Google Alerts are simply automated messages sent to your Gmail account whenever Google indexes web content that included your selected keywords or keyword phrases. This is a free tool provided by Google. You can choose to include several keywords to narrow down the search alerts or even put your keywords in “quotes” to even further narrow down the relevancy.
Google Alerts is very easy to setup but you do have a few options such as how often to receive the alerts. Common keywords will generate an endless stream of alerts so I normally chose the ‘daily‘ option. Another option Google gives you involves the volume of the alerts by selecting “All results” or “Only the best results“. You can set the type of content you want to be alerted of by Everything, News, Blogs, Video, and Discussions.
Here are a few ideas on how to put Google Alerts to work for you as a blogger:
- Keep up with your niche.
- Track your competition.
- Stay on top of news and development in your field.
- Discover new content and topics.
- Track your brand and name.
- Find new and upcoming keywords.
- Find scrapers stealing your content.
- See how quickly your content is being indexed by Google.
- Discover relevant blogs and websites.
- Build your network within your niche.
- Find new social and bookmarking sites.
- Be the first to know when your keywords are in the news.
- Find new places to add backlinks for SEO.
- Determine which keywords are saturated with competition.
- Find backlinks to your site from content and article marketing.
There you have it; Google Alerts are a fantastic free tool for bloggers. The options available help reduce the volume of alerts you receive. You can always go in and adjust the settings, add new alerts, or delete old ones in a matter of seconds. Google Alerts should be on every website admin’s list of free tools.
You? Do you use Google Alerts? Do you find them useful? Are there any benefits I missed? I’d love to hear you comments and opinions.
Related Post: Track Your Blog’s Niche With Google Alerts
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Brian,
I have been using Google Alerts for a while now. Your points are absolutely spot-on. Google Alerts is a wonderful way to keep on top of your important keywords.
.Without it you can easily miss important developments that may be JUST the thing for a future groundbreaking aritcle 9and being a leader, rather than a follower.)
Steve recently posted..45 Tips to Make MORE Money with Affiliate Marketing
Hi Steve, Google Alerts have been around for years and I’ve written about them before but I don’t know of a better free tool available that does the same thing. I know there are a lot of new bloggers that haven’t taken advantage of them yet.
Nice site BTW. I just subscribed and followed you on Twitter so we can keep in touch. Thanks for the comment.
admin recently posted..Bloggers
wow!!we have so much to get from Google alert! I was missing a lot !
Thanks a lot brian for the post.
faissal alhaithami recently posted..Facebook news mashup #4 & No Longer Need 25 Fans To Get A Custom facebook Url
My pleasure Faissal, I hope it helps.
I haven’t made the best use of Google Alerts Brian. I set it up some years ago to keep an eye out for Sire but that doesn’t really hold much value. Thanks for the extra tips mate as they will allow me to get a lot more out of it.
I’m always glad to help Sire, that’s what it’s all about.
admin recently posted..Bloggers
First I had created my Google alerts to get the movie alerts for actor “Matt Damon”. He’s my favorite actor. But later on I’m using to track my competitors activity and it’s really working wonder.
Thanks Aanchal, I’m glad it’s working out.
admin recently posted..Bloggers
This is an awesome feature. I’ve been using it for some time to identify conversations that I may be able to participate in. It can get a bit annoying having to shift through all the URLs Google sends (depending on the search terms you’ve selected) but it gives you the ability to really stay on top of your topic
Hi Sandip, you’re right, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with some of the alerts. I do the same thing though, I have daily alerts for “blog tips” that I use to find new sites to visit and people to connect with. Thanks for the comment.
admin recently posted..Bloggers
That’s interesting Brian, I’d wondered how I could tell if some of my articles had been pinched and this seems like just the thing.
Roz Bennetts recently posted..Winnie the Pooh Extract
It works pretty well Roz. You have a pretty unique name too so if you setup an alert with “Roz Bennetts” in quotes like that you can see where your name turns up. You can even see which comments of yours Google is picking up. If you keep getting alerts linking back to certain blogs you have commented on based on your name you know Google is going back and re-indexing those pages. Those are blogs you should make a point to comment on often. Hey, that was pretty good, wasn’t it? lol I think that tip is going in the next newsletter.
