Introduction
Google Alert is one of the most popular tools in the Mountain View universe. You know very well that the most famous search engine on the web offers a series of services that aim to retain the average user. But also, of those who use the web for work such as content marketing and SEO professionals. I will share how to Setup Google Alerts for News in 2020. So, keep reading for a better understanding.
Among these is Google Alert, one of the most popular and used tools by those who deal with these subjects. Without forgetting an essential aspect. Or that of inbound marketing. A complete approach that manages to embrace all the points of a digital strategy and that moves towards a goal
Reach the right people. Above all, reach people the moment they need you. And not with interruptions, banner ads, intrusive AdSense, and pop-ups that leave no breath.
What is Google Alert?
Google Alert is a free Mountain View application to track pages that contain specific keywords. The moment you indicate your interest in that keyword, Google Alert sends an email to your address whenever something is published with that occurrence.
Why is Google Alert so popular in the web marketing industry? you can trace the keywords that are necessary for you and that are published on the web pages.
How does Google Alert work?
First, you need to have a Google Account to activate it. Then, once registered and obtained a Gmail profile, you can go to the official website ( www.google.it/alerts ) and start managing the various queries. Type the word you are interested in and subscribe to updates via email. You must follow these aspects:
Quality of results
Google Alert allows you to optimize the quality of the web pages included in the report. You can decide to add all or only what the search engine considers most pertinent (best solution if you have a query with high volumes such as “SEO,” “Social Media Marketing,” or other similar combinations).
Types of results
Google allows you to sort: do you want the links of the news section or all the published web pages? Or maybe only blogs? You decide to improve the quality of the report. You can also select the geographic region of the publication and the language of the document to be included in the report.
Frequency and quality of updates
Don’t you want to be disturbed every day with report emails? Do you need continuous updates? You decide the details of the email. Remember that when you receive the email that defines all the occurrences found for a particular keyword, you can report certain links as irrelevant.
This way, you can improve the quality of what you will find in the next email. Is there only one way to get Google Alert updates for a keyword? No, if you search at the end of the SERP, you will find a section that asks you if you want to receive updates for that query. You have to accept and continue.
How to use Google Alert seriously
All this is useful to start using Google Alert, but to make the most of it; you have to set goals. You have to take advantage of the strength of tracking a keyword to get good results.
Do content curation
Thanks to the possibility of intercepting the best information on a theme every day, you can update your audience with fresh content reported by Google Alert. And maybe you can enrich everything from a content curation perspective. Remember that you can share posts and pages from the report.
Brand monitoring
This is a goal: to find out what people say about your brand when they mention you on blogs and websites. In this way, you can set in motion a series of indispensable mechanisms to protect your image ranging from customer care service to comment marketing.
Link earning
You are well aware that the backlinks are decisive for obtaining the right positions in the SERP. But how do you get links? Start working on content marketing, create something unique, and then work on the outreach blogger to find fruitful publishers on a republished with links.
For example, you have created an ebook dedicated to inbound marketing. You want to use it as a magnet link as a bait to get inbound links. Something comes automatically, but you need to make this resource known. So, you’re betting on advertising, but that’s not enough. Or at least not always.
Not everyone knows that they can also follow their Google Alert via RSS Feed. And maybe generate automatisms and republications by activating this option.
Alternatives to Google Alert: Mention
There are alternatives to this tool so loved by web marketing experts. Despite being an excellent free solution, it is not exactly an example of precision and versatility. Yes, you can do a lot. But if you want something more, you can use Mention, an alternative to Google Alert with the freemium solution. That is, with a free but limited account.
With Mention, you can track keywords in the best possible way, and you can do it by considering web pages as blogs. But also, all public social accounts. For example, you can track what is posted on Twitter or forums. In any case, the realities that are not considered by Google Alert with the right attention.
You can use Talkwalker, Hootsuite and Tweetdeck
Remember that if you want to track only the Twitter keywords and hashtags, you can use other solutions. Among these are Tweetdeck, completely free, and Hootsuite. In both cases, you can create lists of updates that extrapolate from the various updates that have your keyword. The only difference is that Hootsuite has paid programs.
Another interesting solution to replace Google Alert: Talkwalker, one of the most famous tools in the social media marketing sector. This powerful tool allows you to track conversations on social networks and transform everything into data to be analyzed to make your decisions. Perfect for branding work but also for intercepting topics in conversations and having all the data available.
Summary
In short, there are different ways and solutions to use Google Alert. To know more read our previous blog.