Tip of the Week: How to Use Google Alerts to Your Advantage

There are countless ways that Google proves itself to be invaluable to businesses. For example, did you know that it offers a feature that allows you to have business insights (or any other topic of interest) sent straight to your inbox? Let’s go over what Google Alerts are, and how you could take advantage of them.

What Are Google Alerts?

Google Alerts are a feature that Google offers that notifies you whenever a topic you are interested in has been searched for and has returned a new result, sending you a report whenever this content is found or consolidating these notifications by day or by week.

What Do These Alerts Look Like?

There are dozens of potential applications for how Google Alerts can be of use to you and your business. For instance:

• Your Business and Services Being Mentioned - Wouldn’t it be nice to know what people have to say about your business and the services you offer? Using the right Google Alert allows you to stay up-to-date concerning what people are saying online about you.
• Industry News - Every industry is prone to change, to the point where it can be super challenging to keep up. Using a Google Alert allows you to get these updates directly to your inbox.
• Competitor and Customer News - It is important that you keep your finger on the pulse of your area, particularly where your competition and your customers are involved. With the right Google Alerts in place, you can be made aware of your clients’ achievements or what your competitors are doing much more easily.

Obviously, this is all information that would benefit your business…and it goes without saying how convenient it is to receive it all to your email.

Setting Up a Google Alert

The process behind setting up a Google Alert is pretty straightforward:

• Visit google.com/alerts, logging in if prompted to do so
• Search for the topic you’d like to be alerted about, adjusting it until your result reflects what you’re interested in
• The Show Options feature allows you to adjust your results even further, selecting from the language and region it comes from. This is also where you select how often you receive the email.
• Once you’re satisfied, click Create Alert

If you change your mind about your alert, or no longer need it, you can delete them by Unsubscribing from the alert email itself. I hope this feature comes in handy for you.