If you haven’t heard of ImportXML yet, or just haven’t got around to using it, you need to learn it now.

Why?

- It’s not very hard
- It’s free and awesome
- It will save you tons of time if you do any work online and make you very happy! Yaaay

Assuming you work in the internet field, learning to code, even at a beginner/intermediate level, is a very valuable skill to have. You might never be the one writing complicated programs for your company, but you will understand what goes into it and how it works. Plus you’ll be able to create smaller “agile” tools that can make your life easier.

Pro tip: Learning a skill or theory is great, but applying it directly to one of your problems is the secret. It’s great to learn how to show all the dog breads in Gdocs using ImportXML, but you will most likely forget all the details of how it works once your done if you aren’t using it in your day-to-day activities.

Let’s get started..

ImportXML is a functionality inside Google Docs that allows you to make calls or queries out on the internet, without ever leaving the spreadsheet.

Lots of SEOs have written posts on how to build agile tools to get SEO work done, but ImportXML isn’t bias to the SEO world, you can do almost anything you can imagine with it.

Note : I’ve made a reference list at the end of this post for more on ImportXML with SEO

So let’s dig in… I’m going to show you how I helped my wife save hours for an assignment her boss wanted: Build a spreadsheet with every country, their population, GDP, & other data from multiple data sources online

Tasks

- Create a list of every country from CIA’s World Factbook.
- Get the page URL extension
- Get the full page URL
- Get the population

So we’re starting with this :

 And need it to look like this :

She was going to do it by searching manually for this field

on 300+ pages, then copying all the information by hand!

Which made me say noooooooooooo!

… but I bet this kid would love it

So the fist step once you’re in Google Docs is to add the URL you’ll be using to cell A1. That way you can easily call on that URL in the ImportXML query with (A1,xxx) instead of (http://theurlIwant.com,xxx)

The first function we’re going to do with ImportXML is

=ImportXML(A1,”//ul[@class='af']//li”)

So how did I come up with that? Well you need to look at the data you need on the page then find it in the source code.

So this

equals this in HTML

<tr>
<td><div id="multi-level">
<ul class="menu">
<li style="padding-top: 3px;"><a href="##" class="top_link">select a country or location
<ul class="af">

<li><a href="geos/xx.html">World</a></li>

<li><a href="geos/af.html">Afghanistan</a></li>

<li><a href="geos/ax.html">Akrotiri</a></li>

<li><a href="geos/al.html">Albania</a></li>

If you’ve never written code or used ImportXML before, that query probably looking very complicated, but it’s not. Let’s break it down.

=ImportXML(A1,”//ul[@class='af']//li”)

=ImportXML(url,query) is the structure of the command

URL

A1 is calling our original URL for the CIA world factbook site

Query

// – select all the elements of the following type
[@class=''] – only select the elements of this certain type
//ul – select all of the unordered lists
//ul[@class='af'] – show me all unordered lists with class of ‘af’
//li – show all list items

//ul[@class='af']//li – show me all list items inside all the unordered lists that have a class of af

Next, I wanted to get the page-specific URL extension, like /countryname.html, because all the countries started with the same root: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/

The ImportXML script I used to find that was

=ImportXML(A1,”//ul[@class='af']//li/a/@href”)

The script is the same as before, because we’re looking for the same information, except we want to pull the info in the link (a href).

/a/@href works similarly to how //ul[@class=''] works to drill down in the code

Memorize this for the future to pull out URLs from web sites: “/a/@href”

So now we have this

And we still need the full URL and population data.

To combine the page specific URL and root URL I used ” =CONCATENATE($A$2,D2) ” and replicated it down the page.

CONCATENATE combines two fields into one — so I made field A2 “https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/” (without /index.html at the end) and added the country page to it to form the full URL.

The first time I did it, I used =CONCATENATE(A2,D2) and copied it down the page. It totally broke. Why? Because I left out the two $ symbols.

$ holds the spot in the query and doesn’t make it relative to the cell, it makes it ‘fixed’. So when I copied the formula down the sheet WITHOUT $ it essentially wrote this for me :
A2,D2
A3,D3
A4,D4
A5,D5
and so on…

When really I needed this :
A2,D2
A2,D3
A2,D4
A2,D5

because I always need the first part of the query to be the URL in cell A2.

With the dollar sign working correctly, row 5 looks like this : =CONCATENATE($A$2,D5)

The hard part

The last thing I needed to mark off this great accomplishment was the population data for every country.

Up until now I had really just set myself (or my spreadsheet) up to do work, but it hadn’t done any yet.

So let’s go back and find some population data on the page so we can find it in the HTML

Long story short – I couldn’t get the population data.

Why not?? Should the query be //div[@class='category_data']

Yes it should be, but the CIA has done a HORRIBLE job at marking up their site. They should have used unique section names in their html, but instead they made all data “category data” so you cannot get back the response you’re looking for.

