Google’s reach is far and wide. It’s impossible to know what it knows about you, let alone when it finds something new.
Or is it?
Enter Google Alerts
Yup, there’s a Google tool for that.
It’s pretty simple to set up. Just go to google.com/alerts and follow the prompts.
It helps to apply some search operators to fine tune out the nonsense.
What to be alerted about
The first thing you should be monitoring is your company (aka brand) name. That way you have your finger on the pulse of any mention, good or bad, about your reputation.
It’s a really good thing to track for SEO, as you’ll discover opportunities to improve.
And it’s a useful tool to track things you don’t want to spread.
I’m going to use a new nuisance from Houzz as an example. Somebody there had the great idea to implement call tracking phone numbers for their Pro Plus accounts.
Call tracking numbers are bad for local businesses that want leads from search engines.
The reason why is that Google uses consistency of information as a sign of stability in a business, so they can refer good info to their users.
That said, it’s not always the case that it’s a horrible backfire. So, we’ll use Google Alerts to monitor if this Houzz tracking number gets out into other parts of Google’s database.
Here’s a video walking through how to set that up:
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