Google Alerts On Social Media: Limitations And Alternatives
Google Alerts is an interesting solution if you want to monitor specific keywords on the web, but it does
not work well on social media content. So in this article we will explore an alternative strategy called social
listening that is better suited for tracking online conversations and mentions across various social media
channels.
What Is Google Alerts And Why Is It Useful?
Google Alerts is a free notification service provided by Google that sends email updates to
users whenever new content from web pages, news sources, blogs, or other online platforms appears for specific
search terms or topics of interest. The service allows users to monitor the web for interesting new content,
keeping them informed about mentions of their name, brand, industry keywords, or other topics they wish to
track.
The usefulness of Google Alerts lies in its ability to help users stay updated on relevant
information without having to manually search for it. By setting up alerts for specific keywords or topics,
users can receive timely notifications, allowing them to respond quickly to new developments, news, or mentions.
This can be particularly valuable for businesses, professionals, researchers, and individuals who want to stay
informed about their industry, competitors, or personal interests.
Some key benefits of using Google Alerts include reputation management (users can monitor
mentions of their name or brand online, allowing them to address any negative feedback or misinformation
promptly), industry insights (by setting up alerts for industry keywords or topics, users can stay informed
about the latest trends, news, and developments in their field), competitive analysis (Google Alerts can help
users track their competitors' online activities, such as new product launches, marketing campaigns, or
partnerships), content discovery (users can find new and relevant content to share with their audience or use as
inspiration for their own content creation), and research (Google Alerts can help researchers and students stay
up-to-date on the latest studies, publications, and news in their field of study).
Google Alerts' Limitations
While Google Alerts can be a useful tool for tracking specific topics or keywords, there are
several limitations to be aware of:
1. No Social Media Mentions: Google Alerts only monitors content indexed by Google Search. This means
that it may not capture content from other search engines, from websites that are not indexed by Google, or
from social media conversations that are not index by Google.
2. Limited Search Results: Google Alerts may not capture all relevant results, especially if the search
term is too broad or too specific. This can lead to missing important information or receiving irrelevant
results.
3. Inconsistent Update Frequency: The frequency at which Google Alerts sends notifications can vary,
and it may not always provide the most up-to-date information. Some users have reported receiving alerts for
old content, which can be misleading and confusing.
4. No Real-Time Monitoring: Google Alerts does not provide real-time monitoring of the web for your
chosen keywords. This means that you may not receive notifications about breaking news or rapidly changing
events until some time has passed.
5. Limited Support and Updates: Google Alerts is not a primary focus for Google, and as a result, it
may not receive the same level of support and updates as other Google services. This can lead to issues with
the service's reliability and functionality.
6. No Sentiment Analysis: Google Alerts does not provide sentiment analysis for the content it finds.
This means that you will not be able to easily determine whether the mentions of your chosen keywords are
positive, negative, or neutral.
7. No Integration with Other Tools: Google Alerts does not integrate with other tools or platforms
(like Slack for example), which can make it difficult to incorporate the service into your existing workflow
or to share information with others.
Social Listening As The Alternative To Google Alerts
Social listening is the practice of monitoring digital conversations, including social media
platforms, to understand what people are saying about a particular brand, topic, or industry. It involves
analyzing and interpreting these conversations to gain insights, identify trends, and inform marketing
strategies. Social listening is not just about tracking brand mentions or keywords; it also includes analyzing
the sentiment and context behind these conversations, which helps businesses make data-driven decisions.
Social listening covers a wide range of social media platforms, like X (Twitter), Reddit,
LinkedIn, Hacker News, Quora, Facebook... and more. Google Alerts, on the other hand, primarily focuses on news
sites, blogs, and other websites indexed by Google.
Good social listening tools often provide real-time or near real-time monitoring of
conversations, allowing businesses to respond quickly to any emerging issues or trends. Google Alerts, while
useful, may not always provide the most up-to-date information.
Additionally, social listening tools often include sentiment analysis, which helps businesses
understand the
tone and emotions behind online conversations. This feature is not available with Google Alerts.
So in the end it's important to keep in mind that social listening tools can track and monitor
social media platforms more effectively than
Google Alerts because they are specifically designed for this purpose.
Some Good Google Alerts' Alternatives
Several good social listening platforms exist as Google Alerts's alternatives for social media
monitoring. Here are some of them.
KWatch.io (Us)
KWatch.io is a simple social listening platform dedicated to monitoring social media in
real-time, like Reddit, X (Twitter), Linkedin, Quora, Facebook, Hacker News... We automatically perform sentiment analysis
on the conversations, and you can easily integrate the alerts into Slack or any other system thanks to our API
webhooks.
Brand24
This social media monitoring tool is highlighted for its ability to monitor conversations and
mentions across various platforms (not in real-time though) like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Reddit,
Pinterest, and Quora. It provides sentiment analysis and other valuable features like tracking engagement and
reach of posts and social media reporting.
Semrush
While primarily known for its SEO tools, Semrush also offers social media monitoring features.
It's sometimes mentioned as an alternative to Google Trends but it lacks advanced capabilities like real-time
alerts, sentiment analsysis, and Slack integration.
Hootsuite
Known for its social media management capabilities, Hootsuite also provides social listening
and monitoring features across various platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube,
and Reddit. It offers sentiment analysis and other features like tracking engagement and reach of posts, but
their alerts are not real-time.
Conclusion
Google Alerts is still a good tool if you need to monitor specific keywords on websites that
are indexed by Google, even if the quality of Google Alerts has clearly deteriorated these last years.
However, given that Google Alerts often misses some results and cannot correctly monitor social
media, it might be interesting for you to leverage the power of a dedicated social listening platform like Brand24,
Hootsuite, or KWatch.io.
KWatch.io
