News: the latest top 10 news article search results based on the given search terms

Web: the latest top 20 Web search results based on the given search terms

Blogs: the latest top ten blogs search results based on the given search terms

Groups: the latest top 50 posts in Google Groups search results based on the given search terms

Comprehensive: the latest search results for the given search terms from multiple sources for maximum coverage

Typically, people create alerts for things like:

a) Tracking a news story as it unfolds

b) Keeping up to date on competitors and industry

c) Monitoring medical advances

d) Tracking celebrity news and gossip

You can set up Google Alerts by signing in with your Google account and going to the alerts home page at www.google.com/alerts.


To create an alert:

1. Type in the search terms on which you wish to base your search results. This can be a simple string of keywords. (eg. Crossaffairs)

Click on "Preview Results" to see how the results look.

2. Select what type of search it is, based on the five possible variants ("Everything", "News", "Blog", "Video", "Discussions")

3. Select at what frequency you want to be alerted—once a day, as it- happens, or once a week. Determining the alert frequency will depend on the search topic.

Fast moving topics should generally be set to once a week, or you will be drowning in alerts! For slow moving topics like a specific scientific or medical breakthrough, an as-it-happens alert will be better.

4. Click on “Create Alert” to finish.

Once the alert is created, you can sit back and wait to be updated according to the specified frequency.

The Edit and Delete next to each alert link enables you to edit the alert—changing the search terms, the type and frequency, and deleting the alert when it is no longer relevant.

You can also specify whether the alert should be in HTML or plain text.