TalkWalkerAlerts is a free online alternative to Google Alerts which allows you to keep track of who mentions your website, name or brand online. It can be used to keep a close eye on your competitors, to see how they are doing, and also to monitor the web for topics of your interest.
Google Alerts is a very useful tool and those who use it are all praises about it. However, recently, it has become less reliable, and there have been talks that it might also go away, like Google Reader.
So, we tried to find other online services that can be a good replacement for Google Alerts, and TalkWalkerAlerts seem to fit the bill nicely.
This is how the alert setup looks like. The most important part of the setting up process is to make sure that the first field from the top, the Search Query field, is properly filled out. That’s where the search term for which you’d like to receive alerts has to be typed in. It can be tricky to select this if it’s for something that’s talked about a lot, so make sure you’re very precise when selecting the search query.
Key features of TalkWalkerAlerts, free Google Alerts alternative are:
- Complex search queries: add a search query composed of several words
- Select the mention type: mentions on news sites, blogs or discussions
- Good language support: two dozen languages are supported and can be used
- Adjustable alert checks/update frequency: daily, weekly, as it happens
- Results filtering: there’s an option for filtering only top results
- Receive mention alerts either via email or via RSS feed updates
Similar software: 5 Free Twitter Alert Services.
How to setup TalkWalkerAlerts
Once that you’ve filled out everything about the alert that you’re interested in tracking, on the homepage of this free Google Alerts alternative, click either on the Create alert button down below, or on the Preview button, which is gonna show you current alerts for the search query that you’ve entered.
If everything’s OK, you can go ahead and click on the Create alert button. Account with the TalkWalkerAlerts website is also setup and you’re gonna be logged in automatically.
With free account, new alerts and existing alerts can be managed, results can be exported to CSV files, and also imported, again CSV files that you have exported before. Clicking on the RSS feed icon allows you to collect the URL which you can then use in your favorite RSS feed reader to receive alert updates there. By default email updates will be coming in your inbox, just like with Google Alerts, but only after you’ve confirmed your email address will it all start working, so make sure that you do that first.
Conclusion
TalkWalkerAlerts is a great way of how you can stay on top of who talks about your website, company, product, service, anything and everything. You just need to make sure that you’ve selected a proper search term for whatever it is that you are interested in monitoring and receiving alerts. Those who have unique names for whatever they would like to receive alerts for won’t have problems, but users with commonly used search terms might receive updates for something completely different, so use Preview to check the alert before actually setting it up. Free service.