Extracting data from webpage using ImportXML in Google Sheets

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1

I’m trying to pull info from a sports betting site into my spreadsheet. The goal is to grab the player names and their odds. I want it to look something like this in my sheet:

Player       | Odds
-------------+-----
John Smith   | 1.8
Jane Doe     | 2.3

I’ve been messing with the ImportXML function, but I can’t figure out the right XPath to get what I need. The data I want is in span tags with classes ‘name’ and ‘rate’.

Anyone know how to write the XPath for this? I’m pretty new to web scraping and could use some help. Thanks!

2

I’ve been down this road before, and ImportXML can definitely be finicky. One thing to watch out for is that some betting sites use JavaScript to load their odds dynamically, which ImportXML can’t handle. In those cases, you might need to look into more advanced solutions like using Google Apps Script with UrlFetchApp to grab the HTML directly.

That said, if the site you’re using has static HTML, the XPath suggestions others have given should work. Just make sure you’re using the exact class names from the site’s HTML. Sometimes they’ll have additional classes or slight variations that can trip you up.

Also, don’t forget to add error handling to your formulas. Something like IFERROR() wrapped around your ImportXML can save you headaches when the site structure changes or there’s a temporary glitch. It’s saved my bacon more than once when scraping odds for my own projects.

3

ImportXML can be tricky, but it’s quite powerful once you get the hang of it.

For your specific case, you’ll need two separate ImportXML functions to grab the names and odds. Here’s a suggested approach:

In one cell, use:

=ImportXML(URL, "//span[@class='name']")

In another cell, use:

=ImportXML(URL, "//span[@class='rate']")

Replace ‘URL’ with the actual webpage address. This should pull the data into separate columns. You can then combine them side-by-side in your sheet.

Keep in mind that some betting sites use dynamic content, which ImportXML can’t always handle. If you run into issues, you might need to explore alternative methods like Google Apps Script or a dedicated web scraping tool.

4

hey alice, i’ve had some luck with importxml before. for the player names, try this xpath: ‘//span[@class=“name”]/text()’. for odds, use ‘//span[@class=“rate”]/text()’. put those in separate importxml functions. hope that helps!