1

This formula was pretty ok just few months ago: =IMPORTXML("https://www.google.com/search?q=Edward", "//h3")

Now it throws an error:

Could not fetch url: https://www.google.com/search?q=Edward

Why did it happen and how to correct it?

Andrew Anderson
  • 1,044
  • 3
  • 17
  • 26
  • Sorry to say that ImportXML can be...finicky, so there's a good chance this formula started working for you again (as it works for me at the moment). Another option (that also comes with its own set of quirks) is to create a Google Custom Search engine that searches the entire web, explained here by Bangkokian (http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4082966/what-are-the-alternatives-now-that-the-google-web-search-api-has-been-deprecated) – Greg Dec 22 '15 at 03:03
  • @Greg, I think you are right. It works occasionaly and then just stops working. – Andrew Anderson Dec 24 '15 at 19:56

1 Answers1

0

Try two things: one without the "S" on "https" and also a couple other xpaths, there are a few:

=IMPORTXML("http://www.google.com/search?q=Edward", "//h3")

=IMPORTXML("https://www.google.com/search?q=Edward", "//cite")
Aurielle Perlmann
  • 5,323
  • 1
  • 15
  • 26
  • Unfortunately, it doesn't work either. I discovered that this formula works just occasionally. – Andrew Anderson Dec 24 '15 at 19:57
  • 1
    @AndrewAnderson Google is suuuper finicky, i find it so incredibly annoying, as I run thousands of importxml queries on a daily basis - I haven't officially figured out yet, if there is something that specifically causes it to stop working - there MUST be an answer but it happens seemingly randomly. – Aurielle Perlmann Dec 30 '15 at 07:10