No, I\u2019m not talking about the ones you already use like Google Search Console<\/a> and Google Analytics<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n They actually have tons of other tools. Some you may have heard of, but I bet you don\u2019t use them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And today I am going to show you how you can build links using Google Alerts<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the saying goes, if it isn\u2019t on Google, it doesn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Google is the most popular search engine in the world. Their database contains<\/a> hundreds of billions of web pages and is over 100,000,000 gigabytes in size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because of their massive size, they are able to crawl web pages more frequently than any SEO tool including my own, Ubersuggest<\/a>. This is precisely why you want to start using Google Alerts to build links.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, what is Google Alerts?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n As I mentioned above, they have a bigger database of web pages than any other link building or SEO tool<\/a>. So, you\u2019ll want to use their database to find easy link opportunities and ideally without wasting time digging through billions or even thousands of web pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Google Alerts allows you to create notifications on any subject, topic, or keyword.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, when a new web page talks about anything that could be an easy link opportunity, you\u2019ll get notified in an email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just like this one\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, let\u2019s set it all up step by step so you can get some backlinks<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n First, I want you to go here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019ll see a screen that looks like this (make sure you sign in at the top right).<\/p>\n\n\n\n I want you to type in your domain name without the www<\/em> or the https<\/em> part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In my case, I would type in: neilpatel.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n You may see an alert preview like the one above, but if you have a newer site you probably won\u2019t see any results, which is fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then I want you to click on the \u201cShow Options\u201d link next to the \u201cCreate Alert\u201d button.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your settings should match mine:<\/p>\n\n\n\n And then click \u201cCreate Alert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Up to once a day, you\u2019ll get an email with a list of pages that mentions your website or domain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I want you to repeat the process and create an alert for the following items:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s what mine looks like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019ll also notice for all of my two-word phrases I have quotation marks around them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, I would not create an alert for: Neil Patel<\/p>\n\n\n\n But, I would create an alert for: \u201cNeil Patel\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The reason being is that alerts for two-word phrases without quotes aren\u2019t as relevant. For example, here are some alerts from the term: online marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I use quotes, here are the results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n See the difference?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Now that you have alerts set up, it is time to get links.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Keep in mind that when you get an alert email, someone could have already linked to you. So, not every alert will be a link building opportunity, but many will be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Typically, more than half will be opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Depending on the alert type, some will be easier than others. So, let\u2019s go over how to convert each opportunity into a link.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019ll find that a good portion of the mentions of your domain will contain a link back to your site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For those, you don\u2019t have to do anything as you\u2019ve already got a link. ?<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the ones that aren\u2019t linking to you, I want you to send the following email to the webmaster\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Subject:<\/strong> Did you make a mistake?<\/p> Hey [insert first name],<\/p> First off, I just wanted to say thanks for mentioning [insert your domain] in this article [insert a link to the URL that mentions your domain].<\/p> I know you are busy so I will just cut to the chase.<\/p> Would you mind hotlinking my domain to my website? I know it doesn\u2019t seem like a big deal, but that extra traffic really helps small companies like mine.<\/p> Cheers,<\/p> [insert your name]<\/p> PS:<\/em><\/strong> Let me know if I can do anything for you.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n When it comes to brand names, it is a 50\/50 shot. Roughly half the people will link to you when they mention your brand and the other half won\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the ones that didn\u2019t, send them this email:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Subject:<\/strong> You forgot to do this<\/p> Hey [insert first name],<\/p> I\u2019m flattered.<\/p> Thank you for mentioning [insert your brand name] in your article on [insert the title of their article].<\/p> [insert the URL of their article]<\/p> You really made my day with that.<\/p> Again, thank you!<\/p> I feel bad doing this because you already mentioned us, but it would mean the world to me if you also linked our name to our site.<\/p> Would you mind doing that?<\/p> Sorry to bug you.<\/p> [insert your name]<\/p> PS:<\/em><\/strong> Let me know if I can do anything for you.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n With product names, usually 70% to 80% of the websites will be linking back to you and the rest not. For the ones that don\u2019t, send them an email similar to this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Subject:<\/strong> Did you mean to do this?<\/p> Hey [insert their first name],<\/p> I just wanted to take a minute to tell you how much I appreciate that you mentioned [insert your brand name] here [insert the URL of the webpage that mentions your product].<\/p> Seriously, thank you!<\/p> Now, I feel bad doing this, but would you mind hotlinking [insert your product name] to this page on our website where people can find the product [insert the URL on your site that covers the product]?<\/p> Sorry to bug you.<\/p> And again, thank you for mentioning us. It really means a lot.<\/p> [insert your name]<\/p> PS:<\/em><\/strong> Let me know if I can do anything for you.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Now this one is rare as most people won\u2019t be publishing your email address.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And when they do, they usually aren\u2019t linking to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you try to get them to link the email address, you will find it hard. But what\u2019s easier is to get them to remove your email address and link to your contact page instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s the email template I use for this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Subject:<\/strong> Privacy issue<\/p> Hey [insert their first name],<\/p> I noticed you mentioned our email address, [insert your email address], on this page [insert the page they mentioned your email on].<\/p> Would you mind mentioning and linking to our contact page instead [insert your contact page URL]?<\/p> For privacy reasons, I would rather have people get in touch with us through that page instead of our email.<\/p> Thanks for your time.<\/p> [insert your name]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n You also notice that in this template I didn\u2019t include the PS at the bottom. The PS typically helps boost your success ratio, but when it comes to this email, you want to be a bit more firm as it is related to your privacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You ideally want the link and fewer people sharing your email because then you\u2019ll have to deal with a ton of spam messages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In almost all cases, alerts that contain industry terms won\u2019t be linking to you. And this group will also be the largest number of results you get with each alert email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019ll have to go through each alert and look at the context of the web page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If they are talking about something that you have already covered on your website and did more in-depth than they have, there is a good chance you can convince them to link to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, if there is an article about SEO and they mention how you need to build links, but they don\u2019t go into how to build links, I would email the site owner pointing to this article as it breaks down how to build links.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here is the type of email I would send:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Subject:<\/strong> Some feedback for you<\/p> Hey [insert their first name],<\/p> Love your article on [insert the topic of their article] [insert the URL of their article].<\/p> I just have one piece of feedback for you (hope you don\u2019t get offended), but you mention [insert the subject they mention that you go more in-depth on within your own site], but you didn\u2019t go too in-depth on it.<\/p> I think if you adjusted that it would provide a lot more value to your readers.<\/p> Or if you don\u2019t have the time to, I already have an article on it here [insert the URL on your site where you go in-depth on that topic] that you could just link to.<\/p> Let me know your thoughts.<\/p> [insert your name]<\/p> PS:<\/em><\/strong> Let me know if I can do anything for you.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Now that you know what kind of emails to send depending on the alert you receive, you\u2019ll have to, of course, get in touch with the site owner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So how do you find their email address?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, the simplest way is to go to their contact page and see if their email is there or if they have a contact form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can also check out their terms of service or privacy policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhat is Google Alerts?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/neilpatel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/alertemail.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nHow to set up Google Alerts<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/neilpatel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/alertscreen.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/neilpatel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/alertexample.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/neilpatel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/settinggooglealerts.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/neilpatel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/myalerts.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/neilpatel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/alertjunk.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/neilpatel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/goodonlinemarketing.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nGetting links<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Your domain<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Brand name<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Product names<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Your email address<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Industry terms<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How do I get in touch?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/neilpatel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hunterio.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/neilpatel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/backlinks.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/neilpatel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/linklist.png\")
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