Scrape Bing search results into spreadsheet

If you’re looking to import Bing search results into a spreadsheet, you know how time consuming it can be.

Fortunately, Google Docs makes it pretty easy, and using XPathBuilder, you can quickly and easily generate the code to pull the results in quickly.

(NOTE: In order to do this, you must have a Google Docs account.  If you don’t have one, go here to get one.  Signup is free.  If you have a Gmail account, you already have a login.)

Step 1: Go to the tool at XPathBuilder and enter the query of your choice in one of the Search String fields.

Step 2: The dropdown menu directly to the right of the Search String field offers a series of search engines.  Click Bing in that list.  (NOTE: You must select a search engine in the list – if you don’t, it won’t generate the code.)

Step 3: Click the Submit button at the bottom of the screen.  The code should then appear in the Search String Results field.

Step 4: Select the code, copy it and paste it into a cell in your Google spreadsheet.  The code should execute automatically.

Notice that the code is actually within cell A1, but what actually appears is the #1 result for the keyword in Bing.

Unlike using importXML and XPath to import Google results, these commands seem to be fairly reliable for Bing, and don’t appear to suffer the same level of unreliability in terms of importing results.  However, if your experience has been different, drop us a line in the comment thread to describe what’s happening on your end.