Are you using Google Alerts for your blog or small business? It’s a useful tool to find out who is talking about you, who may be copying you, and what’s being written about specific topics you are interested in. I set-up my first Google Alert for the name of my blog “Freebies 4 Mom” so that I receive one email each day with a summary of blogs who are blogging about me. I’m considering setting-up other Google Alerts for specific topics I am interested in, to find out what other bloggers are saying about them and perhaps link to them for future posts. My challenge is finding terms that are specific enough that I actually get useful results from the alert.
Usually my Google Alert email leads me to visit blogs each day to thank them for the link and find out what they want to share from my blog with their readers. But sometimes I find blogs that are copying my posts, and then I follow this advice on BlogCoach. I’m just not cool enough to take the radical “do nothing” approach to dealing with copied content that some bloggers are taking. I like to get credit for my work. There are other ways to help you find your stolen content, Lorelle on WordPress has a great list here.
I wanted to take the time to focus on Google Alerts this week because it’s an easy tool to use, but many may not know about it. I didn’t learn about it until my friends on Twitter brought me up-to-speed on what they use it for. Another reason why I am on Twitter, it’s a great way to learn new things.
The “Money 4 Mom” weekly series focuses on blogging as a potential source of income. It’s where I share tips and resources with bloggers every Monday.
Thanks for this! I use Google Alerts for the second reason you mentioned but I never thought about putting in my own site! I’m going to do that right now.
OK….I was not aware of this tool at all.Thanks for the info.Very interesting.
I love Google Alerts. Google Alerts for key words related to my job are what led me to a number of great blogs that I read today.I never thought about people stealing posts and posting them as their own. That’s just not cool.
Thanks, Heather! I am enjoying all these posts on blogging. I’ve learned a lot!
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I’ve been wondering how to check for this and was actually just sitting down to do a search on the topic. You just saved me a lot of time. Keep up the good work on this series!
Thanks Heather! Just signed up. Another great marketing tool to add to my toolbox.
I love Google Alerts. I put in site name and generic terms. It helps me keep up with linking like you mentioned because I love to stop by and say thank you to people who link to me. It also helps me find deals and the latest news becuase I will put in certain stores, etc.
We use Google Alerts and they are great. I have also found that friends who subscribe have also found my content and notified me when people take my content. You just never know how your Google Alert might help out another blogger.Great topic!