How to set up Google Alerts
Google Alerts is the tool that we like to call a free personal assistant. The reason we call this tool this is that it in a sense acts like a persona assistant. Google Alerts will monitor for the mention of the keywords you have specified and then find the information that pertains to this.
When you set up your Google Alerts you will get a sample of the data that Google Alerts will find for you. You will be able to select if you want to receive the alerts in your email or in an RSS reader. This is a great tool to keep up on the information that is out there on your niche, your brand and your competitors.
Google Alerts are really easy to set up and can be done with just a handful of steps:
- Go to http://www.google.com/alerts
- Type in what you are looking for
- Choose what type of results you want to follow (everything, news, blogs, video, discussions, or books).
- Choose how often you want to receive updates (as-it-happens, once a day, or once a week).
- Choose if you want “Only the best results” or “All results.”
- Choose the email address you want your alerts sent to, or create a feed.
- Click “Create Alert.”
Once you set-up your search term you will see an example of what Google alerts finds for you.
The image below shows a search query for “Marketing tips” all together
It is possible to specify to only look for items that are in News, Blogs, Videos, Discussion or Books, but we prefer to look for everything. We also prefer to select all results vs. the best results to ensure we don’t miss any information.
You do have the option to set up your alerts to go to your email or you can set them up to go to an RSS reader such as Google Reader.
Google alerts are a great way to use a free tool as your personal research assistant and have it running in the background looking for information you are interested in. This is also a great way to monitor what is being published about you, or your brand or your competitors.
If you would like to learn more about how to use Google Alerts and other tools to build your online brand please complete the form below and we will be in contact with you <
