Google alerts are notifications issued to users about a keyword or term defined by them.
Whoever works with digital marketing knows that ensuring the relevance of a brand in the online world is not easy.
It is necessary to create content aligned with the public’s interest.
Follow what people say about the company, not lose sight of the competition, be informed about market trends, etc.
How do you have time to do all this, especially in the case of small businesses or individual entrepreneurs?
Luckily, some tools can help you with this task, such as Google Alerts.
The user can register some terms and the Google service sends emails when it finds relevant results.
Do you want to know more about how this tool works and how to use it in your digital marketing strategy?
So, keep reading this text and we are going to tell you about it!
What are Google Alerts and what are they for?
Google Alerts (or Google Alerts) is a service that monitors content related to a keyword or term defined by the user, including web pages, news, and videos, among others.
Thus, every time the term is mentioned on the Internet, the user receives an alert in their email.
This tool, which was launched in 2003, is widely used by press consultancies and advertising agencies to monitor mentions of clients and brands in the media.
However, marketing professionals soon saw the potential of the service within a digital marketing strategy.
Google Alerts helps you monitor everything that is being said about a particular brand or product.
As well as allowing you to track mentions of the competition and even get topic ideas for content and attractive materials
But how does this resource work in practice?
It’s pretty simple.
When you access the platform, you can choose a term for the service to track, such as “WpSuggest.”
Thus, every time any news, blog post, video, or other content containing that term is published, you will receive an email notification.
In other words, Google Alerts are a very useful resource for professionals who need to pay attention to the main market trends.
How to create an alert in Google Alerts?
Creating an alert in the service is very easy.
The first step is to access the service page and log in with your Google account.
The home page presents some options.
The first, My Alerts, allows you to edit or delete the alerts you have created, defining the time and frequency with which you want to receive email notifications, search sources, the language of the result, and the region.
By clicking on the gear icon, you can choose whether you want to always receive alerts at a specific time or in a single message and with a scheduled frequency through the option Notifications grouped.
Now in Internet Presence, you can create an alert with your name or the email address registered in the service.
So, every time any content on the web quotes you or your email address, Google Alerts will automatically send you a notification.
Finally, Alert Suggestions presents some recommendations about companies, personalities, or topics that are trending.
If you are interested in any of them, just click on the “+” symbol to create an alert.
To create a new alert, simply enter the desired keyword or term in the search field at the top of the screen.
If you want more precise results, try writing the term in parentheses, like in Google Advanced Search.
To configure your alert, just click “Show options.” You will have access to the following preferences:
- Frequency: allows you to choose how often you want to receive your alerts (when they occur, once a day, or once a week);
- Sources: here you can define which search sources will be used in alerts, such as news, blogs, web, videos, books, forums, finance, or automatic;
- Language: the language in which the content was published;
- Region: the country where the content was published;
- Quantity: allows you to choose whether you want to receive all the results or only the best results;
- Send to: defines the email address that will receive the contents.
After customizing all the options, you just have to click “Create alert”.
How to use Google Alerts in your marketing and sales strategy?
Now you know how Google Alerts work and what they are for.
But how to use this resource in your marketing and sales strategies and get the most out of it?
Next, we will show you some applications of Google Alerts and how they can help your company sell more.
1. Monitor what the public says about your brand
One of the most important features of Google Alerts is the ability to set alarms with the name of your brand, the URL of your website, or the name of your products and services.
This way, you can be aware of everything that customers are saying about your business, whether good or bad.
This resource allows you to anticipate crises and respond quickly to possible complaints.
This way, you can preserve the reputation of your business and solve customer problems.
But this is not all.
These comments and mentions also serve as valuable information about the points that you can improve in your company.
2. Have ideas for attractive content and materials
Another very useful application of Google Alerts is to discover references and ideas to create content, whether they are blog posts, ebooks, videos, or podcasts.
Through the tool’s alerts, you can find out what people are saying about a given topic on forums, blogs, and news sites.
A great strategy is to create alerts with foreign sources.
When you identify that a topic has begun to gain importance abroad, you can import that idea and produce content about it.
That way, your brand will be the first to talk about the issue.
3. Identify link-building opportunities.
The number of backlinks is one of the main Google ranking factors.
Therefore, generating links with mentions of your brand is an SEO strategy that you cannot fail to apply to your business.
To do this, you just have to create an alert with your company name.
When you receive it, check if the mention has a link to your website.
If there is not one, contact the person responsible for the content and request the inclusion of the link.
You will see how it will be easier to find opportunities to do link-building and strengthen your domain.
4. Analyze the competition
Nowadays, it is not enough to take care of your brand.
To gain prominence in the online market, it is very important to closely follow the competition.
And Google Alerts are great allies in this task.
By creating an alert with the name of a competing brand or product, you will be able to follow everything it publishes, in addition to knowing what the public thinks about it.
This tactic is great for understanding how other businesses gain public attention and the strategies that ensure the best results.
5. Attract more visitors to brand channels
The main objective for those who begin to apply a digital marketing strategy is to generate more visitors to a blog or views for a video.
And of course, convert these visitors into customers!
The best way to do this is to publish content that captures users’ attention and answers their questions and problems.
And like Google Alerts, you can follow in real-time which topics are most searched by your audience and offer content that responds to those needs.
The more relevant and popular the topics you cover, the easier it will be to attract users to your channels.
Therefore, be sure to put the advice in this post into practice and start using Google Alerts in your marketing strategy.
Thanks for Reading.