How to "Cause" a google alert

[dmac]

Hello Everyone,

I'm just wondering, is there a quick and good way to actually cause a google alert for a keyword? I'm thinking of a press release, but there must be several other ways as well.

I look forward to your  response.

Thanks!
David

[ChrisDyson]

If I understand correctly you want to ensure that a piece of content triggers a Google alert.

If that is the case you want to make sure that you ping as many services as possible when you publish new content you also want make sure you submit your RSS feeds to any relevant RSS services this will increase the likelihood a new web page is crawled and indexed and ultimately triggers an alert.

[groovykarma]

Whenever we add content to our site -- or update a page in a significant way -- we update the sitemap.xml file.  I suggest you publish content, add/update your sitemap and ping Google Webmaster Tools (and others) of the new page.  That should trigger a crawl in a short time (depending on how often site is currently crawled).

Keep an eye on your web logs to see if GoogleBot crawled to confirm.

[CaseyKluver]

Hi David,

Any time I have published a blog post, it will generate a Google alert for my brand name. You just have to get your content out there on a crawl-able site.