Level: Intermediate
A backlink or competitor export often lists full URLs, but for analysis you usually need just the root domain, which requires some text-formula work in Excel.
The Excel Technique
A formula like =MID(A2,FIND("//",A2)+2,FIND("/",A2,FIND("//",A2)+2)-FIND("//",A2)-2) extracts the domain from a full URL, though it needs adjustment for URLs without a trailing path. It's a genuinely fiddly formula to get exactly right across every edge case in a real-world export.
Example Scenario
You've exported 600 backlink URLs and need just the referring domains to assess how many unique sites are actually linking to you, versus how many links come from the same few domains repeated many times.
Where This Fits in Your Keyword Research Process
Domain extraction is one of those formulas that looks simple in concept but breaks on enough real-world edge cases — trailing slashes, query parameters, subdomains — that it's worth testing carefully or handling with a purpose-built tool instead.
Next step: Use Extract Domain from URLs from SeoWolf's Notepad to pull clean root domains from your 600-URL backlink export before it reaches Excel, avoiding the fiddly nested FIND/MID formula entirely and giving you a ready-to-analyze referring-domain list immediately.