If you want to track information about your brand, company, products, competitors, or any other topic on the internet, Google’s Alerts service can help.
Google Alerts monitors content indexed by Google and automatically notifies you whenever new content matching your selected keywords appears in search results.
This can be particularly useful for:
- Monitoring brand mentions
- Tracking product names
- Following industry trends
- Watching competitor activity
- Receiving updates about specific topics
- Managing your online reputation
Table of Contents
Creating a Google Alert
To create a new alert, visit:
https://www.google.com/alerts
Step 1
Sign in to your Google account if prompted.
Step 2
In the search field, enter the keyword or phrase you want to monitor.
Examples:
mybox
web hosting Romania
John Smith
As you type, Google will display a preview of recent results matching your query.
Step 3
Click:
Show Options
to customize how alerts are delivered.
Available Options
Frequency
Choose how often you want to receive notifications:
- As-it-happens
- At most once a day
- At most once a week
Sources
Select which content types should be monitored:
- Automatic
- News
- Blogs
- Web
- Videos
- Books
- Discussions
- Finance
Language
Specify the language of the content you want to track.
Region
Limit alerts to a specific country or region if needed.
Quantity
Choose whether you want:
- Only the best results
- All results
Delivery Method
Select how alerts should be delivered:
- Email notifications
- RSS feed
Advanced Search Examples
Google Alerts supports many of the same operators available in Google Search.
Monitor an Exact Phrase
Use quotation marks:
"mybox hosting"
Monitor Multiple Keywords
Use OR:
mybox OR hosting
Exclude Specific Words
Use a minus sign:
mybox -jobs
Monitor a Specific Website
Example:
site:example.com mybox
Common Use Cases
Brand Monitoring
Receive notifications whenever your company name appears online.
Example:
"mybox"
Product Monitoring
Track discussions about specific products or services.
Example:
"shared hosting"
Competitor Monitoring
Stay informed about competitors’ mentions and announcements.
Reputation Management
Receive alerts when customers, bloggers, or news websites mention your business.
Managing Existing Alerts
You can return to Google Alerts at any time to:
- Edit alerts
- Change delivery frequency
- Update keywords
- Delete alerts that are no longer needed
Summary
Google Alerts is a free monitoring tool that automatically tracks new content indexed by Google and notifies you when keywords of interest appear online.
To get started:
- Visit Google Alerts.
- Enter a keyword or phrase.
- Configure the alert options.
- Create the alert.
Once configured, you’ll receive notifications whenever new content matching your selected criteria appears in Google’s index.