a die-hard Excel user, hear me out.

1. 12 Things You Probably Don’t
Know About Google Spreadsheets
JR Oakes

2. I personally think that every SEO should know how to code.
The internet is built in different dialects of code and it puts you at
a severe disadvantage not to know the languages at some level.
Google Apps is backed with javascript (which is quickly
becoming a stronger server-side and client-side language). If
you are going to learn something that is the place to start.
http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-Good-Parts-Douglas-Crockford/dp/0596517742
Disclaimer

3. About Me
● I am the Director of Search Marketing
at Consultwebs
● I GET to work with some really smart
people.
● I was an Architectural Glass Designer
for 10 Years
● I ushered in the WordPress
conversion at Consultwebs (ie. I know
a lot about WordPress)
● I am a father, a christian, and a die-
hard NC State fan.

4. Let’s Get Started

5. #1 Script Editor
Example 1

6. #1 Script Editor
You don’t have to be a developer to click this
button.

7. #1 Script Editor
The Script Editor is
just a big container for
javascript functions
that are made
available to your
spreadsheet.
(This is oversimplified, but is a useful
start for those not familiar.)

8. #1 Script Editor
You can find a
function for almost
ANYTHING already
coded in javascript
somewhere on the
internet.

9. #1 Script Editor
Look Familiar?

10. #1 Script Editor
I did have to
code this part,
but in many
cases, you can
find a complete
function or
library.

11. #1 Script Editor
In the example from
stackoverflow.com,
the poster was kind
enough to give usage
tips. This means,
that as long as I know
the basics of a
javascript function,
the heavy lifting has
already been done.

12. #1 Script Editor
It Works

13. #2 UNIQUE
Example 1

14. #2 UNIQUE
I want to find all the unique domains pointing to
my site from a list of URLs
PS: Excel doesn’t have a unique function.

15. #2 UNIQUE
From the previous
example, I am
using the
getDomain()
function to turn a
column of urls into
a column of
domains.

16. #2 UNIQUE
From there, I just
use the built-in
UNIQUE(range)
function to get all
the unique
domains.

17. #2 UNIQUE
Which can prove to
be useful for
certain SEO
functions.

18. #3 Scrape Similar
http://bit.ly/scrape-similar

19. Lets say you want to
get the emails of
writers that have
written on a particular
subject in the last
month.
#3 Scrape Similar

20. There is a wonderful add-on
for Google Chrome called
Scraper (I will always know
it as Scrape Similar)
http://bit.ly/scrape-similar
#3 Scrape Similar

21. Scrape Similar will
copy the XPATH
selector of what you
right-clicked on, and
will pull all the
matching elements
from the page. In this
case, Google result
urls. Notice the
Export to Google
Docs button in the
bottom corner.
#3 Scrape Similar

22. In a few clicks, you
have a nice neat list
of URLs to start
working on in Google
Sheets.
#3 Scrape Similar

23. #4 OnEdit Functions
Example 2

24. OnEdit functions are really
cool, because it allows for:
● time stamps
● verifying input
● alerting (email when a
sheet is changed)
● etc...
#4 OnEdit Functions

25. There is a scratchpad on the
example spreadsheet where you
can play around with how this
works.
The two things done when a cell is
edited are:
● The cell is appended with a
User and Timestamp
comment.
● The cell will turn red if over
70 characters.
#4 OnEdit Functions

26. #5 UrlFetchApp.fetch
Example 3

27. #5 UrlFetchApp.fetch
When you build a new site, you have to ensure consistency with navigation.

28. #5 UrlFetchApp.fetch
The Old URLs

29. #5 UrlFetchApp.fetch
The new page paths

30. #5 UrlFetchApp.fetch
All of your new urls on the development site. How do you make sure what you
planned and what is there are the same?

