The Best Google Sheets Formulas for SEO

In the digital age, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is pivotal for online visibility and success. With an abundance of data available for analysis, utilizing powerful tools like Google Sheets can significantly enhance your SEO strategies. This article explores the best Google Sheets formulas to streamline your SEO efforts, making data analysis both efficient and impactful.

Understanding SEO Metrics

Before diving into formulas, it’s essential to grasp the SEO metrics that matter. Crucial metrics include website traffic, keyword rankings, backlinks, page load speed, among others. Monitoring these metrics provides a detailed understanding of your website’s SEO health and performance.”

Best Formulas for SEO in Google Spreadsheet

1.VLOOKUP formula for SEO.

VLOOKUP is a powerful function in Google Sheets (and Excel) that searches for a value in the first column of a range or table, and then returns a value in the same row from a specified column. The function is particularly useful for finding specific data within a large dataset.

Syntax: VLOOKUP(search_key, range, index, [is_sorted])


• search_key: The value to search for in the first column of the range. This is the value VLOOKUP will look for in the first column of your table.
• range: The range of cells that contains the data. VLOOKUP will search for the search_key in the first column of this range.
• index: The column index of the value to return, relative to the leftmost column of the range. The first column in the range is 1, the second column in the range is 2, and so on. This indicates which column from the range you want to retrieve the value from, once the matching row is found.
• is_sorted (optional): A boolean value that indicates whether the first column in the range is sorted. Use FALSE to search for an exact match, or TRUE to search for an approximate match. If this parameter is omitted, it defaults to TRUE, but for exact matches, you should explicitly set this to FALSE.

How it works?

For example, we have 2 tables: № 1. keywords + volumes and №2. keywords +keyword difficulty (by Ahrefs)

and we want to add KD in 3rd column in the first list
we should do the next :

1) Put the formula in D2 of our table №1

2) Choose B2 where we see our keyword and put coma “,”

3) Go to table №2 and highlight 2 columns of table №2

range: The range of cells that contains the data
4) As we highlighted only two columns and are searching for the data in the second column we should add number 2 in our formula after the coma

index: The column index of the value to return, relative to the leftmost column of the range. The first column in the range is 1, the second column in the range is 2

5) And finally add the boolean value FALSE to search for an exact match.

and after grabbing the formula and dragging it

VLOOKUP is especially useful for searching through large tables where manually searching for data is impractical. However, it’s important to remember that it can only search for values in the first column of the range, moving rightward to return the value from the specified column.

2. Pivot Table in Google Sheets

Pivot Tables are a powerful feature in spreadsheet software like Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel, allowing you to summarize, analyze, sort, and reorganize large datasets without altering the original data. While Pivot Tables themselves are not created through a formula in the traditional sense, you can use formulas within Pivot Tables to perform custom calculations and enhance their functionality. Here, I’ll explain the basics of creating a Pivot Table and how you can incorporate formulas within them, focusing on Google Sheets for our examples.

How it works?

Configure the Pivot Table: In the Pivot Table editor on the right side of the screen, you’ll see options to add Rows, Columns, Values, and Filters to your Pivot Table.

Here’s how you can use these:

• Rows and Columns: Determine what data you want to see as rows or columns. For example, you could add a list of products as rows and time periods (like months) as columns.
• Values: This is where the data gets summarized. You can add fields here and choose how they are aggregated (sum, average, count, etc.).
• Filters: Use filters to include or exclude certain data from your Pivot Table, allowing for more focused analysis.

For example, you want to cluster some keywords by parent topic.

1)Select Your Data: Click on any cell within your dataset or select the range of data you want to include in your Pivot Table

We have a simple table (Keyword, Volume, Parent keyword)

2) Insert Pivot Table: Go to the menu, click on Data > Pivot table. Google Sheets will ask if you want to create the Pivot Table in a new sheet or in the existing one. Select your preference.

3) Go to settings and choose Parent keywords and Keywords as Rows and to Values are adding Volume

4) The final outcome enables us to meticulously examine the aggregate volume of each parent keyword, alongside the comprehensive clustering of associated keywords, thereby offering a detailed insight into the volume metrics for each parent keyword within the dataset.

You can use IMPORTXML to extract meta descriptions, keywords, and title tags from competitor websites to analyze their SEO strategies. Understanding how competitors structure their meta tags and keywords can provide insights into improving your own site’s SEO.
For Title: =IMPORTXML(A2,“//title/text()”)
For H1:=IMPORTXML(A2, “//h1”)
For Description: =IMPORTXML(A2,“//meta[@name=’description’]/@content”)

That formula has some limitations:

• Google Sheets Limit: Google Sheets imposes a limit on the number of IMPORTXML calls you can make, so it’s important to use this function judiciously and consider aggregating data where possible.
• Dynamic Content: IMPORTXML may not work effectively on websites that heavily rely on JavaScript for rendering content since it primarily extracts data from static HTML.