How to Make the Web Come to YOU with Google Alerts

1. How to Make the Web Come to YOU with Google Alerts Eileen Boswell, Information Specialist September 2009

2. What is a Google Alert? A Google Alert is an email that is sent to you with links to the World Wide Web. When you sign up for a Google Alert, you choose what topic you are interested in, what kind of information you want about it, and how often you would like to hear about it. Google Alerts can help you keep track of important information on the Web.

3. Why not just search the Web? Searching the Web may give you the same results as Google Alerts, but with Google Alerts the information comes directly to your email account. If you search Google you will get a lot of links to information – some useful and some not. Some results of a Google search are out of date, while some are good, but buried on the last page of results.

4. What can I be alerted about? Any topic of interest to you! It is a good idea to have an alert on the name of your agency (if it is small) or perhaps your department within your agency (if it is very large). You may want to have a Google Alert on your name if you are concerned about identity theft, or if you want to know if you are mentioned in the press.

5. How do I get started? Step 1: Go to Google Alerts Home Page at www.google.com/alerts Step 2: Choose your alert phrase Step 3: Choose the frequency of alert Step 4: Choose what type of sites you want information from (just news, news and blogs) Step 5: Choose where you want alerts sent (your email account)

6. Step 1: Go to www.google.com/alerts [Image description: The Google Alerts homepage showing blank fields to be filled in by you to sign up for your Google Alert.]

7. Step 2: Choose your alert phrase [Image description: An arrow pointing to the field in which you type the word or phrase you want a Google Alert for.]

8. Step 3: Choose the Alert Frequency • How often do you want to know when news of this topic arrives on the Web? • As-it-happens • Once a day • Once a week [Image description: A box showing the three frequency options for Google Alerts: “as-it-happens,” “once a day,” and “once a week.”]

9. Step 4: Choose which sources you want information from • Internet news sites • Blogs • Conventional web sites • All available internet sources • Video clips • Google Groups [Image description: A box from Google Alerts with choices of internet sources from which a Google Alert an be “pulled” off the Web.]

10. Step 5: Choose where to have the alerts sent [Image description: An arrow pointing to the field in Google Alerts in which you type your email address.]

11. What it Looks Like in Your Email [Image description: An image showing a “Google News Alert for: ‘Community Transportation’,” with two links to web sites that mention “Community Transportation,” as well as a short description of the context the phrase was used in. There are also links to “Remove this alert,” “Create a new alert,” and “Manage your alerts.”]

12. Links to More Information about Google Alerts http://labnol.blogspot.com/2006/11/google-alerts-tutorial-to-help-you.html http://kineticknowledge.com/blog/google/google-alerts-tutorial/ http://www.google.com/support/alerts/

13. Contact Information Eileen Boswell, Information Specialist Community Transportation Association of America 800-527-8279 (ext. 707 or option 0)resources@ctaa.orgwww.ctaa.org or www.NRCtransportation.org