What are Google Alerts? These handy tools can help you keep track of keywords and phrases across the Internet without having to spend your time searching every site one by one. If you’re new to Google Alerts, these 10 secrets will help you take full advantage of them as soon as possible. 10 Secrets You Didn’t Know You Needed to Know About Google Alerts
1) Setting up your alerts
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Setting up alerts for your own name will give you a greater understanding of who is talking about you and what they’re saying. This information can help you make decisions regarding any changes that need to be made in your online reputation. Monitoring keywords related to your brand, products or industry will allow you to identify how people are talking about those subjects – both positively and negatively – and act accordingly.
2) Troubleshooting alert issues
We do our best to ensure that Google Alerts are working as they should, but sometimes it’s difficult for us or you to determine whether an alert is functioning properly. If you notice a problem with one of your alerts and aren’t able to solve it yourself, reach out for help by following these steps.
3) The importance of trends
Before starting a Google Alert, you should consider what types of information you’re interested in. To learn more about news that’s relevant to your area of work or expertise, set up an alert on specific keywords.
4) Trigger words are very important in your alerts
It’s important that you include words in your alert that match your niche. For example, if you’re a travel blogger, write vacation, travel destinations, tourism. If you have a website selling laptops, write laptops, and so on.
5) Focus on topics, not titles
By setting up alerts for specific topics and not necessarily for specific titles, you can ensure that your alert will send you news about your clients’ competitors. If a competitor comes out with a new product or is mentioned in an important magazine, there’s a good chance it will show up on Google News as well as be referenced in hundreds of other sites across the web.
6) Don’t ignore new brands or trends
New brands pop up on a regular basis, and unless you’re monitoring keywords related to your industry and competitors, it can be easy to miss out on brand new trends. To keep your finger on the pulse of what’s happening in your niche, set up a few alerts that notify you whenever a new company or product is mentioned.
7) Data accuracy is key
The more accurate your data, especially if it’s highly specific, is going to be more helpful when it comes time for you to use that information. For example, if you sell motor oil and want a simple way of knowing when other people are talking about or sharing their favorite brands of oil on Facebook, you might set up an alert for motor oil with your specific brand name as a keyword.
8) Always check the source of information before publishing it as your own
A recent Pew Research Center study found that 58 percent of Americans say they encounter made-up stories at least occasionally, with 11 percent reporting that they come across such stories on a daily basis. One way you can protect yourself from unintentionally publishing misinformation is by running all your content through a verification tool before sharing it with others.