A Winston-Salem accountant called us in a panic in August. A blogger had written a thousand-word post accusing him of poor service. The post had been live for six weeks, was ranking on page one of Google for his firm name, and he had lost three prospects who mentioned it before he ever found out it existed. Ten minutes of setup with a free tool would have alerted him the day the post went live.
What Google Alerts Is
Google Alerts is a free Google service that emails you any time new content matching a search term you specify appears anywhere Google indexes: news sites, blogs, web pages, and forums. For a small Triad service business, it is the cheapest insurance policy that exists for online reputation. It costs nothing and takes ten minutes to configure.
The Five Alerts Every Triad Service Business Should Run
- →Your business name in quotes. "Smith and Jones Law Firm" so Google only triggers on the exact phrase, not every page that mentions Smith or Jones.
- →Your owner or principal name in quotes. "Dr. James Henderson" so any review, mention, or news story about you personally triggers an alert.
- →Your phone number in quotes. "(336) 555-1212" catches scraped directory listings, scams, and fraudulent uses of your business identity.
- →Your top three competitors by name. Watch their press releases, reviews, and content. The intelligence value alone justifies the alert.
- →Your industry plus your city. "greensboro chiropractor," "winston salem accountant," "high point home builder." Catch new competitors entering the market and content opportunities.
The Setup, Step by Step
- →Go to google.com/alerts. No account login required for basic alerts, though signing in lets you manage them later.
- →Enter the search term in quotes. Quotes are critical. Without them you will get noisy alerts on common words.
- →Set type to "Comprehensive." Catches news, blogs, web, and groups. The other options are too narrow for a small service business.
- →Set frequency to "As-it-happens" for your business name and your phone number. Speed matters. Set frequency to "Once a day" for industry and competitor alerts to avoid inbox overload.
- →Enter your email and click create. Verify the confirmation email. Done.
What to Do When an Alert Fires
- →Read the source completely. Do not react to a headline alone.
- →Positive coverage: thank the author, share the link on your website, and use the quote in your marketing.
- →Negative coverage: respond promptly, calmly, and publicly. Most readers form their opinion based on your response, not the original complaint.
- →Scraped or fraudulent use: contact the site owner or file a takedown if necessary. Document everything.
After we set up Google Alerts on the Winston-Salem accountant's name and firm name, the next negative blog post that surfaced was caught within four hours of publication. He responded the same day, the blogger updated the post, and no prospects were lost. The cost of that protection: ten minutes of setup and zero dollars per month.
Read the companion pieces on why online reviews are starting to matter and asking happy customers for testimonials and referrals, or have our digital marketing agency set up monitoring and respond on your behalf.