How Google Alerts can Help You Find Copiers… and Cheaters!

Google has a free tool that allows you to monitor any search term on the Internet. Whenever Google picks up the search term you specify, you will receive an email with a link showing you where the search term can be found. For example, if you spend hours creating a report and publishing it onto your website, that content is owned by you and cannot be used/copied by anyone else claiming it to be their original content. For your benefit, you can use Google Alerts to alert you whenever your content is found on another website.

You first need a Google account. If you have one, perfect… If not, you need to create one by going here: https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount?continue=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F&hl=en. Once your account is created and you have received a confirmation email from Google, you can start using and managing your Google Alerts.

Sign into your Google account and then go here: http://www.google.com/alerts.

Inside the box to the right is where you create your Google alerts. The most popular alert people set up is their domain name. Type in your domain name inside the “Search terms:” field. Leave “Comprehensive” selected. You can choose to have alerts emailed to you once a day, as it happens, or once a week. I find that receiving the alerts once a day is best, so that your inbox doesn’t get flooded with alerts from “as it happens.” Once you have entered in the information, click on “Create Alert.” This will take you to a page where you can manage all of your alerts. You can edit alerts, delete alerts, and add more alerts.

To add another alert, click on “New Alert” all the way to the right. You will then be allowed to type directly on the “manage your alerts” screen. For example, if you have recently created copy material on your website and want to make sure no one is stealing your worthy information, you can paste parts of your text into the search term area, even if it’s long. Anytime this text is picked up on another website, Google emails you with a link to the page your content is on.

By utilizing Google Alerts you can find out who’s stealing your content. Large companies use this tool when they create copyrighted material.