How To Set Up A Google Alert (In 3 Simple And Easy Steps)

Right now, billions of social transactions are happening online.

New content is constantly being published on social media streams, websites, and news sites, and some of that information is related to subjects you are interested in.

Wouldn’t it be great if there was a free, easy and simple way to access information about what is going on in your industry or niche so that you are not wasting a huge amount of time doing research?

Well, there is, and it’s called … Google Alerts.

(Google Alerts lets you monitor the web for new content)

Google Alerts is a free intelligence service that will send you an email when there are new results for your searches.

Google Alerts is not only great for helping you manage your reputation online, but also for sourcing news about people, companies, and any topic you want to know about.

With Google Alerts, you subscribe to a keyword or topic and you’re done.

Whenever Google’s indexing robots crawl a new web site, blog post, press release, news update, a tweet, video, or any other content related to the topic you’ve subscribed to, it will automatically send you an email or RSS update.

How To Set Up A Google Alert Step-by-Step

Let’s go over the simple steps required to start using Google Alerts:

Step 1 – Log Into Your Google Account

If you don’t have a Google account, create one. A Google account lets you access loads of free services with one username and password. If you use Gmail, post videos to YouTube, run a pay-per-click advertising campaign with Adwords or have a GooglePlus page, then you should already have a Google account set up.

(Log into your Google Account to set up your Google alerts)

You can still set up Google Alerts without a Google Account, but this will give you fewer options (e.g. you can only receive email alerts, not alerts via RSS).

After logging into into your Google Account, access the Google Alerts tool by entering the following URL into your web browser:

https://www.google.com/alerts

Step 2 – Set Up Your Alerts

You can set up alerts for every topic, business, person or web address you want to receive updates about. You can keep track of product brands, employees, celebrities, competitors, influencers, investors, etc. There are no limits to the number of alerts you can set up.

(Google Alerts lets you create as many alerts as you like)

Step 3 – Configure Your Preferences

You can specify the keyword(s) you want alerts for, how often alerts should be sent out (as it happens, once a day, once a week), sources (e.g. automatic, news, blogs, web, videos, discussions, etc.), language, region, how many (all results, only the best results), and how to receive alerts (via email or RSS feed) …

(Google Alerts – preferences)

If you want to narrow where Google sources the information for your alerts, select the source from the drop-down menu …

(Google Alerts – sources)

You can also specify alert delivery times in your settings, and whether these should be sent as a single email …

(Google Alerts – settings)

All of these settings can be changed anytime you want. You can also delete any alerts you no longer want to receive …

(Google Alerts – settings)

You will begin receiving alerts as set in your preferences …

(Receive alerts via email or RSS)

If you want Google to send our alerts via email, you can configure rules in your email program to redirect alerts automatically to one or more email folders. This will help to keep your alerts organized and easier to sort through.

If you choose to receive alerts via RSS feed, you can use a feed reader to view the information on your smartphone or mobile device.

Once you have set up your alerts, you can track information about topics, names, competitors, etc., or create content|web content on the latest news in your chosen topic.

How to Set Up a Google Alert Step-by-Step

Let’s go over the simple steps required to start using Google Alerts:

Step 1 – Log Into Your Google Account

If you don’t have a Google account, create one. A Google account lets you access loads of free services with one username and password. If you use Gmail, post videos to YouTube, run a pay-per-click advertising campaign with Adwords, or have a GooglePlus page, then you should already have a Google account set up.

You can still set up Google Alerts without a Google Account, but this will give you fewer options (e.g., you can only receive email alerts, not alerts via RSS).

After logging into your Google Account, access the Google Alerts tool by entering the following URL into your web browser: https://www.google.com/alerts

Step 2 – Set Up Your Alerts

You can set up alerts for every topic, business, person, or web address you want to receive updates about. You can keep track of product brands, employees, celebrities, competitors, influencers, investors, etc. There are no limits to the number of alerts you can set up.

Step 3 – Configure Your Preferences

You can specify the keyword(s) you want alerts for, how often alerts should be sent out (as it happens, once a day, once a week), sources (e.g., automatic, news, blogs, web, videos, discussions, etc.), language, region, how many (all results, only the best results), and how to receive alerts (via email or RSS feed).

If you want to narrow where Google sources the information for your alerts, select the source from the drop-down menu. You can also specify alert delivery times in your settings, and whether these should be sent as a single email. All of these settings can be changed anytime you want. You can also delete any alerts you no longer want to receive.

You will begin receiving alerts as set in your preferences.

If you want Google to send alerts via email, you can configure rules in your email program to redirect alerts automatically to one or more email folders. This will help to keep your alerts organized and easier to sort through. If you choose to receive alerts via RSS feed, you can use a feed reader to view the information on your smartphone or mobile device.

Once you have set up your alerts, you can track information about topics, names, competitors, etc., or create content based on the latest news in your chosen topic.

Practical Uses for Google Alerts

1. Content Creation: Stay updated on the latest news and trends in your industry to generate fresh content ideas.
2. Reputation Management: Monitor mentions of your brand to address any negative feedback promptly and maintain a positive online presence.
3. Competitor Analysis: Keep track of competitors’ activities to identify opportunities and stay ahead in your market.
4. Backlink Monitoring: Set alerts for new backlinks to your website to understand and improve your SEO strategy.
5. Industry Trends: Follow keywords related to your industry to stay informed about market trends and developments.

Enhancing Your Google Alerts Usage

Google Alerts can be a powerful tool for content creators and marketers. It can help you stay ahead of trends in your industry by alerting you to new developments as they happen.

Additionally, you can use Google Alerts to monitor competitors, which can provide valuable insights into their strategies and performance. By understanding what content is being published by your competitors, you can better tailor your own content to fill gaps or address trending topics more effectively.

Moreover, Google Alerts can be integrated with other tools like Google Analytics to track the impact of the alerts on your website traffic.

By setting up alerts for backlinks, you can also identify new sites linking to your content, which can help you understand the effectiveness of your SEO strategy.

Conclusion

Google Alerts is an invaluable tool for anyone looking to stay informed about specific topics without spending hours on research.

By leveraging this free service, you can efficiently manage your online presence, stay updated on industry news, and gain insights into competitor activities. Setting up and customizing Google Alerts to suit your needs ensures you receive the most relevant information, helping you make informed decisions and keep your content timely and engaging.