How to Set Up Google Alerts: The Ultimate Guide
Discover how to track brand mentions, analyze competitors, and stay current with industry trends using Google Alerts. Pair with Buska.io for instant social media insights. Make informed decisions and nurture a positive brand reputation.
If you’re not familiar with Google Alerts, it’s time to explore this web monitoring tool. Google Alerts is highly regarded because it’s free.
However, it’s important to note that Google Alerts is not a social listening tool; it only monitors web pages, not social networks.
What is Google Alerts?
Google Alerts is a tool developed by Google in 2013 that sends emails when it finds new web pages matching your search terms or keywords. It helps you stay informed without manually searching the internet. With Google Alerts, you can track any keyword or phrase mentioned on the internet.
Every time these keywords or search terms appear in Google results, you’ll receive an email notification (typically a few days later).
How does it work?
Simply visit Google Alerts and enter a term or phrase you want to monitor.
You can set the frequency for receiving alerts. However, note that you might only receive notifications a few days later because a page isn’t immediately indexed by Google.
You have various options for configuring settings, including:
- Frequency
- Sources such as blogs, news, and web pages
- Language
- Country
- Number of results
- Email address to receive notification alerts
Why Use Google Alerts?
Brand Monitoring
Monitoring your brand online is crucial for maintaining a positive reputation. Using Google Alerts, you’ll be notified whenever your brand is mentioned on the web, allowing you to be proactive and share this information on your social networks. This monitoring, though not in real-time, can make a difference in maintaining a well-cultivated brand image versus a negative reputation.
Competitive Analysis
Understanding your competitors’ movements is essential to stay ahead in your market. Google Alerts enables you to track mentions of your competitors, providing insights into their product launches or customer feedback. This information can help you identify market gaps, improve your offerings, and devise more effective strategies against them.
Industry News
Staying updated on the latest news and trends in your industry is vital for strategic planning and innovation. Google Alerts ensures you never miss important updates, regulatory changes, or emerging trends. This continuous flow of information aids in making informed decisions and adapting strategies to the evolving market landscape.
Content Discovery
For content creators and marketers, finding fresh and relevant content is essential. This not only inspires your content but also helps identify development opportunities.
However, we recommend using a social listening platform to stay informed about trends in a specific market or if you want to conduct sentiment analysis regarding a product, market, or other areas.
Social Listening Platform vs Google Alerts
The major difference between Google Alerts and a social listening platform lies in social media listening capabilities. Platforms like buska.io allow real-time monitoring of the entire web, including all social networks, such as:
- TikTok
- Medium
- YouTube
- Product Hunt
- and more
Moreover, a social listening platform like Buska can help find new prospects for your business. A dissatisfied user from another platform or website is more likely to sign up with you if you respond to them when they need it.
Looking for an alternative to Google Alerts? We’ve written a comprehensive article comparing Buska vs Google Alerts. If you’d like to read it, you can find it here.
It’s important to understand that while Google Alerts is a first step in social listening, it doesn’t replace a dedicated social listening platform.
If you want to know what people think about your product or brand, it’s necessary to consider using a social listening platform, which is an alternative to Google Alerts.
Now that you’re well-informed and have become professionals in setting up Google Alerts, you understand the importance for a young company to configure its alerts to be notified when mentioned on the internet. However, if you want to generate business from these alerts, we recommend turning to a social listening platform.
Sign up for free on Buska, the specialized social listening platform for lead generation, by clicking here.
