Link building is not limited to web pages and press releases. It can also be used as a strategy in email alerts for things published on the web. There are eight types of email alerts that can help you implement in order to improve your SEO results.
If you have set up email alerts in the past, it is likely that you have used Google Alerts. You may also have used Fresh Web Explorer, Talkwalker, Mention.net and Tracker. Whatever programs you use, it is important to understand how to fully utilize the various alert features to get the most SEO value out of your efforts. Not all programs have all features, so a general list may help you customize each program to your specific needs.
1) Study links to competitors. It is important to have a good grasp of what links your competitors are promoting so that you can see if you need to do something similar. You can set many email alert programs to notify you when someone posts links to a competitor.
2) Mentions of your brands without links. If your email alert program will support it, you can set up an alert for any time someone mentions your brand but does not link to your company. This helps you identify who is talking about you and investigate why they are not linking to your site.
3) Mentions of your keywords without your brand. This may be useful if you have some pretty specifically targeted keywords and want to see how often people are linking to those keywords but not to your site.
4) Show content produced by a competitor. Similar to competitor links, you can also set up an alert for competitor content. This helps you learn what your competitors are writing about and possibly glean important keywords.
5) Geographic regional links. You can set up geographic notifications so that you can target mentions of your own or a competitor’s specific location.
6) Links to your site. Thank your Twitter users who mention you or connect with others who may want to connect with you by setting up a self-link alert.
7) Find relevant blogs about your business. You can actually search for “blog” and a search string to find blogs that talk about your business or field.
8) Links to resources that are not as good as yours. How else will you know whether your competitors are lagging behind you unless you look at alerts about their resources?
Learn email alert strategies to ramp up your SEO marketing!