Hmm.. ok well on the w3schools xpath page it says you can use [number] to select just a certain result like //div[9] for the 9th div which has the population data.

But it didn’t work!

Just when I thought it was over… Chris Le from SEER Interactive to the rescue!

Chris discovered that Google Docs does NOT support Xpath 2.0 fuctionalities, only 1.0. So the div[9] thing was never going to work.

Instead Chris wrote an awesome script to do the same thing for me!

/**
* From an input array, filter by regEx, and return the first integer values
* found within.
*
* @param {cells} inputArray Range of cells you want to filter
* @param {string} regEx Regular expression to filter by
* @author Chris le (@djchrisle) <chrisl at seerinteractive.com>
*
* @example
*
* =findIntegerInCells(A1:A10, ",\d.*est\.\)")
*
* Looks in cells A1 to A10 for a comma, followed by a number, then anything
* and followed by "est.)"
*/

function findIntegerInCells(inputArray, regEx) {
var retVal = [];

// Look for cells that match the regular expression
for (var i = 0; i < inputArray.length; i++) {
if (inputArray[i].toString().match(regEx)) { retVal.push(inputArray[i]); }
}

if (retVal.length > 0) {
// Take the first thing found, remove commas
var value = retVal[0].toString().replace(/,/g, '');
return parseInt(value); // Return just the numeric value
} else {
return 'Nothing found : (';
}
}

He created this scripted called findIntegerInCells under Tools > Script editor inside Google Docs. Then to get the population data, you need to use the function =findIntegerInCells(importXml(E3, “//div[@class='category_data']“), “,\d.*est\.\)”) in a new cell.

Since almost every population on the CIA site has est. after it, he used that in conjunction with the URLs I made to find the right area and grab the numbers for population.

And it worked like a charm!

He even put a line in there so that if it can’t find population data (ex. indian ocean, antarctica, etc) it doesn’t error out, it puts Nothing found

Final product

I realize this wasn’t the most complicated problem faced or tool built using ImportXML, but I sure learned a lot about it’s features and how to make it give me what I want.

I had to do a lot of reading, digging around Google and trial and error, but I feel much more confident now about building my own tools for SEO, and I hope you will too!

If you have any questions I’d love to help in any way I can. There are a lot of other great people in the industry who I’m sure would lend a hand as well.

Thanks again Chris!

Note :

Chris Le of SEER Interactive just wrote a great post and script to fix the new Google SERP scrapping issue with ImportXML. If you’re trying to scrape the SERPs, you need his hack.

Killer ImportXML Resources :

These posts below do an exceptional job of explaining ImportXML and demonstrating various uses for it. You’ll have a great understanding if you go through a few of these.

How To Build Agile SEO Tools Using Google Spreadsheets

http://www.distilled.net/blog/seo/how-to-build-agile-seo-tools-using-google-docs/

Playing Around with ImportXML in Google Spreadsheets

https://seogadget.co.uk/playing-around-with-importxml-in-google-spreadsheets/

ImportXML Cookbook

http://www.seerinteractive.com/blog/importxml-cookbook

The ImportXML Guide for Google Docs

http://www.distilled.net/blog/distilled/guide-to-google-docs-importxml/

Killer ImportXML Tools

Guest post opportunity finder tool
http://skyrckt.com/guestposttool – James Agate – Skyrocket SEO

Keyword research with Ubersuggest and ImportXML – Dan Shure – Evolving SEO
 
Do you have an awesome ImportXML tool? Add it to the list!
 

There are a ton of great resources online to learn about link building strategies but today I’m going to share one extra special resource.

One strong link

As white hat SEOs, we’re constantly being challenged to find new ways to deliver value and build great links that are natural, and would serve a purpose even if they didn’t pass any link juice. But sometimes the inspiration runs a little low and we get into a rut.

Introducing : The rut-busting link building resource for white hats — LinkMoses Private.

LMP is run by one of the most respected people in all of the internet marketing/SEO space — Eric Ward. He’s been the brains behind SEO strategies for a few organizations you might have heard of — like Amazon.com and Disney.

So what is it?

LinkMoses Private is a private email distribution where Eric shares some of the best and freshest link opportunities out there. Not all will apply to everyone, everytime — but when they do, it’s incredibly good links. These are not cheap-o directory submission link opportunities either.. some are fairly simple and some take work. But they reward for this level of link authority is huge. You could easily value one of these links at $100 or more.

Eric is a phenomenal SEO and curator of the web. He shares his expert advice and the advice of others on a very regular basis, right to your inbox. He just shared a ridiculous screenshot with his LMP members of the SEO news he follows so that you and I don’t have to. Thanks Eric! Oh yeah, for hours of his expert time, the price of LMP is $8/month.

Are you kidding me!?

I’ve personally been able to maximize on a few of his LOA (link opportunity alerts) and am about to jump on a big one he just sent out! (Shh can’t post all the details just yet )

It is truly an incredible value for the price.

I believe he will cap the amount of people on the list, but if you want to check it out for yourself, here’s the LinkMoses Private page.

Happy linking!

Photo credit : jonycunha

Here are 3 ways to effectively grow your business online, taught to us by our politicians.

1 – Grassroots efforts win

Have you ever seen a grassroots candidate before? They generally start off very small, get almost no advertising time and sometimes are not even invited to the debates. They have little money but they generally have a good message. They usually haven’t been seeking out power their whole lives, but are encouraged to run by others because they are seen as the best person for the job.

These people have a small, but passionate fan base. These candidates hold small town-hall type meetings and actually listen to people and answer their questions. Their supporters will even go door-to-door to pass out information and tell people about how great their candidate is.

When you have a real message that serves the greater good, you can create a campaign and people will get behind it. When you just want to be elected for your own personal ego, you flip-flop your views on every issue (depending on your audience) and no one fully trusts you. You have to buy your way to the top.

2 – You’ll go broke buying your way to the top

Politicians, like businesses, have two ways to spread their message – permission marketing and interruption marketing. Seth Godin talks a lot about these forms of communication and is considered the ultimate Guru of marketing by most in the field.

Let’s take two easy examples…

Scenario #1: Interruption marketing

You live in a state where there will soon be a vote for a primary election. You sit down to watch your favorite 30-minute program and before it starts you see an ad (#1 of many) for candidate A talking about how many horrible things candidate B has done last year. Then the show starts.

10 minutes into the program you get the second commercial, this time from candidate B about how he has fought for many years to help people just like you get a better life, you should vote for him. Now back to the show.

A little more time passes and now, right before the kicker at the end of the show (that you’ve been waiting 27 minutes for) commercial number 3 from candidate C comes on, who luckily informs you that both A and B are liars and flip-floppers, by playing meshed-together audio clips from speeches 2 years ago from both of them.

And roll the show’s credits.

As you get up in disgust that your 30-minute show was only actually 18 minutes long, you hear candidate A in the background playing his same ad.. again.

Did you say to yourself, “I’d love to learn about some of the candidates’ opinions on foreign policy, I better turn on How I Met Your Mother so I can get educated” No.

Do you care about what’s going on in the political race and who is bashing who? Maybe.

Did you want to hear all about it right now? No.

Did you just want to watch How I Met Your Mother? Yes.

Voilà the pleasures of interruption marketing.

Scenario #2: let’s take a look at permission marketing.

Taken directly from Seth Godin’s article on PM – “Permission marketing is the privilege (not the right) of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who actually want to get them.”

Permission marketing is delivering a message that your audience WANTS to hear. You create an expectation, (one message per week via email) and then they accept or deny your offer (they give you their email address or they don’t). If they accept, you stick to your deal, one newsletter per week. You don’t sell your list, you don’t send them affiliate offers, you send them one email per week. It might seem like it’s not working — you don’t hear anything back, you don’t know if they care, you just sit there and stick to your deal, because that was your promise.

You know you’re doing it right if you miss a newsletter and get emails saying “hey, are you still there? I didn’t get your newsletter”. That’s how you know you’re winning.

Interruption marketing doesn’t create ecstatic fans who spread your message to everyone you know. It creates annoyed people who are waiting to get back to what they were doing.

Ask for permission.

3 – if you don’t have a (grassroots) audience, people forget you when you stop paying for their attention

Many business don’t have killer content, or a great audience or anything “to say”. They just want to sell their product and make money. With the evolution of SEO and today’s customer, just selling a widget isn’t enough. You need an experience, a story. Widget X is sold at Wal-Mart — there’s nothing special about it.

So how do you get to the top if you aren’t the best? Pay a lot of money.

Now we aren’t against PPC, there’s a place and purpose for everything (testing new products, ideas, profitability) but it’s not the way to win in the long run.

Mediocre people pay for eyeballs. When the money’s gone, the audience is gone — and so are you. You disappear into the noise that we’re all bombarded with everyday.

The winners grow organically by producing amazing stuff. Amazing products, amazing content, amazing tools, amazing freebies. That is how you win fans, 1 by 1. Those fans don’t jump ship tomorrow. They are your currency that earns interests as they post your message on Facebook, or forward your email to their friends, or show off their new purchase to their family.

They can’t wait for more of your stuff.

Organic SEO is the same way. Day after day it brings in thousands of customers who want your product or your information, now. They’ve come to your site and if you reward them with showing them what they want, they will reward you by buying. You stand out because of your excellence. And how much did that acquisition cost? You could say $0, or count the cost of that piece of content. Either way, a minimal amount of money brings in customers for free for life.

Interruption marketers will never have that. They’ll pay out left and right trying to buy a tiny bit of the new world currency — your attention.

Just earn it instead.

Photo by Seansie