It may not look like one of the fancy paid SEO tools you’re used to logging in to, but Excel remains one of the most versatile and powerful tools in the SEO professional’s toolbox.
You can use Excel to track and analyze key metrics such as ranking, website traffic and backlinks.
Use it to create and update meta tags, track and analyze competitors’ SEO strategy and performance, generate automated reports, and handle the many data tasks you’ll encounter on a daily basis.
Combine your Excel knowledge with Python, Tableau, R, and other tools, and there’s nothing you can’t do.
If you’ve never worked with data before, you’ll find that Excel has a bit of a learning curve, but you can get used to it from the start. And it’s flexible enough to scale and grow as your site grows.
Why Excel For SEO Tasks?
Contents
While many paid tools can help you do the same task, Excel is a fantastic choice for enhancing, combining, or replacing these tools.
1. Combine Multiple Data Sources
You will often find yourself having to combine data from multiple sources.
It’s intuitive and fast in Tableau, Python, or R, but you can do the same thing in Excel using Power Query.
There are several steps to this process, but it’s not as complicated as you might think – even if you’re new to working with data or Excel.
Power Query is an automated and simple task that requires a lot of time and expertise.
And this is probably the best Excel feature for business professionals and SEOs.
Looks a bit scary? Don’t worry. There are several courses and tutorials on YouTube to get you started.
2. Data Cleaning
Most of your time is lost simply preparing data for analysis. It doesn’t have to be like that.
Large lists are often larger than they need to be. However, finding and removing all the duplicates manually can be a pain.
Excel can do it instantly for you. Just go to the “Data” tab and click “Remove Duplicates.”
Screenshot of Excel, January 2023.
Unwanted spaces and blank lines tend to wreak havoc on many tasks, formulas, and statistics.
Excel will remove it for you by simply going to Edit > Find > Go to. Select “Special,” “Blanks,” and tell Excel how to handle it.
“Convert text to column” can be a lifesaver, especially if you have received data where all addresses or names are in the same cell or you need to extract domains from email addresses.
Go to Data > Text to Columns. Then indicate what to use for the delimiter (comma or space) and preview the result. When you’re ready, click “Next”, select a destination, and click “Finish”.
3. Power Excel With Add-On Tools
Some of the more complex tasks, such as crawling, require quite a bit of coding knowledge.
However, if you don’t have that in your skill set, there are tools you can download, integrate with other tools, and add on.
Screenshot from SEOTools, January 2023.
SEOTools offers off and on-page SEO tools, integrations, connectors, spiders, and several other tools that make it easy to customize your Excel and create custom projects.
SEOGadget brings the power of Moz, Grepwords and Majestic to Excel.
The Analysis ToolPak is for serious data analysis. This add-on enhances and automates deep statistics, perfect for forecasting, trending, regression analysis, and the more complex data analysis tasks you might do in R or Python.
4. Infographics And Charts
Data is useless if you can’t understand it.
In fact, data visualization and storytelling are likely some of the most important skills you can have. This is where tools like Power Query and PivotTables come in.
Created directly in Excel, pivot tables are another valuable tool at your disposal for this purpose.
However, instead of just creating straight pivot tables and related charts, save yourself a few steps by first creating a master “template” that you can then replicate as needed and adapt to your needs.
Screenshot of Excel, January 2023.
However, in most cases, you will need to work with dates or segments of data. For that, you’ll want to include connectors and a timeline.
If you’ve never used Excel PivotTables before, this quick tutorial will have you analyzing your data in no time.
Still want a little more? Make your reports, social media, and updates even better by upping your data visualization game with add-ons like People Graph.
5. Automate Common Tasks With Macros
SEO, especially agency SEO, is full of repetitive tasks like weekly reporting that take up a lot of your time. Excel macros are the answer. And they are very easy to use.
Under the “View” tab, click “Macro” and “Record Macro”.
Screenshot of Excel, January 2023.
The macro is now recording. So, just follow the steps that you want to automate. And when you’re done, go back to tape and stop recording.
