Believe it or not, taking a few minutes to learn how to set up Google Alerts correctly can pay huge dividends when it comes to growing your blog’s audience. Do you ever feel like you’re missing out on a big secret to blogging? Maybe it seems like all the big bloggers in your niche are everywhere… commenting on posts, linking to palestine b2b leads
great content , or constantly monitoring the latest new trends. You may feel overwhelmed by everything they do. And maybe you think they have a whole team of employees constantly scouring the web . Chances are, they don’t. Chances are, they’re using Google Alerts , a free, easy, and incredibly valuable tool . Google Alerts can help you brainstorm ideas, track brand mentions, build links, stay on top of industry trends, and more. Best of all, it’s completely free. If you’ve never heard of Google Alerts, or you’ve tried it and haven’t had any success, don’t worry. In this guide, we'll go step-by-step through using Google Alerts as a proven tool to grow your blog this year.
Contents hide
1 What are Google Alerts?
2 Why should you use Google Alerts?
2.1 Step 1: Create your first Google Alert
2.2 Step 2: Editing Google Alert
2.3 Step 3: Set up additional Google alerts
3 Optimize your alerts (for better results)
4 6 Ways Using Google Alerts Can Help Grow Your Blog
5 Ready to set up Google Alerts and grow your blog?
5.1 Related publications:
What are Google Alerts?
Google Alerts are free notifications from Google that let you know when certain terms are mentioned online . Essentially , they allow you to continuously monitor Google results for a specific query.
So if you imagined that top bloggers had a team constantly searching Google for the information they need… well, you’re not that far off. Google just does the searching on your behalf. No humans required! Google Alerts can be received via email or as an RSS feed in your news reader. We’ll get into exactly how to set up Google Alerts shortly, but before we get started, let’s dive into some of the big reasons why you should start using Google Alerts today.
Why should you use Google Alerts?
Google Alerts is a fantastic tool. It lets you track any keyword (and customize the settings so you don’t get overwhelmed by the results). It’s completely free, so even if you’re just starting out blogging , it’s very accessible. You just need a (free) Google account, which you probably already have. Plus, Google Alerts puts information at your fingertips, giving you business insights, blog post ideas , and more. We’ll dive into the benefits of Google Alerts in more detail later. For now, let’s get started creating your first alert. You’ll be amazed at how quick the Google Alerts setup process is—it only takes a few seconds.
Step 1: Create your first Google Alert
First, sign in to your Google account, then go to google.com/alerts. You will see the main Google alerts page, where you can simply enter the search term ( keyword ) you want to use for the alert.
Then click the Create Alert button. You will see a list of your alerts as shown below:
That's it! You've set up a Google alert.
Step 2: Edit Google Alert
To edit your Google Alert, simply click on the pencil icon next to it. This will allow you to change the default settings . (You can also access these settings when creating the alert by clicking on the “Show options” link.)
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Below are the different options you can choose from: How often do you receive a Google alert:
As it happens
No more than once a day
No more than once a week
Sources for your notifications:
Auto
Blogs
News
Web
Video
Books
Discussions
Finance
(As you can see, social media isn't an option, so you'll have to use other tools like Buzzsumo to track brand mentions and the like on social media.)
Language: Most languages available
Region: Most regions available
How many:
Only the best results
All results
Deliver to:
Your email address
RSS feed
Step 3: Set up additional Google alerts
You can continue to set up as many alerts as you like. You'll see a list of them on the Google Alerts home page:
You already know how to set up a Google Alert from Step 1, so just follow this process again. You might want to set up Google Alerts for things like:
Your own name
Your brand name
Brand names of your competitors
Name of your product(s)
Name of your service (s)
Key topics you write about
Your notifications will arrive in your inbox as follows:
If it's a term that's used frequently, you'll get a (often long) list of results. If you have multiple results, they'll be divided into sections, such as "News" and "Web," as shown below:
