How to use Google Alerts

In this quick guide I will explain how to use Google Alerts to track any topic on the Internet. Google Alerts is an extremely versatile tool that allows you to get notifications via email every time some new content gets published containing keywords you specify.

Setting up an alert

Here are the steps to follow:

1. Go to google.com/alerts
2. Enter a search term for a company/product/topic you are interested in.
3. Click Show Options and narrow down your search by source, region or language.
4. Decide how often to receive the alerts.
5. Click "Create Alert" and you will start getting alerts via email.

I've set alerts to track my own company Mailbrew, products, people, and topics.

How to Create Google Alert without Gmail

If you want to create a Google Alert without Gmail or a Google account you can use Mailbrew and receive updates on topics and searches via email.

Here is an example of a digest I created with Mailbrew to track the Tesla search and the "Electric Cars" topic:

I will be getting this digest every morning at 9am via email when there is new content for the searches. Alternatively I can set this up to receive weekly updates instead of daily.

With Mailbrew you can also track Twitter searches, YouTube videos, RSS feeds and do much much more. If it sounds interesting check it out.