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Hi Brian,
I haven’t used Google Alerts yet but you’ve just given me an idea. I’m looking for posts about Twitter and I think this is a great way for me to get them.
I’m setting it up right now. Thanks for sharing these tips. I’ll try out your other ideas once I get the hang of it.
Have a nice day!
Hi Theresa, there are a ton of Great twitter articles out there. You might want to keep the alert keywords narrowed down to keep from getting overwhelmed.
admin recently posted..Newsletter
If I were to chose from all those things that you suggested that Google Alert does, I wouldn’t be able to. And now you tell me that all those things are contained in one.
Thank you for the info, I’m going to look into it myself.
I’m happy to help Ana
admin recently posted..Hot Blog Tips Facebook Fan Page – You Are Invited!
Hi Brian,
I’m using Google alerts since many years ago, most for keywords, links and content scrapers.
It’s a useful tool that perhaps not all people use normally.
I’ve adjusted my settings for weekly or instantly, if the task is important.
Today, I’ve other tool for that task also: Twitter with columns already established on Hootsuite for certain keywords and for my Twitter name bad spelled…
Cheers,
Gera
Gera recently posted..CommentLuv Premium Plugin Review: 7 Reasons Why this Plugin Rocks
Hi Gera, I do the same thing with Hootsuite. I have an entire panel dedicated to tracking several keywords that I’m interested in. It’s amazing how many tweets come across.
admin recently posted..Bloggers
I don’t understand how I haven’t heard about this service before. It is a very powerful tool to quickly discover news and of course, as you said, monitor how Google is indexing you. I guess the difficult part, as usual, is selecting the right keywords.
No harder than selecting the keywords for your blog/s Rafa since many times they will be the same.
admin recently posted..Hot Blog Tips Facebook Fan Page – You Are Invited!
Google is a giant in providing benefits not only on bloggers but also anyone who’s working online. Google alerts are helpful in getting bunch of ideas to improve marketing and be competent in making money online.
Hi Vhien, Idea generation is a great use for Google Alerts.
Google alerts is great. I use it for most of the stuff you listed above. It’s always interesting to see what happens to your content once it gets indexed. Google hides a lot of the stuff they do, but alerts lets Google let you know what you are looking for exactly when it happens.
It’s true Lionel, Google can get pretty secretive, although they seem to be opening up more and more lately. I do see things show up in Google Alerts that doesn’t show up on their Analytics. For example, I get alerts from tweets and retweets using my URL but they don’t show up as actual backlinks on Google. That tells me they are at least indexing that content even though they may not be lending it much weight to the links. Great point!
admin recently posted..Hot Blog Tips Facebook Fan Page – You Are Invited!
I am still new to the whole blogging deal, so this list is very useful and extensive.
Well welcome to blogging. Since you’re new to blogging, I’ll help you out with commenting. Here are a couple of tips on effective commenting:
1) Register your email at Gravatar so you can display your picture, logo or image.
2) Use a name or even a nickname, never the keywords. We use CommentLuv Premium which includes KeyeordLuv. You can include up to three keyword with your name but a name is required. The keywords are where we link from so you still get great anchor text.
admin recently posted..Hot Blog Tips Facebook Fan Page – You Are Invited!
Hi! Actually this is the first time I’ve heard about Google Alerts. I think every bloggers out there must have this free application, I will try this one. Thanks for sharing this Brian!
Glad to help Marvin, that’s what we’re here for.
admin recently posted..Hot Blog Tips Facebook Fan Page – You Are Invited!
It helps in my SEO activities a lot! Especially keeping an eye on new websites entering the competition daily!
Monitoring competition is a big one for me too Matt. I subscribe to competing blog’s feed not only to keep tabs on them but, in blogging, they can be huge allies as well. Google Alerts helps us find new players, just like you said. Great point, I appreciate your input.
Thank you for sharing this post with us. Its a really good article, thanks again. Google alert is something what i use for ages now, still working fine. Thanks again.
My pleasure Rudy.
admin recently posted..Hot Blog Tips Facebook Fan Page – You Are Invited!
Hi, Brian!
I still do not use Google Alerts, but after reading through your post, I am sure I will, as you presented here some really great ideas of the way to use it! What is even better is that it comes for free, and yet it can have so many benefits. I think I will use it mostly for discovering new topics and contents. Those things are always my most relevant starting motivators.
