Setting Up Google Alerts: A Complete Guide for Businesses

Why Use Google Alerts?

As PR professional Casey Colesworthy explains in our discussion: "Google Alerts are free... you can have them sent to your email. And this will give you a sense of either what's being written about or talked about, either about your business or about your competitors. And it will give you a sense of, maybe, like, what's just the landscape of trends in general."

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Google Alerts help you:

• Monitor mentions of your brand and products
• Track competitor activities and mentions
• Stay informed about industry trends
• Identify potential PR opportunities
• Keep tabs on key personnel mentions
• Find content for social media sharing

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Step-by-Step Setup Guide

Visit Google Alerts

• Go to google.com/alerts
• Sign in to your Google account (recommended but not required)

Create Your Alert

• Enter your search term in the top box
• Use quotation marks for exact phrases (e.g., "your company name")
• Use Boolean operators for more precise results:some text
  • AND: both terms must appear
  • OR: either term can appear
  •  - -: exclude terms

Configure Alert Settings

• Click "Show options" to customize:
• How often: As-it-happens, Once a day, or Once a week
• Sources: News, Blogs, Web, Video, Books, Discussions, Finance
• Language: Select preferred language
• Region: Choose geographical area
• How many: "All results" or "Only the best results"
• Deliver to: Email or RSS feed

Recommended Alerts to Set Up

• Your company name
• Key personnel names
• Product names
• Competitor names
• Industry trends and keywords
• Relevant hashtags or keywords

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Best Practices

Refine Your Alerts

1. Start broad and narrow down based on the results
2. Use different variations of important terms
3. Include common misspellings of your brand name
4. Review and adjust settings periodically

Organize Your Alerts

1. Create a dedicated email folder for alerts
2. Set up email filters to automatically sort alerts
3. Consider using different delivery frequencies for different types of alerts

Act on Your Alerts

1. Respond quickly to negative mentions
2. Share positive mentions with your team
3. Use insights for content creation and PR opportunities
4. Track trends for strategic planning

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Alternatives

While Google Alerts is free and accessible, there are other monitoring tools available:

1. Social Media Management Tools

As Casey Colesworthy mentioned, "getting some type of social media management tool, whether it's Later or HootSuite, can just help you schedule things out and also listen a little bit better to what else is being said."

2. Media Databases and Monitoring
   1. Prowly: More affordable media database option
   2. Quoted: Platform for finding journalist requests
   3. Help a B2B Writer Out: Specifically for B2B opportunities
3. Newsletter Subscriptions

Casey Colesworthy recommends: "subscribe to some newsletters, whether it's their media newsletters or journalist newsletters... just start to skim through them and get a sense of what's going on."

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When to Upgrade Beyond Google Alerts

Consider upgrading to paid tools when:

• You need more comprehensive coverage
• Real-time monitoring is crucial
• You require sentiment analysis
• You want detailed analytics and reporting
• You need to monitor multiple languages or regions
• You're scaling your PR efforts

Remember: Start with the basics and expand your monitoring tools as your needs grow and your PR strategy develops.

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