When you’re ready to run the automation, open the macros button on the ribbon, click “View Macros,” and select the desired macro from the list.
If you have some macros that you use more often than others, you can add them to the Quick Access Toolbar.
6. Easily Import Feeds And Data Into Excel
If you use Google Alerts or publish frequently, automatically importing your feed into Excel can save you a lot of time.
To get started, just grab the address of the RSS feed. (Alternatively, create an alert for Google Alerts and send it as an RSS feed.)
Screenshot from Google Sheets, January 2023.
Then, open Google Sheets and use the IMPORTFEED function to bring updates directly to the spreadsheet.
Alternatively, you can add information to separate columns.
Screenshot from Google Sheets, January 2023.
From here, you can regularly download and import data into Excel, combine it with other related data, or integrate it into your custom dashboards.
If you need something more automated, use Google Apps Script or one of the available add-ons to automate the process.
Want more data behind your reports? You can also scrape and import Google Search Results to Excel.
7. Backlink Analysis
To analyze backlinks with Excel, collect backlink data with tools like Ahrefs, Majestic, or Google Search Console.
Then, import it into Excel and use it to analyze your backlinks in several ways:
Find trends or patterns in your backlink profile with pivot tables, groups, charts and graphs by combining your backlinks and sales or conversion data.
Highlight specific data based on certain conditions with conditional formatting. This makes it easy to find backlinks from high authority websites or backlinks with specific anchor text.
Summary
Many people ignore Excel because they think it’s too basic to be of much use. Or seem too intimidating or scary to learn.
But those of us who use it understand how powerful it is and the endless possibilities it provides.
Hopefully, these tips will help you strategize better, discover new opportunities, and tell your story with better reports and dashboards.
Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal
The average SEO fee is $100-$250 per hour for a US SEO agency. SEO costs are often in the range of $2500 – $10000 per month for US agencies. SEO packages cost $2819 per month on average (per Ahrefs) Offshore SEO companies may charge $10-$50 per hour.
Can I use Google Sheets as a API?
The Google Sheets API is a RESTful interface that lets you read and modify spreadsheet data. The most common uses of this API include the following tasks: Creating spreadsheets. Read and write spreadsheet cell values.
Can Google Sheets pull API data? We can connect a Google Sheet to an API and return data from that API (eg iTunes) to our Google Sheet using Google Apps Script. It’s fun and very satisfying if you’re new to this world.
Can I use the Google Sheets API for free? All uses of the Google Sheets API are available at no additional cost.
How do I fetch API data in Google Sheets?
Extract data from Google Sheets via API
- Configure Google Cloud Platform and enable Google Sheets API.
- Generate and retrieve API key.
- Allow your sheet to be accessible via API key and take the Spreadsheet ID and Range parameters.
- Create and format API requests in Query Builder.
Can Google Sheets interact with the API? The Google Spreadsheets data API is an extension of the GData API protocol, which you can use to write programs that interact with Google Sheets.
Can you call a REST API from Google Sheets?
Calling a REST API in Google Sheets is as easy as installing the Apipheny app, then opening the app in your Google Sheet, entering your API request, and clicking ‘Run†. Keep reading for instructions on how to import REST API data into Google Sheets.
Is using the Google Sheets API free? All uses of the Google Sheets API are available at no additional cost. Exceeding the quota request limit is not subject to additional fees and your account is not billed.
Can you call a REST API from Google Sheets?
Calling a REST API in Google Sheets is as easy as installing the Apipheny app, then opening the app in your Google Sheet, entering your API request, and clicking ‘Run†. Keep reading for instructions on how to import REST API data into Google Sheets.
Is using the Google Sheets API free? All uses of the Google Sheets API are available at no additional cost. Exceeding the quota request limit is not subject to additional fees and your account is not billed.
Is there a search tool in Google Sheets?
On your computer, open a spreadsheet in Google Sheets. Find and replace. Next to “Find,” type the word you want to find. If you want to replace the word, enter a new word next to “Replace with.” To search for a word, click Find.
