Complete tutorial on exporting Crawlbase data to Google Sheets for marketing analytics

If you’re a marketer who needs fresh web data in Google Sheets—maybe to track competitors, monitor products, or just make your reporting less painful—you’ve probably run into the usual headaches. Copy-pasting CSVs, wrestling with APIs, wondering why simple things aren’t simple. This guide is for you. We’ll walk through how to get data from Crawlbase into Google Sheets, reliably and without needing a computer science degree.

No fluff, no magic “one-click” promises. Just the most direct, reliable way to make this work—plus a few things you should watch out for.

What We’re Doing (and Why)

Crawlbase lets you scrape and crawl web data without building your own scraper. That sounds great on paper, but raw Crawlbase data isn’t super useful until you can get it into a tool like Google Sheets for analysis, dashboards, and sharing.

Here’s the workflow we'll cover:

  1. Set up Crawlbase to fetch the data you want.
  2. Get the data out (as CSV or JSON).
  3. Pipe it into Google Sheets automatically—no manual downloads.
  4. Clean up and automate, so you spend less time fiddling.

This is aimed at marketers or analysts who want to move fast, not engineers building something for the ages.

Step 1: Setting Up Your Crawlbase Data Source

First, get clear on exactly what data you need. More isn’t always better: scraping too much can slow you down, get your IP blocked, or just make a mess in Sheets.

1.1 Create Your Crawlbase Account

  • Sign up for a free or paid plan on Crawlbase.
  • Confirm your email.
  • Log in.

1.2 Start a New Crawl (Target the Right Pages)

  • In the dashboard, choose the Crawler product.
  • Enter the URLs or patterns you want to scrape (e.g., product category pages, competitor landing pages).
  • Set crawl frequency—don’t run minute-by-minute unless you need to. Most marketing use cases are fine with daily or weekly.

Pro Tip:

Start with a small batch of URLs for testing. It’s easier to spot errors and avoid blowing through your crawl quota.

1.3 Set Up Extraction

  • Define the data fields you need (price, title, reviews, etc.) using Crawlbase’s point-and-click selector or XPath/CSS selectors.
  • Save your crawl setup.

1.4 Run a Test Crawl

  • Hit Run or Test to make sure you’re getting what you expect.
  • Download a sample result as CSV or JSON and open it. If it looks right, you’re good to go.

Step 2: Exporting Crawlbase Data

You’ve got your crawl running and results coming in. Now to get them out.

2.1 Manual Export (Not Recommended for Ongoing Use)

  • In the Crawlbase dashboard, find your crawl job.
  • Download results as CSV or JSON.
  • Open in Excel or Google Sheets.

Why this isn’t great:
It’s fine for a one-off, but not if you need up-to-date data every week. Manual exports get old fast.

2.2 Automated Export via API (Best for Marketing Analytics)

Crawlbase gives you an API endpoint to pull down your data. This is what you want if you care about repeatability.

  • Go to your crawl job’s results.
  • Click API Access.
  • Copy the API URL for your results (it’ll look something like https://api.crawlbase.com/crawl/job/results?token=YOURTOKEN).

Note:

  • The API returns data in JSON by default. If you want CSV, check Crawlbase’s docs—some endpoints support CSV directly via query params (e.g., &format=csv).

Step 3: Importing Crawlbase Data to Google Sheets

Now, let’s get your Crawlbase data into Google Sheets, automatically.

There are a few ways, but here’s the most reliable, no-nonsense approach:

3.1 Using Google Apps Script (Best Control, Free)

Google Sheets doesn’t natively import JSON, and IMPORTDATA only works for raw CSVs. For most users, a small Apps Script is the cleanest way.

A. Open a Blank Google Sheet

  • Go to Extensions > Apps Script.

B. Paste This Script

Replace YOUR_API_URL_HERE with your Crawlbase API endpoint.

javascript function importCrawlbaseData() { var url = 'YOUR_API_URL_HERE'; var response = UrlFetchApp.fetch(url); var data = JSON.parse(response.getContentText());

// Adjust this depending on your data structure var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getActiveSheet(); sheet.clear(); // Remove old data

// Assuming data is an array of objects var fields = Object.keys(data[0]); sheet.appendRow(fields);

data.forEach(function(row) { var rowData = fields.map(function(field) { return row[field]; }); sheet.appendRow(rowData); }); }

C. Save and Run

  • Click the disk icon to save.
  • Select importCrawlbaseData and click the run ▶️ button.
  • The first time, Google will ask for permissions—grant them.

D. Automate with a Trigger

  • In Apps Script, go to Triggers (clock icon).
  • Add a trigger for importCrawlbaseData to run daily, hourly, or whatever suits.
If You Want to Use CSV Instead

If your Crawlbase API returns CSV (check with ?format=csv), you can use this simpler script:

javascript function importCrawlbaseCSV() { var url = 'YOUR_CSV_API_URL_HERE'; var response = UrlFetchApp.fetch(url); var csv = response.getContentText(); var data = Utilities.parseCsv(csv);

var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getActiveSheet(); sheet.clear(); data.forEach(function(row) { sheet.appendRow(row); }); }

Step 4: Cleaning and Using Your Data

Once the data’s in Sheets, it’s all about making it usable. Here are a few things to watch for:

  • Header Issues: If your Crawlbase fields change, your script may break. Keep field names consistent.
  • Empty Rows/Data Gaps: Scraping isn’t perfect. Build simple checks to flag missing data.
  • Duplicates: If Crawlbase re-crawls the same items, deduplicate in Sheets with UNIQUE() or a pivot table.
  • Data Types: Everything comes in as text. For numbers, dates, etc., use Sheet formulas to convert.

Pro Tip:

Build a “raw data” tab and a separate “analytics” tab. Use formulas or queries to analyze, so your import script never overwrites your work.

Step 5: Automate, Monitor, and Maintain

You’ve got Google Sheets pulling fresh Crawlbase data. Don’t just set it and forget it.

  • Check for API errors: Sometimes Crawlbase jobs fail, sites change their layout, or your API token expires. Set up a simple check or email alert in Apps Script for failed imports.
  • Don’t overload Sheets: 10,000+ rows in Google Sheets gets slow. Archive old data as needed.
  • Respect Crawlbase limits: Don’t schedule more crawls than your plan allows. You’ll hit limits, and Sheets will just show blanks.

What Not to Bother With

  • Expensive Sheet Add-ons: Most “no-code” connectors are just wrappers around the API. They’re fine, but if you can paste a script, you don’t need them.
  • Real-time Imports: Google Sheets isn’t a live dashboarding tool. Hourly or daily updates are plenty for most marketing needs.
  • Over-automation: If you only need this once a month, manual export/import is fine. Don’t spend hours automating a five-minute task.

Wrapping Up: Keep It Simple and Iterate

Getting web data from Crawlbase into Google Sheets isn’t rocket science—you just need to know where the sharp edges are. Start small, automate only what saves you time, and check your data regularly. If something breaks, it’s usually a change in the site you’re scraping or in your Crawlbase job setup.

Don’t overthink it. Pull in what you need, build from there, and keep your workflow tidy. The best marketing analytics setups are the ones you actually use, not the fanciest ones.

Go build something useful. And if you get stuck, just start by importing a tiny sample—most problems show up early, and nothing beats seeing your own data in Sheets.