[Michelle-MV]

So this is either going to be a fantastic question or just so much :ecomcity:. Let's find out.

This is something that we've kicked around here in the SEO bullpen at MoreVisibility. What is the best way to optimize for Google Alerts? We run quite a number of Google Alerts here, both for professional and personal interests, and this morning we came across an alert that set us to wondering about alert optimization.

Do you all think it's just a case of optimizing the feed name or do you think that Google Alerts also takes the "traditional" SEO components into consideration (like title tags, metadata, keyword density/content, header tags, anchor text)? Is optimizing the feed title the magic bullet for Google Alerts?

[BatteryFuelPatrick]

In my experience Google Alerts is pretty generic. I have several set up and all of the time I am getting alerted by things that just happen to have the same words but may not be specifically what I am looking for.

[Kevin]

Has google ever published stats (or has someone taken a good guess) on who and how many use this feature?

[DavidG-MV]

That's a great question. I'm really not sure. I know I use them and a lot of people here as well. I hope all brand managers are utilizing the alerts. It's a great way to police your name/brand over the web. I'll dig around and see if I can find anything...

[Haiko de Poel, Jr.]

I use the alert to police brand and content and actually I've found someone has optimized their feed with the term abestweb even if the piece doesn't have anything to do with ABW. The alert function is something I seriously suggest people use for policing. Above that it could be a source for some really targeted traffic.

[BatteryFuelPatrick]

I'll 2nd what Haiko said. In addition I have alerts on my name and my immediate family's name.

[Afilyit]

This question is directed towards getting "into" google alerts. I notice that once in a while, one of my blog postings gets added to Google Alerts. Other times, it doesn't.

Can anyone explain how Google Alerts works? Why are some things picked up and others not? And how can you improve your chances of getting picked up?

thanks

[Michelle-MV]

This question is directed towards getting "into" google alerts. I notice that once in a while, one of my blog postings gets added to Google Alerts. Other times, it doesn't.

Can anyone explain how Google Alerts works? Why are some things picked up and others not? And how can you improve your chances of getting picked up?

thanks

Google Alerts is user driven -- meaning that when someone signs up for a Google Alert, he or she enters the search term. This is in addition to specifying the type of alert (search results from Google News, Web, Blogs, Video, and Groups -- this pulls from Usenet) as well as the email frequency.

The way that it basically works is that Google Alerts sends you an email each time a new page for your chosen term makes it in the top :ecomcity: results on Google’s web search or in one of the Google areas noted above. I write :ecomcity: results as at one point it was 20, but knowing Google it likely changed. ohplease:

As far as some topics being picked up and others not, this can depend on the topic that's been written about / being searched on. To improve your chances of being picked up...well, we can't offer any guarantees here ( :sssh: ), but something you can do is to create a Google Alert based on your blog's keywords. This is using Google Alerts for "intelligence gathering", which has gotten the odd mention or two elsewhere. Once you've set up a Google Alert for your keywords, you can then receive notifications that portray how the competition is using those keywords. You can also set up Google Alerts for your blog by name, or yourself as an author, or for your company. That might be the quickest way to get familiar with how Google Alerts works and how you can start "optimizing" for it.

Hope this helps! :cheerful: