Overview
This guide demonstrates how to extract specific data elements from websites directly into Google Sheets using SheetXAI and Google's IMPORTXML function. This technique is perfect for competitor research, price monitoring, product analysis, and more.**Disclaimer:**Some websites will require more back-and-forth with SheetXAI to get the right formula, some won't. This is because many websites are anti-scraping so they make the process a bit harder. That said, 90% of the websites you will want to scrape are scrapable, so give it a shot and reach out to david@sheetxai.com if you try everything and it doesn't work.
Tools You'll Need
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SelectorGadget (Chrome extension for easy CSS selection)
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XPath Tester (Chrome extension for testing XPath queries)
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Web browser with developer tools (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, etc.)
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Access to the website you want to extract data from (NO WEBSITES THAT REQUIRE LOGIN)
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Google Sheets with SheetXAI installed
Step-by-Step Process
Step 1: Decide Your Extraction Approach
Determine which extraction type you need:
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Single item from multiple pages: Extract the same element from different URLs (e.g price from product page)
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Multiple items from one page: Extract a list of similar elements from a single URL (e.g product links from a page showing multiple products)
Step 2: Identify Your Target Elements
For single item extraction:
- Find and inspect just one instance of your target element
For list extraction:
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Identify at least 3 similar items in the list
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Inspect each to find their selectors
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Look for patterns in how they're structured
Step 3: Get the Element Identifiers
Try these methods in the following order:
CSS Selectors (Start here - often most reliable)
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Right-click the element → Inspect
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Right-click on the highlighted HTML → Copy → Copy selector
XPath (If CSS selector doesn't work)
- Right-click on the element in inspector → Copy → Copy full XPath
Outer HTML (For complex structures)
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Find the parent container (DIV above your element)
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Right-click → Copy → Copy outer HTML
Step 4: Ask SheetXAI to Create the Formula
For a single item:
"Hey, I want to extract [specific data] from this website [URL]. Here is the CSS selector: [paste your selector]"