Thanks Kristina.
I am using the google alerts but don’t pay much attention to them. I am definately not using them to my advantage.
lol I’ve been there Darren, I’m guilty of that on a lot of things. Thanks for the comment.
I’ve been using Google Alerts for a few years myself, which is how I track to see how influential I might be getting. Most of the time not very, I have to say, as it’s hard being Mitch Mitchell when there’s a famous person who went by the same name. lol
(dofollow)
Mitch Mitchell recently posted..Being Good In Business
Hi Mitch, your name must bring in a ton of music alerts. There was a lawyer running around online with my name dominating Google but not so much lately.
Google has always been good with the free tools, this on looks like good. I will definatly try that.
Sanjeev recently posted..WordPress Plugins Which I use on my blogs
Google tools are wonderful Sanjeev. Alerts is one of them and one that helps a lot.
Hello Brian
I am using google alerts just to get daily update on certain topics using my preferred keywords. Bad side is too many alerts can kill your inbox.
Thanks Neo, you can always set the alerts to arrive just once a day or even weekly. That does, however, generate a very long email if it’s based on popular keywords and topics.
I discovered Google Alerts years ago and it’s been a big help for me in my blogspot hosted sports blog back then. Aside from Google Alerts, it would be a great idea for bloggers and everyone involved in internet marketing to continue checking out Google Labs for free applications that can help them out.
Noel Addison recently posted..Selling Ice Cubes to Eskimos
Thanks for the tip on Google Labs Noel. What type of applications are you referring to?
admin recently posted..Hot Blog Tips Facebook Fan Page – You Are Invited!
I’m planning to use Google alert but i have a hard time using it. Can you direct me to a reliable link wherein it discusses the step by step procedure in using Google Alert. Also, i’m wondering if Google Alert is similar with Google Analytics. I look forward to your response.
I’m not aware of any step by step tutorial at the moment Jarrod. I need to start adding more videos to our YouTube channel so perhaps I’ll put one together on Google Alerts. It’s really pretty simple and self explanatory though. I’d be surprised if Google didn’t have pretty detailed instructions in their help pages.
admin recently posted..Hot Blog Tips Facebook Fan Page – You Are Invited!
Hi Brian,
Google Alerts is indeed very helpful. I use this to track if my posts or articles are being stolen. I also use it to find new posts about specific topics for some updates. I’ll try some of your ideas on how to take advantage of Google Alerts.
Thanks Alex, I also use Google Alerts to see how quickly Google is indexing new posts.
admin recently posted..Best Blogging Tip Tweets – 39.11
I know for a long time of Google Alerts but I haven’t used it until now. The list that you have build here with the reasons looks very good. I will use it for my site to see how it will help me in doing a better job.
Thanks for sharing the list with us.
Thanks Ioana, give it a try, I’m sure it will help.
admin recently posted..Best Blogging Tip Tweets – 39.11
That’s exactly what brought me to your blog today, Brian!
Ana recently posted..Internet Marketing Tools
That’s pretty cool Ana, I’m glad you noticed it.
very short and nice tips
(dofollow)
sai krishna recently posted..Mashable Like Magazine Theme For WordPress Blogs $$
Thanks Sai, just like your comments. lol
Brian Hawkins recently posted..Use Google Alerts To Improve Your Alexa Ranking
Thank you; I have used google alerts before, but had not thought to use it in this way. I think I will try it, as I’m trying to find related poetry blogs/websites that I really dig and don’t mind commenting on!
Thanks for this information and I’ve just signed up for google alert and have already recieved news from my related keywords. Wondering if it’s right to use the news and put it in my blog with link indicating the source from?
Steve Kent recently posted..How effective is using telemarketing call centers to get lead generation
Hi Steve, The alert is just a link to other online content so any source credit should go to the original site in my opinion, no Google.
How do I get my site to actually show up as a google alert? I follow key words that I want my blog known for. I see my “competitors” content showing up – from much smaller blogs than mine. How do i get my content to be alerted by Google??
As long as your site is being indexed Maura, it should trigger an alert for something like “happydealhappyday”. Individually, those are very common words and would create an unbelievable number of alerts. But if you aren’t getting alerts for your domain, I’d make sure your pages are being indexed.
Great blog post. Really useful for an appliance store I am working with.
Can be used with all clients
L