The right way to create hyperlinks utilizing Google Alerts
Link building is difficult. But did you know that Google makes it easier for you?
Seriously … they make it easier because they provide you with free tools.
No, I'm not talking about those you already use, like Google Search Console and Google Analytics.
You actually have tons of other tools. Some you may have heard of, but I bet you don't use them.
And today I'm going to show you how to create links using Google Alerts.
What is Google Alerts?
As the saying goes, it doesn't exist if it's not on Google.
Google is the most popular search engine in the world. Its database contains hundreds of billions of websites and is over 100,000,000 gigabytes in size.
Because of their enormous size, they can crawl websites more often than any other SEO tool, including my own Ubersuggest. This is exactly why you want to use Google Alerts to create links.
What is Google Alerts?
As mentioned above, they have a larger database of websites than any other link building or SEO tool. So they want to use their database to find simple links, and ideally without wasting time searching billions or even thousands of websites.
With Google Alerts, you can create notifications about any topic, topic, or keyword.
If everything is discussed on a new website that could be a simple link, you will be notified in an email.
Just like this …
So let's set everything up step by step so that you get some backlinks.
How to set up Google Alerts
First of all, I want you to go here.
You will see a screen that looks like this (make sure you log in at the top right).
I want you to enter your domain name without the www or https part.
In my case, I would type: neilpatel.com
You may see a warning preview like the one above, but if you have a newer website, you probably won't see any results, which is fine.
Then I want you to click the "Show Options" link next to the "Create Notification" button.
Your settings should match mine:
- How often – at most once a day
- swell – Blogs, Web (select these two options. You don't want news as an option as this leads to more irrelevant results. We have found that it is more difficult to get news sites to link back to you.)
- language – English (or the language you are targeting)
- region – any region (or you can choose the country you're targeting, although I recommend choosing "any region")
- How many – all results
- Deliver to – should be your email.
Then click on "Create notification".
You will receive an email up to once a day with a list of pages mentioning your website or domain.
I want you to repeat the process and create a warning for the following items:
- Your domain – You should have just done that.
- Brand name – In my case, I would create a warning for "Neil Patel".
- Product names – If you sell services or products, you can create a warning. In my case, I would create a warning for "Ubersuggest".
- Industry terms – Create notifications for everything related to your industry. When people talk about your space, this is an easy way to connect. In my case, I would create warnings for the terms: digital marketing, online marketing, and SEO.
- Your e-mail address – Create a notification when someone issues your email address. Another easy opportunity to connect.
This is what mine looks like:
You will also find that there are quotation marks for all of my two-word sentences.
For example, I would not create a warning for: Neil Patel
But I would create a warning for: "Neil Patel"
This is because warnings are not as relevant for two-word phrases without quotation marks. For example, here are some warnings from the term: online marketing.
If I use quotes, here are the results.
See the difference?
Get links
After setting up notifications, it's time to get links.
Keep in mind that when you receive a notification email, someone may already have linked to you. So not every warning will be an opportunity to build a link, but many will.
As a rule, more than half of the opportunities.
Depending on the type of alarm, some are simpler than others. Now let's explain how to turn each opportunity into a link.
Your domain
You will find that a large proportion of your domain mentions include a link back to your website.
You don't have to do anything for them, since you already have a link. 🙂
For those who don't link to you, I want you to send the following email to the webmaster …
Object: Did you make a mistake?
Hey (insert first name),
First of all, I just wanted to thank you for mentioning (inserting your domain) in this article (inserting a link to the URL that mentions your domain).
I know you're busy, so I'll get straight to the point.
Would you mind linking my domain to my website? I know it doesn't seem like a big deal, but this extra traffic really helps small businesses like me.
Cheers,
(Enter your name)
PS: Let me know if I can do anything for you.
Brand name
When it comes to brand names, it's a 50/50 shot. About half of the people will link to you when they mention your brand, the other half won't.
For those who haven't, send them this email:
Object: You forgot that
Hey (insert first name),
I'm flattered.
Thank you for mentioning (enter your brand name) in your article on (insert the title of the article).
(Enter the URL of your article)
You really did my day with that.
Thanks again!
I feel bad about it because you already mentioned us, but it would mean the world to me if you also linked our name to our website.
Would you mind doing that?
I'm sorry to annoy you.
(Enter your name)
PS: Let me know if I can do anything for you.
