Monitoring Your Brand with Google Alerts

How to create custom Google Alerts to track mentions of your brand

across the internetBy: John Jacob Lloyd

What You Need• A topic (i.e. your brand) of interest• A working knowledge of Google search • A Google account (such as Gmail)

Note: For this exercise, I will be using the Saxon Pub, a popular music venue located in Austin, TX

Determine Your Search Terms

If you have a unique business name, sometimes an exact search will yield relevant results.

Uh oh! There’s a business with a similar name. We’ll have to refine our search terms.

Refine Your Search Terms

Because there was a “Saxon Publishers,” I used a search operator to filter out related results. By including the negative keyword [-publish], Google will exclude any results that have to do with publishing. I glanced at the results and was satisfied with the level of relevance. Now it’s time to set up my Google Alert.

Set Up Your Google Alert

• http://www.google.com/alerts

• You’ll need to sign into your Google account (ex: Gmail).

• Enter your refined search term.

• Select these settings

• Push “Create Alert”

• Google will take you to Google Reader to view your feed.

View Your Feed

You can visit Google Reader at any time to view updated results.

Other Feed Options

• If you already use a feed reader, it should sync with your Google Reader. Your Google Alert feed will be delivered to your feed reader of choice.

• If you are unfamiliar with RSS feeds or feed readers, learn about them here.

• If you are curious, I use FeedDemon.

That’s It!

Now you’re well on your way to understanding how people interact with your brand online. Translate this knowledge into actionable intelligence.