Semrush + Excel Integration

The Problem with Getting Semrush Data into Your Workbook

You do serious SEO work in Semrush — keyword research, backlink audits, competitor tracking, paid search intelligence. The data is excellent. The problem is it lives inside the Semrush interface, and anything you want to analyze at scale, across keywords, across domains, across time, has to come out somehow.

Semrush's own export gives you a CSV per query. One domain, one export. One keyword list, one export. For a six-domain backlink comparison or a 150-keyword content audit, you are clicking export repeatedly, pasting CSVs into separate tabs, and spending forty minutes building the workbook before you can do any analysis. By the time you finish, someone asks you to add another domain.

Below are the four ways people typically pull Semrush data into Excel workbooks. Only the last one scales.

Method 1: Manual CSV Export from Semrush

The default, and more work than it sounds. You run a query in Semrush, export the CSV, paste it into a tab, rename the tab, repeat for the next domain or keyword batch. For a single lookup this is fast enough.

When this works:

• One domain, one-time lookup
• Fewer than ten keywords
• A one-off proof of concept you will never run again

When it breaks:

• 150-keyword batches require either many individual exports or multi-step manual effort
• Comparing 5 competitor domains means 5 exports, 5 paste jobs, and manual merging across tabs
• Any recurring report — a monthly backlink review, a weekly rank snapshot — requires repeating this from scratch
• Excel's Power Query can pull some APIs, but Semrush's API structure requires custom connectors nobody wants to maintain

The real cost is assembly time. The export takes a minute. The tab organization, column alignment, and cross-tab merging take an hour.

Method 2: Use Power Automate to Sync Semrush Data on a Schedule

The next step up is automation. Power Automate can call Semrush's API on a schedule and write rows into an Excel workbook stored on OneDrive or SharePoint.

This works for event-driven or scheduled snapshots:

• A weekly snapshot of a single domain's authority score
• Logging rank changes for a tracked keyword set
• A monthly trigger that refreshes one tab of data

This fails for analytical or batch work:

• Reading a column of domains already in the workbook and enriching each one
• Distributing results across tabs based on domain name
• Running a gap analysis after the data lands without additional logic steps

Power Automate flows fire on a fixed schedule or trigger, they do not read a live column of inputs from the workbook and iterate. You also have to build separate flows for each Semrush endpoint type, one for keywords, one for backlinks, one for competitors. Every new query type is a new flow to build and maintain.

Method 3: The Previous Generation — Semrush Connector Add-Ins

Until recently, the best option for repeatable Semrush-to-Excel workflows was a category of connector add-ins. You configured the query, mapped the output columns to a range, saved the connection, and set a refresh schedule. The data came in without manual exports.

That was a real improvement. The workbook stayed current. The team did not have to re-export every week.

But you were still managing a separate connection per query type. One connection for keyword overviews, another for backlink data, another for competitor lists. When you wanted to change the country database or add a domain, you went back into the configuration panel. When the workbook structure changed, the column mapping broke. The thinking was still on you, just slightly less of the click work.

This is the category we think of as the previous generation. It worked, but it asked a lot of the operator — and it did not bridge the gap between a live analytical workbook and a Semrush query cleanly.

The Easy Way: Using SheetXAI in Excel

There is a different approach entirely. SheetXAI is an AI agent inside your Excel workbook, both on Excel for the web and Excel desktop. It reads what you have in the workbook, understands the structure, and through its built-in Semrush integration it can pull keyword metrics, backlink profiles, competitor lists, and more, then write the results exactly where you want them. No query configuration, no add-in setup, no CSV assembly, you just ask.

Example 1: Your Domain or Keyword List Is Already in the Workbook

You have 150 target keywords in column A of the Keywords tab. You need search volume, CPC, and keyword difficulty before the quarterly content planning call.

For each keyword in column A of the Keywords tab, fetch the Semrush US keyword overview and write search volume, keyword difficulty, CPC, and competitive density into columns B through E. Use batch requests where possible.

SheetXAI reads the list, batches the API calls, and writes the results back into the workbook. All 150 rows, one prompt.

Example 2: You Need Data Across Multiple Domains and Endpoints

Your competitive audit needs backlink profiles, keyword gaps, and authority scores for your domain plus five competitors, all in one workbook.

For each domain in column A of the Domains tab, fetch the Semrush backlinks overview and write total backlinks, referring domains, authority score, and dofollow percentage into columns B through E. Then compare organic keywords across all domains and write every keyword where at least one competitor ranks top 10 but our domain ranks below 20 into a new tab called Gaps.

SheetXAI pulls the backlink data, writes it per domain, runs the cross-tab gap analysis, and builds the Gaps tab. One prompt, end to end, with the workbook as the structure between the different Semrush endpoints.

Which Method Should You Use

For a one-time single-domain lookup you will never repeat, a CSV export is fine. For a weekly scheduled snapshot of a single metric, Power Automate is a reasonable fit.

For any batch work — enriching a keyword list, comparing multiple competitor domains, building a recurring monthly backlink report, running a gap analysis — SheetXAI is the only option that reads your workbook, understands the structure, batches the API calls, and writes results back in one prompt. No query configuration, no per-task cost risk, no tab assembly.

If you are doing this work monthly, the second run costs you nothing beyond the first.

Try It

Get the 7-day free trial of SheetXAI and open any workbook with a keyword list or domain list, then ask it to pull the Semrush data you need. The Semrush integration is included in every SheetXAI plan.

For specific workflows, see how to bulk-pull keyword metrics from Semrush in Excel, how to find keyword gaps across competitor domains in Excel, or browse the full integrations directory.