Product names
For product names, typically 70% to 80% of websites don't link to you and the rest. For those who don't, send them a similar email:
Object: Did you want to do that
Hey (enter your first name)
I just wanted to take a minute to tell you how much I appreciate that you mentioned here (enter your brand name) (enter the URL of the website that mentions your product).
Seriously, thank you!
Well i feel bad about it but would you mind putting a hotlink (enter your product name) on this page of our website where people can find the product (enter the url on your website, that covers the product)?
I'm sorry to annoy you.
And thanks again for mentioning us. It really means a lot.
(Enter your name)
PS: Let me know if I can do anything for you.
Your e-mail address
Now this is rare because most people don't publish your email address.
And if they do, they don't usually link to you.
If you try to get them to link the email address, you will find it difficult. However, it is easier to get them to remove your email address and instead link to your contact page.
Here is the email template I'm using for it.
Object: Privacy issue
Hey (enter your first name)
I noticed that on this page you provided our email address (enter your email address) (enter the page that mentioned your email).
Would you mind mentioning and linking to our contact page instead (enter your contact page URL)?
For privacy reasons, I would prefer people to contact us through this page rather than through our email.
Thanks for your time.
(Enter your name)
You also notice that I did not specify the PS below in this template. The PS usually helps to increase your success rate. However, when it comes to this email, you want to be a bit firmer as it is related to your privacy.
Ideally, you want the link and fewer people to share your email, as you'll have to deal with a lot of spam messages.
Industry terms
In almost all cases, warnings that contain industry terms are not linked to you. This group is also the largest number of results you will receive with each notification email.
You have to go through every warning and look at the context of the website.
If they're talking about something that you've already covered on your website and more detailed than they did, there's a good chance you can convince them to link to you.
For example, if there is an article about SEO that mentions how to create links but not how to create links, I would send an email to the website owner pointing to this article as it describes how to create links become .
Here is the type of email I would send:
Object: Some feedback for you
Hey (enter your first name)
Love your article on (insert the subject of your article) (insert the URL of your article).
I only have feedback for you (I hope you will not be offended) but you mention (insert the topic they mention that you go into more detail on your own website) but you haven't gone too far – Depth on it.
I think if you adjusted this it would give your readers a lot more value.
Or if you don't have the time, I already have an article here (enter the URL on your website where you go into this topic) that you can easily link to.
Let me know what you think.
(Enter your name)
PS: Let me know if I can do anything for you.
How do I register?
Now that you know what kind of emails to send depending on the notification you receive, you need to get in touch with the website owner.
How do you find your email address?
The easiest way is to go to the contact page and check whether your email address is available or whether you have a contact form.
You can also view the terms of use or privacy policy.
Another option is to use tools like Hunter. Simply enter a domain name in Hunter and you will see a list of people you can contact.
Your free plan allows 50 requests per month, which should be enough to get you started.
Conclusion
Google Alerts is an easy way to create links. So I would start with that.
The nice thing is that you are informed about opportunities. This saves you a lot of time.
And if you have a little more time, I recommend another link building strategy.
Go here and enter the URL of your competition.
As soon as you click "Search", a report will appear that looks something like this:
These are all websites that point to your competition. The interesting thing about this list is that it is sorted.
The results at the top have more authority, which usually increases the SEO rankings more than those at the bottom of the list.
You want to go through the list, click on each website, and see if it makes sense to access that website and ask them to link to you.
If you have similar content to your competition that is more thorough, you can usually convince someone to link to you. You need to send them emails like the following …
Hey (enter your first name)
Question for you …
How do you see your readers when you link to another website that doesn't really help them?
It makes you look bad somehow and may even lose a little confidence in your readers, right?
In this article (enter the URL on their website) link to (enter the URL of the competition).
The article you link to is not covered (add the areas that the competition missed).
I actually have an article (insert your article URL) that covers the following (insert what you cover, what the competition doesn't do, and why it benefits the readers more).
If you are not interested in linking to us, don't worry. I only know that you care about your readers and want to do the best for them.
Cheers,
(Enter your name)
PS: Let me know if I can do anything for you.
If you follow the steps above, you will start creating links.
It's not that difficult and you can do it. You just have to be willing to invest time and don't get discouraged if you send a handful of emails and no one uses you.
Think of your email as a selling point and it may not be perfect the first time. Therefore, you may need to change and adapt them.
If you have questions about the steps or are confused about anything, just leave a comment below.