Best Google Alerts Alternatives

What is Google Alerts?

Google Alerts is a Google notification tool that lets users create custom searches based on specific words or phrases; Google will then send a notification anytime it finds the search term in new results.

Anyone with a Google account can create a Google Alert for any phrase or topic. The Google Alerts service is especially useful for notifying users of corporate stock values, product announcements or newly issued press releases.

If you want up-to-date information on a specific topic, a niche market or even an entire industry, you can create a Google Alert and set it for any frequency you want. For example, you can request daily reports or hourly updates. Google Alerts also has the option to send out notifications in real time, so Google can update you on a specific event as it happens.

This tool is also ideal for monitoring social media, evaluating social media marketing, maintaining a watchful eye on the competition, and monitoring your marketing return on investment ROI.

Best Google Alerts alternatives

While Google Alerts is a capable tool, other content-monitoring alternatives may be more suitable for your needs. We’ll highlight five of the best Google Alerts alternatives.

Talkwalker Alerts

Talkwalker Alerts allows you to monitor the internet for new content that features your name or brand, the names of your competitors, or another relevant business topic. It will find mentions on websites, forums, blogs and X (formerly Twitter) and deliver them directly to your inbox in a single, relevant email.

If you want to refine your alerts, use the tool’s intuitive filter option to view only the formats that are most relevant to you and your business. Talkwalker uses Boolean operators to offer a high level of customization. It also offers integration with Slack, allowing for easy monitoring of alerts within a single application. 

Talkwalker Alerts is a free, web-based service that offers the simplicity of the original Google Alerts but with far more functionality and customizability. The company has more extensive, paid options if you need to go beyond social listening and access detailed analytics. Visit Talkwalker Alerts online to learn more.

Mention

Mention is a powerful option for monitoring your media mentions. It offers advanced tools such as real-time activity monitoring and access to statistics and reports. One of its most helpful features is the ability to respond to social media alerts within the app. You can see and respond instantly without jumping through any additional hoops. Mention also includes AI-powered business tools to help brands with their content strategy. 

This web-based platform lets businesses monitor any keyword across a wide array of sources, including all social media sites, blogs, forums and other web properties. Notifications can be sent as weekly or daily email digests or via real-time push notifications.

Mention offers a free plan with reduced functionality, so you can try out the service and see if it can benefit your business. There’s also a Solo plan designed for individuals and entrepreneurs that starts at $41 per month. If you want to monitor the competition and receive additional alerts, look into the Pro plan ($83 per month) or the Pro Plus plan ($149 per month). Mention also offers a custom option ideal for larger companies or agencies. Visit Mention online for more information. 

Meltwater

Meltwater is a powerful monitoring tool for businesses. The company uses a sophisticated AI-driven interface to yield more insightful results, providing a greater level of detailed analysis while reducing the background noise of irrelevant data.

Beyond simple monitoring, Meltwater also offers a range of other capabilities, including exploring insights and trends, market intelligence, sales intelligence, and social media management. 

The Meltwater interface is extensive and visually appealing. Because of the high level of customization, prices vary. The company provides quotes based on your business’s needs and the level of functionality and customization you require. After signing up, you can review your data via the web interface, download the Meltwater mobile iOS app or get the Android Meltwater app. 

Visit Meltwater online to learn more or request a free demo.

Sprout Social

Sprout Social is a solid option that specializes in social media listening. It also includes tools capable of parsing the web for news and mentions about your brand. Better yet, Sprout Social is easy to integrate into your existing social media platforms. It provides actionable business intelligence to guide the conversation around your organization.

Sprout offers Standard ($199 per user per month), Professional ($299 per user per month), and Advanced ($399 per user per month) packages with varying features and functionality. It also offers free trials and more pricing options for enterprise clients. Visit Sprout Social online to learn more or request a demo or free trial.

Awario

Sporting a stellar suite of lead generation functionality, Awario is another superb listening platform able to keep you up to date on what people are saying about your business while providing critical insights about your industry.

Awario touts its ability to monitor conversations “in any language, in any location” to provide a comprehensive snapshot of trends worldwide. To help make sense of this information, Awario also includes sentiment analysis. This tracks the overall tone and trends in mentions of your brand over time. 

Pricing tiers start at $29 per month and go up to $249 for additional enterprise features. Visit Awario online to learn more.

Benefits of using content alerts in businesses

In this challenging business landscape, businesses must know what’s being said about them online to protect their brand reputation and guide their marketing strategies. However, amid myriad social networks and online news sources, effectively monitoring online mentions is difficult. 

Content alert tools like Google Alerts and its competitors can help, allowing businesses to proactively monitor and stay aware of trends, mentions, and specific topics and gain valuable market intelligence. 

Content alert tools can help businesses in the following ways: 

• Perform market intelligence research and analysis
• Conduct competitor analyses
• Use sentiment analysis to evaluate and steer marketing campaigns
• Build and track audience engagement 
• Proactively identify and respond to negative social media posts
• Proactively identify and elevate positive social media posts or news articles

Which content monitoring service should you use?

If you’ve been looking for a minimalist solution reminiscent of the original Google Alerts, you may want to give Talkwalker Alerts a try. The free service has an easy-to-use, barebones design while offering more options than Google Alerts.

If you’re a business user who needs more in-depth analysis or a greater degree of customization, explore Mention’s and Meltwater’s offerings. Consider Sprout Social if you’d like your content-monitoring tool to integrate with your social media platforms or if you’re monitoring your brand to build customer loyalty. If lead generation and growing an email marketing contact list is your focus, consider Awario.

Effectively using content monitoring

Google Alerts is a powerful content monitoring tool for many businesses. However, businesses with specific use cases may benefit more from an alternative with unique functionality. Ultimately, identifying your overall use case is the most crucial factor in effectively working with content-monitoring services.

Businesses will likely be disappointed by Google Alerts and its competitors without a clear idea of their content-monitoring goals. Once you’ve determined how you want to use these tools and what you want to achieve, you can choose a platform and work with it effectively. 

Jeremy Bender contributed to this article.