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Google Alerts

People are talking about you. Do you know what they’re saying? The Internet is becoming essential for the non-profit sector. Every day, people all around the world talk about you, compete with you, discuss the industry you’re in, and create opportunities that directly affect your interests. You simply can’t afford to let all this pass you by.
 
Find out what people are saying and track your Internet presence through GoogleAlerts!

GoogleAlerts is a free service offered by Google, which allows you to monitor specific search terms. Whenever an article is published under you’re the search terms, you will receive an email notification.

 

Why should I use GoogleAlerts? 

  • It’s a free reputation management tool that can help you keep up with the online conversation surrounding your organization.
  • It helps you build relationships with supporters. If a blog or website mentions your charity, you can visit their site and thank them personally, further enhancing your relationship and promoting your cause. Interactivity and audience engagement is essential in this digital age.
  • It’s an easy way to keep current on your competitors, the non-profit sector, and your cause in general.

 

How does it work?

GoogleAlerts looks for new content across the entire web by monitoring billions of indexed web pages. This gives Google a far greater reach than traditional media clipping services that can only monitor a specialized set of news sites.
 
 

How do I start?

Follow the steps below or watch our demo on setting up a GoogleAlert:


  1. Go to www.google.com/alerts and start entering your criteria. Remember if you’re looking for specific search terms (like the name of your organization), you will want to put quotes around the terms. If you don’t, you will receive results for each individual word. For example, CanadaHelps (without quotations) would generate results with the words “Canada” and “helps.” This, of course, is not what we are looking for, so we include “CanadaHelps” with quotes because we want results with this exact phrase.

  2. Choose the type of Alert you'd like. You can choose from News, Blogs, Web, Video, Groups, or Comprehensive. A Comprehensive Alert is a collection of the latest results from multiple sources (news sites, websites, and Blogs) compressed into a single email to provide maximum coverage on your topic.

  3. Determine how often you'd like Google to check for results.

  4. Click the “Create Alert” button.

  5. Check your e-mail. Google will send you a confirmation. Clicking the link in this email will activate your Alert.

  6. Start monitoring!

If you already have an account with Google, such as GMail, the process to create an Alert is the same as above. The difference is you do not have to provide confirmation to activate it. There are added features if you sign up for a Google account, such as the ability to manage and edit your Alerts. Go to www.google.com/accounts to create a free account.

 

What should I search for?

The obvious choice would be the name of your organization, but GoogleAlerts allows you to set up multiple alerts, so go ahead and get creative! For example, you can search other non-profits with similar causes to keep up-to-date on their activities and what people are saying about them.

 
Learn More
For more ways to use Google to optimize your online presence, check out Sanjay Singhal's presentation from the MyCharityConnects Conference: Everything Google: Alerts, Adwords & Analytics.