Google Alerts for SEO
SEO is a complicated business and one that’s hard to nail consistently. Everything from algorithm changes to ranking factor updates can impact your position in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). So how can you stay on top of your SEO efforts and be aware of anything that might need looking at or fixing? Here are seven Google alerts for SEO that are designed to give you a helping hand.
Setting Up Email Notifications
Before delving into the specific Google alerts, let’s just take a second to acknowledge the importance of setting up email notifications for these alerts. Sure, your inbox might already be crowded with business demands, but by setting up a fresh folder solely for Google email alerts, you can closely monitor your SEO performance and any changes that come your way.
Emails notifications are great because:
- They’re hard to miss, especially if you’ve set up a new email address or folder for SEO-specific purposes. A quick scan of notifications will tell you if you need to be concerned or act urgently. Make sure you sync your new email account to your mobile device so you can keep track of changes on-the-go.
- Emails get archived. This allows you to keep track of historical SEO changes, errors and anything that’s been flagged in the past.
- Email is a free communication tool. Setting up a Gmail account is quick, easy and the account will be available for years to come.
Google Analytics Alerts
Now let’s take a look at some of the Google alerts themselves, starting with Google Analytics. Google Analytics offers a custom alerts feature which allows you to get notified if anything weird is happening with your traffic. You can set alerts by following this channel:
Login to your Google Analytics dashboard – Customisation – Custom Alerts – Click “Manage Custom Alerts” – Click “NEW ALERT”
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Traffic Drop Alert
The first alert to mention is the one that tells you your traffic has dropped off. An unexpected drop in traffic can indicate an issue with your code, or be the result of a Google algorithm update. If sudden decrease in traffic does occur, you’ll want to notify your development team as soon as possible so that they can look into possible causes. Here’s how to set up your criteria that will trigger an email alert.
- Set up traffic source to “Google”
- Set up your trigger. For example, if your traffic drops below its usual minimum level
- Tick the box that says “send me an email when this alert triggers”
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Referral or Direct Traffic Spike Alert
Getting content to go viral is not easy. So if it happens, you’ll want to be the first to know. Similarly, if your brand is mentioned by a social media influencer resulting in a traffic spike, you must know immediately so that you can get involved in the action and be as present as possible. Setting up an alert for this is therefore a good idea as it’ll allow you to respond to messages and maximise the new attention you’re getting. You can exclude Google from the sources of traffic to keep organic growth and declines from skewing your numbers.
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Revenue Drop Alert
A sudden and unexpected drop in revenue can be a symptom of a serious problem or a significant algorithm change that’s impacted your search placement. So if you’ve got Google Analytics for e-commerce set up, make sure you create an alert for this. Think carefully about the threshold you want to be notified of, keeping in mind your slower days or months and any normal revenue declines, as you don’t want to be notified for any minor drops. This alert is best used for picking up any considerable losses.
- Lower Load Time Alerts
Page load time is now an important ranking factor, as Google is keener than ever to perfect the user experience. So it’s important to be aware of if your site isn’t delivering as you might expect it to. You can get notified by Google Analytics when your page average load time suddenly drops, so your development team can diagnose the problem quickly. Having development experts on hand is super valuable as techy issues can and do happen.
Google Search Console Alerts
As well as alerts from Google Analytics, Google Search Console alerts will also notify you of three important events.
- Malware Alert – these are the fastest and most accurate alerts on the market and can help prevent everything from a reputation crisis to a private data leak.
- Internal Errors Alert – If Google notices an unusual spike in indexation issues or internal errors, you will get an email from Search Console.
- Manual Penalty Alert – hopefully you’ll never get one of these, but if you do, Google will notify you quickly so that the issue can be resolved.
Setting up and receiving alerts is really important when it comes to SEO as it ensures everything runs smoothly and you’re aware of any issues. Contact a Kent SEO agency such as Whitefish Marketing today if you require further SEO services.
