Busby SEO Test with Google Alert
by admin on Oct.09, 2008, under Busby SEO Test
Google Alerts is a great way to let the world’s biggest search engine be your personal online spy. This takes search engine optimization insider info to whole new level. Here’s an excerpt straight from Google.
“Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic.
Some handy uses of Google Alerts include:
* monitoring a developing news story
* keeping current on a competitor or industry
* getting the latest on a celebrity or event
* keeping tabs on your favorite sports teams”
As you probably guessed, it’s the second one we care about most, “keeping current on a competitor or industry.”
Here’s how it works, Each time Google finds a reference to the query or topic you request you will be sent an email with the details. This is like having an online spy to make sure competitors are not using your protected keywords (trademarked names, company names, etc.) It’s also an instant identifier to know when your site or product is mentioned in a news story or even when a topic is hot so you can take advantage of the situation. It’s the easiest way in the world to stop competitors’ dirty tricks and identify trends that you can take instant advantage of.
May 29th, 2009 on 6:37 pm
There are lots of other ways you can use Google Alerts to track competitors. Here is a procedure that I’ve been using for years. Set up an alert for:
related:yoursite.com.
Google will tell you when thinks a site has a similar pattern of keywords and inbound links. For each of those sites, create an alert for:
link:competitorsite.com -site:competitorsite.com
Google will then tell you which sites are linking to that competitor. These are now the best targets for SEO link building. Google has told you that is is indexing this site, and that it realizes this site is related to your competitors. Getting links from this site will tie you into this relationship that Google has recognized.
I have more tips like this on my blog. Here is a recent post on competitive monitoring:
http://www.alertrank.com/mrgooglealerts/2009/04/02/learn-your-competitors-marketing-secrets-with-google-alerts/