Google alerts for writers
In Saturday’s entry, while writing about about blog tours, I mentioned touring writer, Trish Milburn and added a link to her website. This morning, I received a notification that Trish had commented on that entry. There are millions of blogs out there. There are millions of entries posted each day. How did she find out about mine?
She received a Google alert.
What are Google alerts?
Google alerts are email notifications that you receive when a certain term (which you have specified) is mentioned in a blog post, news story, web page, or Google group.
You can choose to receive these emails, once a day, once a week, or as soon as the term is discovered by Google.
How can writers use Google alerts?
Writers may wish to enter their own name, or the names of their books or websites, as a search term so they will receive an email whenever these are mentioned on the web. It’s worth noting though, that if you or your works have a common name, some of the results you receive may not be relevant.
If you blog or write articles about a niche topic, signing up for Google alerts related to your keywords, will also keep you up-to-date with what’s newsworthy in that area.
You can create your alerts by entering your email address and search terms at the Google alerts website.
Your thoughts
Do you use the Google alerts service? What ‘search terms’ have you specified? How relevant is the information that the service delivers?
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