Definition
XPath (XML Path Language) is a language for navigating the structure of an HTML or XML document and extracting specific elements. In SEO, XPath is primarily used in Screaming Frog (Custom Extraction), Google Sheets (IMPORTXML), and scraping tools. It allows extracting specific page data: product prices, reviews, breadcrumbs, structured data, word counts, internal links, and any element visible in the source code. XPath mastery is essential for large-scale SEO audits and automated data extraction.
Key Points
- XPath can extract any element from an HTML page
- Indispensable for Screaming Frog Custom Extractions
- Usable in Google Sheets via IMPORTXML for quick analysis
Practical Examples
Custom extraction in Screaming Frog
An SEO configures XPath extractions in Screaming Frog to retrieve price, stock, and review count from each product page of a 50,000-page e-commerce site, enabling automated content audit.
IMPORTXML in Google Sheets
An SEO uses =IMPORTXML(A1, '//h1') in Google Sheets to automatically extract H1 headings from 500 competitor URLs, analyzing industry titling patterns.
Frequently Asked Questions
XPath is more powerful and flexible (parent navigation, axes, text functions). CSS Selectors are simpler and faster for basic selections. In SEO, XPath is preferred in Screaming Frog and Google Sheets.
Use SelectorGadget or Chrome DevTools (Ctrl+F in Elements tab supports XPath). Test expressions directly on target pages. The most useful SEO XPath expressions are simple: //h1, //a/@href, //meta[@name='description']/@content.
Go Further with LemmiLink
Discover how LemmiLink can help you put these SEO concepts into practice.
Last updated: 2026-02-07