Video:How to Use Google Alerts

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Transcript:How to Use Google Alerts

Hi, I'm Shane Murphy, your technology guru for About.com. Today, we'll look at how to create and implement Google alerts.

Enter Your Email and Set Google Alert Parameters

Start by heading to "google.com/alerts", where you'll see their simple menu for creating your automated query. The first field you should enter is for the email that will be receiving these alerts. Or, if you're signed into your Google account, you can select your corresponding email in the drop down box. Alerts is essentially an automated Google search that happens according to the parameters you set, so you should enter your search terms just like any normal Google search you would do.

Google Alerts Work Similarly to Google Searches

All the rules for Google searching still apply too: you can, for instance, use quotes to search for your terms together as a phrase. You should also keep your searches brief and composed of strong descriptors for the best results. Hit the preview button on the right to see what Google comes up with. You can further adjust your parameters with the drop down boxes below. The type category lets you specify the sort of hits you're looking for. Below that you can stipulate how frequently you'd like alerts.

Choose How Many Search Results You'd Like to See

Finally, you can choose whether you'd like to see every search result or not. Google alerts is extraordinarily helpful for keeping up with certain news stories as they continually unfold over time, or to just remind you about annual or bi-annual events as they approach and start to release information. Check out About.com's dedicated Google channel for more useful information on optimizing Google's wide array of applications.

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