How to use search function in G sheet? How do you use SEARCH in Google Sheets? SEARCH is used to find specific text in a Google Sheet. To use SEARCH, type the text you are looking for in the search bar at the top of the screen and press enter. Google Sheets will highlight all the examples of text you’re looking for in the sheet.
How do I perform an advanced search in Google Sheets? How do I perform an advanced search in Google Sheets?
- Run add-ons.
- Enter the record to search for.
- Specify the type of data to search in it: formulas, values, records, etc.
- Check the sheet you want to scan.
- Click Find all.
Is there a search tab in Google Sheets? Search can be accessed from the menu. Tap the button with three vertical dots in the top-right corner to display the menu. Tap on “Find and Replace†from here, and a header search box will appear at the top of your spreadsheet. Do a search.
How much does a beginner SEO make?
While freshers can earn around Rs. 1.8-2.8 LPA, professionals with more than 5-8 years of SEO experience can earn around Rs. 3.5-6.6 LPA. As for senior-level SEO salaries in India (for job roles that demand more than ten years of experience), the annual remuneration is even higher, ranging between Rs.
Is it difficult to get into SEO? SEO isn’t that hard to learn, but it can be confusing and overwhelming to get started. Learning SEO means learning about a long list of individual digital marketing strategies, which can feel like adding a new weapon to your arsenal as you learn how to use them.
Does SEO pay well? The average salary for an SEO Specialist in the US is $54,508. The average additional cash compensation for SEO Experts in the US is $5,205. The average total compensation for an SEO Specialist in the US is $59,713.
How much money can you make in SEO? So how much can you make doing SEO? As of September 2021, most SEO experts can earn between $113,518 and $131,590. Salary depends on many factors including education, certifications, work experience and additional skills.
What is the minimum salary of SEO?
What is the starting salary for SEO in India? The average starting salary for SEO in India is around â¹0.2 Lakh per year (â¹1.7k per month).
Does SEO Pay Well? The good news is that globally, 60% of SEO professionals earn at least—or more than—the U.S. median. ($57,456 for men and $47,299 for women). 19% of global respondents said they earn more than $100,000 per year, while the lucky few at the top (3.38%) report that they earn more than $200,000 per year.
Are SEO jobs in demand?
SEO professionals are in high demand, as companies need search optimizers to compete in most niches.
Is working in SEO a good career? This is the Honest Truth. SEO is a promising career in 2022 as it gives you access to a wide variety of opportunities. You can work from home, accept clients, and even start and develop your own website.
How much money do SEO make?
On average, an SEO Specialist makes $49,000 a year, with the average SEO Manager salary sitting much higher, around $63,000. At the top are SEO Directors—who usually earn between $70,000 and $120,000†and SEO Team Managers and Campaign Managers, in the $50,000 to $100,000 range.
Is SEO a high paying job? In the domain of Digital Marketing, Along with Digital Marketing salaries, salaries in SEO career are among the highest. This is because SEO skilled professionals are in high demand all over the world. As per Glassdoor, the average SEO Analyst salary is around US$69k per year.
Do you need a degree for SEO?
There are no formal higher education programs specifically designed to teach SEO. However, SEO managers often hold a bachelor’s degree in marketing or a related field. Keep reading to learn step-by-step instructions for starting your career as an SEO manager. Earn a bachelor’s degree in marketing.
Can I do SEO without a degree? Do you need a degree? While a formal education in SEO isn’t mandatory, most SEO specialist positions require a bachelor’s degree in business, marketing, information technology, or communications.
How do you find a * in Excel with Find and Replace?
Can you use * in Excel search? If you want to do a case sensitive search you can use FIND and FINDB. You can use the wildcard characters â question mark (?) and asterisk (*) â in the find_text argument. The question mark matches any one character; the asterisk matches any sequence of characters.
What is the Excel command to find the mean *? Information. Returns the average (arithmetic mean) of the arguments. For example, if the range A1:A20 contains numbers, the formula =AVERAGE(A1:A20) returns the average of the numbers.