31. A script can use the URL
Fetch service to issue HTTP
and HTTPS requests and
receive responses.
These few lines of javascript
will allow you to check the
status of any page passed to
it. (404, 200, 301, etc)
#5 UrlFetchApp.fetch

32. #5 UrlFetchApp.fetch
This simple script makes sure that all of your development site URLs are
PERFECT.

33. #5 UrlFetchApp.fetch
Once they are perfect. You can easily create a cell calculation that spits out
your 301 redirects.

34. #6 ImportXML
On Page Checker (XPath Examples)

35. #6 ImportXML
Import XML allows you to get pretty much any content from a web page based
on an XPath selector

36. Most of the data
here is pulled from
the entered URL via
ImportXML.
The XPath
examples are in the
column on the right.
On Page Checker (XPath
Examples)
#6 ImportXML

37. There are three main ways to get the XPath:
1. This is a really good guide:
https://www.distilled.net/blog/distilled/guide-to-
google-docs-importxml/
2. There is a really good list on Here in the On Page
Checker tool.
3. You can copy XPath right from the Inspect Element
tool in Google Chrome.
#6 ImportXML

38. #7 ImportXML: Google Lifted the 50
call limit in the new Google Sheets
Tool - Cache Check(Intl)

39. This drives me
crazy!
#7 ImportXML: No More Limit

40. #7 ImportXML: No More Limit

41. #7 ImportXML: No More Limit
It took me a couple hours but I cobbled together this monster.

42. #7 ImportXML: No More Limit
And slapped it in here
Sitemap URLs

43. #7 ImportXML: No More Limit
I assume that Google will get mad at you if you consistently run this on 1,000
URL sitemaps, but I have successfully used it on 250 page portions of xml
sitemaps to identify indexation and caching issues
Tool - Cache Check(Intl)

44. #8, #9 , and #10 Prebuilt Tools
Site Structure Creator
Metric Check Tool
Content Audit Tool

45. #8 Prebuilt Tools: Site Structure Creator
Allows you to upload an html export from Screaming Frog and it organizes the
pages into a nice hierarchy. See the Read Me sheet.

46. #9 Prebuilt Tools: Metric Check Tool
Allows you to grab some quick metrics on a set of domains. Enter your semrush api key
at the top, add in some domains, and copy down the example functions.

47. #10 Prebuilt Tools: Content Audit Tool
Allows you to upload a Screaming Frog crawl along with Google Analytics and Ranking
data to give you a great picture of how your site is performing. See the README sheet.

48. #11 Brainstorming
I got the idea from this article
http://www.movoto.com/blog/movoto-com/buzzfeed-for-real-estate/

49. For team
members that live
in different
geographic areas,
Google Sheets
allows you to kill
the Scribe from
brainstorming
sessions and lets
everyone throw
down an idea
when it comes.
#11 Brainstorming
Example 4

50. #12 Everything Else that is inherent
in cloud-shared spreadsheets.

51. #12 Cloud Shared Spreadsheets
● Revision History
● Removing access from a contractor that is on meth.
● Collaboration
● Add-on apps
o Supermetrics
o Google Analytics
o Mail Merge
● Forms to Spreadsheet
● Availability from any device or computer.
● etc etc

52. A Few Things I Don’t Like

53. A Few Things I Don’t Like
● Google LOVES to kill functionality that you really liked. Meaning, that if
you spend hours coding something, there is a good chance that Google
will deprecate some function that your program is dependent on.
● Excel is still better for large files (but Google is getting better).
● You have to be really careful with who you have documents shared with.
It is really easy to forget to remove access from someone. Luckily, if you
use the paid version of Google Apps for Your Domain, you can restrict
sharing outside of your domain.
● It seems like the UI is constantly changing.
● Not sure I would keep all of my Black Hat procedures in my Google Drive
:-)

54. Bonus Tip

55. IFTTT: Google Drive Integration
https://ifttt.com/recipes/popular?channel=google_drive

56. Questions?

57. JR Oakes
@jroakes