How To Set Up Google Alerts

At any given point in time, there are billions of interactions taking place online. New content is constantly being published on websites, news media, and social media streams, and some of that information is related to subjects you are interested in.

Is there a free and simple way to find out what is going on in your industry or niche so that you are not wasting a huge amount of time doing research? Yes, there is, and it’s called …

Google Alerts

(Google Alerts – free web monitoring service)

Google Alerts is a tool that delivers Google search queries to your inbox or via RSS feed.

Google Alerts is not only useful for managing your reputation online, but also for receiving information about people, companies, and any other subject you are interested in.

With Google Alerts, you just subscribe to a keyword or topic and you’re done. Whenever Google’s indexing robots crawl a new web page, news update, blog post, press release, a video, tweet, or any other indexable content related to that topic, you will automatically receive an email or RSS update.

How To Create A Google Alert

Let’s go over the simple steps required to start using Google Alerts:

Step 1 – Log Into Your Google Account

If you haven’t got a Google account, create one. Google lets you access loads of free services with just one username and password. If you use Gmail, post videos to YouTube, run a pay-per-click advertising campaign with Adwords or have a GooglePlus page, then you should already have a Google account.

(Log into your Google Account to set up your alerts)

You can still set up Google Alerts without a Google Account, but this gives you fewer configuration options (e.g. you can only receive email alerts, not alerts via RSS).

After logging into into your Google Account, access the Google Alerts tool here:

https://www.google.com/alerts

Step 2 – Set Up An Alert

Set up an alert for any topic, business, person or web address you would like to receive updates about. This service lets you keep track of product brands, employees, celebrities, influencers, investors, competitors, etc. There is no limit to how many alerts you can set up.

(Google Alerts lets you create as many alerts as you like)

Step 3 – Set Your Preferences

Google Alerts lets you specify the keyword(s) you want alerts for, how often alerts should be sent out (as it happens, once a day, once a week), sources (e.g. automatic, news, blogs, web, videos, discussions, etc.), language, region, how many (all results, only the best results), and how to receive alerts (via email or RSS feed) …

(Google Alerts – preferences)

If you want to narrow where Google sources the information for your alerts, just select an option from the drop-down menu …

(Google alert sources)

You can also specify the delivery time of your alerts in your settings, and whether these should be sent as a single email …

(Google alert settings)

You can change these settings at anytime.

You should begin receiving alerts as per your preferences …

(Google alerts – email alert)

Note that at the bottom of your email notification, you are given various options, including:

• See more results
• Edit the alert
• Unsubscribe (stop receiving the alert)
• View all your alerts
• Receive the alert as RSS feed

How To Set Up Google Alerts While Browsing Google News

You can easily set up Google Alerts while browsing the web. Here’s how:

Go to Google News and type in your search term …

(Enter a search term in Google News)

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on ‘Create Alert’ …

(Google News – Create Alert)

Enter your email address and click on ‘Create Alert’ …

(Google Alerts screen)

If you elect to receive alerts via email, you will be asked to verify your Google Alert request …

(Verify your Google Alert request)

After confirming your request, your Google Alert will be set up and you will begin to receive alert notifications via email.

(Your Google Alert has been successfully verified)

You can return to the Google Alerts home page and create as many alerts as you want.

How To Delete Google Alerts

You can delete any alerts you no longer want to receive …

(Google Alerts – settings)

You can also stop receiving alerts by clicking on the ‘Unsubscribe’ link at the bottom of your emails …

(Click the Unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email)

Confirm that you want to unsubscribe from your Google Alert …

(Click unsubscribe to stop receiving Google Alerts)

Your Google Alert will be cancelled …

(Google Alert cancelled)

You will no longer receive alert emails on the topic after unsubscribing.

If you would like alerts to be sent via email to your inbox, you can configure rules in your email program to automatically send all alerts to one or more email folders. This helps keep your alerts organized and easier to track and sort through.

If your alerts are sent out via RSS feed, you can use a feed reader to view the information on your smart phone or mobile device.

Once you have set up alerts, you can track information about keywords, names, competitors, etc., or create content for your blog in your chosen topic.

How To Display News Items From Google Alerts On Your WordPress Website

You can display news items directly from Google Alerts on your WordPress your site as blog posts or as a ‘widgetized’ item on your sidebar.

Let’s take a look at both methods:

Publish Google Alerts News Items As A Blog Post

To repost news items from Google Alerts as a blog post, do the following:

Set up your site to post by email …

(Post to WordPress by email)

If you need help with this step, see this tutorial:

• How To Add Posts To WordPress Via Email

Next, set up your Google Alert to send to the email address you have set up …

(Create Alert and send to email)

Alerts will now be posted to your blog, or come in as ‘drafts’ that you can review and publish.

Publish Google Alerts News Items On Your Sidebar

To republish news items from Google Alerts as a as a ‘widgetized’ item on your sidebar, all you need to do is set up to receive your alerts as an RSS feed as described earlier …

(Receive alerts as an RSS feed)

Next, copy the RSS feed link to your clipboard …

(Copy RSS link address)

And add the RSS feed to an RSS widget as described in this tutorial:

• How To Use And Configure WordPress Sidebar Widgets

Your alert will display as a ‘widgetized’ item on your sidebar and the feed will update regularly as Google sources new items …

(RSS Widget with Google Alert feed)

Hopefully, you have found this tutorial helpful. If you would like to know more about integrating social media with WordPress, see this article: Social Media Measurement Tools For WordPress Users

***

***