Whenever you come up with a new blog post, a new marketing idea or simply a new page on your website, you want to track it to see how well it does and who is talking about it. Using Google Alerts, you can receive an email whenever that page is indexed by Google so you can see exactly who is talking about you!

Why do I need a Google Alert?

There are a few reasons why you might want to utilise a Google Alert. Some of the reasins we use them are to:

1. Track new links back to our blog entries
2. See if anyone is linking to any new pages on our site
3. Check how our advertising and marketing campaings are going to see if they are having an effect
4. Checking what our competitors are up and seeing who is linking to them

Items #1-3 are obviously a great help to us in monitoring how our business is going and we can see if we are heading in the right direction or not. If we implement a new strategy and we don't start to get any good alerts then it's a "heads up" that it probably isn't working as well as we hoped and that we may need to rethink something. On the other hand, if a strategy is working well and we are getting good alerts then it helps us build on that strategy and help move it forward.

#4 is a great way to stay ahead of the game when it comes to your competition. As well as running your own strategies, you need to be aware of what your competitors are doing so you can make the best use of yours. It also helps you monitor any new partnerships or alliances may be forming as well as seeing any new ideas or advertising they are carrying out.

How do I set up a Google Alert?

First of all, you need to go to the Google Alerts homepage. Then, you'll see a screen similar to this:

If you enter the search terms and how often you want them delivering, you can just add your email address to get the alert delivered directly to you. An example of one that we have set up is "mdssolutions.co.uk", with a type of "Comprehensive" and delivered "as-it-happens". This means that whenever new pages are indexed that link to us, we get a notification telling us about it.

Mark Smith
MDS Solutions - Web Design Darlington