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If you want to be in on the latest scoop, news, and info, check out Talkwalker Alerts. This service can notify you when one of your search terms appears on the Internet.
About a year ago I wrote about Google Alerts, but alas, Google has decided their alert service is going the way of the 8-track tape. Kudos to Gini Dietrich of Spin Sucks for finding a worthy replacement for Google Alerts – Talkwalker Alerts. Like Google Alerts, Talkwalker Alerts can send you an email when your name, your company, your investments, your favorite stars or any other name or term is mentioned on the Internet.
Update: Since this article was published, Google must have changed its mind about closing Google Alerts because the service still exists.
Talkwalker Alerts is a simple service that was launched a few weeks ago in response to Google shuttering Google Alerts. Talkwalker Alerts is designed to make it easy for you to set up alerts and to transfer your alerts from Google Alerts directly to Talkwalker. By taking a few minutes to set up your alerts you can be notified when a term is mentioned on the Internet.
Creating a TalkWalker Alert
Setting Up a Talkwalker Alert is easy. Head to the Talkwalker Alert website and enter your search term. (See, On Alert with Google Alerts! for tips on creating your search terms.)
You can then choose to be notified about Everything, News, Discussions or Blogs. Next choose which languages you want alerts from: all languages or a specific one. Choose the frequency: as it happens, once a day or once a week. Then select whether you want all results or only the best results.
Enter your email address and then click on the red Create Alert button. You’ll be sent a confirmation email to the address you provided with a password for your Talkwalker account. (Be sure to change that password after you click on the link confirming your Talkwalker account.)
After I set up my Talkwalker account, alerts appeared in my inbox very quickly. In my zeal to test Talkwalker Alerts, I neglected to put quotation marks around Wonder of Tech so I was getting a lot of notices about the word “tech” being mentioned on the Internet. As much of a tech fan as I am, I didn’t need quite that many notifications about tech.
Fortunately, there is a very easy solution so this doesn’t happen to you.
Importing Your Google Alerts
If you’ve already set up Google Alerts, you can easily copy your alerts to Talkwalker to save time and hassle. Just go to Google Alerts and click on Manage Your Alerts. On the Alerts page, click Export Alerts.
You’ll be asked where to save the file. The easiest place to save it is your Desktop so you can easily access it then delete it when you’re done.
Next, go to the Talkwalker Alerts Manage page and click on Import Alerts. Then click on Choose File. A pop up page will appear. Select Desktop then choose the alerts.csv file and click Open at the bottom of the page. The pop up page should close and the Talkwalker Alerts Import page should be visible. Click the red Import Alerts button.
Your alerts will appear in your Manage Alerts page, just as they appeared in Google Alerts. You can click on the Edit button to the right of each alert to change any settings.
After you’ve confirmed that your alerts were imported to Talkwalker, you can delete the alerts.csv file from your Desktop.
Talkwalker Alerts vs. Google Alerts
Exporting your alerts from Google Alerts to Talkwalker copies your alerts, it doesn’t delete them from Google Alerts, so you can keep both services working at the same time. Google Alerts hasn’t ended yet so you can keep using it while you test Talkwalker. If you find you’re getting duplicate alerts you can delete your Google Alerts account. Interestingly, I haven’t had any duplicate alerts yet from Google and Talkwalker, even though the alerts settings are identical.
Bottom Line
Although Google Alerts is going away, you can still stay informed with Talkwalker Alerts. Set up an account and then import your alerts from Google Alerts to stay in the know!
Have you set up Google Alerts? Had you found an alternative to Google Alerts? Have you ever found an alert particularly useful? Let us know in the Comments section below!
Hey Carolyn,
That’s a great article Carolyn,. I still wonder something the Talkwalkers site maybe using the google alerts API between it’s good to know the alternatives before they shutdown .
Cheers
Suresh
Hi Suresh, Thanks, Talkwalker has their own social monitoring technology that they use for their alerts service. They don’t use Google’s API, according to the Talkwalker website.
Carolyn, when you have left Talkwalker and Google Alerts on at the same time, which one do you find brings in the fastest notification for the same search result? Also, which one brings in more alerts for the same keywords?
Any marked difference between the two service’s results?
Hi Marcus, Great questions. There still hasn’t been any overlap between the two services. What’s odd is that sometimes TalkWalker will notify me of mentions that are months old. TalkWalker definitely has been alerting me more than Google, but neither one has 100% coverage of the web.
I’ve been trying it the last few days. Definitely some different results. Interesting considering the GUI seems exactly the same as Google’s (thus giving the impression it’s running off the same backend/API).
I wonder what search engine / crawling spider it runs off to collect these alerts?
Hi Marcus, I’m glad you’re getting interesting results from Talkwalker Alerts. According to the Talkwalker website, they aren’t using the same search engine as Google but they don’t reveal what they are using.
Hi Carolyn,
I remember your post on Google Alerts a long time back, and that was the day I really set up my alerts and have been getting them regularly. But as you mentioned they might be closing down, it makes sense to find an alternative.
Thanks to you, we can choose Talkwalker alerts instead, and I would be doing just that after I end commenting here. Yes, I too was worried about getting duplicate alerts as you mentioned, but as you mentioned you haven’t got any as yet (which sounds great) – no harm keeping both of them for a while and trying them out.
Thanks for sharing this with us. Have a nice week ahead 🙂
Hi Harleena, Yes, if you’re already set up with Google Alerts, make sure to export your alerts to Talkwalker to make the transfer as easy as possible.
I have found that Talkwalker has notified me of more mentions than Google Alert since I started using both services but no duplicate notifications yet.
You’re exactly right. No need to quit Google Alerts yet, unless you do find you’re getting duplicate notifications.
Carolyn, thank you for this article!
The use of Boolean logical operators can really make a difference in the relevance of results, so feel free to play around with it. To read more: http://support.talkwalker.com/category/boolean_operators/
Again, cheers for the support 🙂
Julie
Hi Julie, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! Thanks so much for Talkwalkers Alerts. Your service is very useful, especially in light of the termination of Google Alerts.
Thanks also for the link to help us craft our alert terms. This is very helpful to Wonder of Tech readers.
My pleasure!
And please let me remind you that results are available via RSS as well.
So feel free to add your alerts’ feed to feed readers such as Feedly!
Excellent point, Julia. People can get their alerts via email or RSS feeds. Very handy!
I love and have been using Google Alerts for a very long time. It’s good to know that Talkwalkeralerts is just as good. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Churchill, You may find that you like Talkwalker Alerts even better than Google Alerts. I am getting many more notifications from Talkwalker than I ever got from Google Alerts. It will be interesting to see what your experience is.
Make sure to import your alerts from Google Alerts to make the switch as seamless as possible! 🙂
Thanks Carolyn for a very helpful post. I will be setting up Talkwalker right away.
Google Alerts has been widely promoted by many “experts” at meetings I’ve attended and is unfortunately one of a long string of products that Goolge has dropped. With the widely discussed fragmentation of Android and problems with their so-called “partners” Samsung and Amazon, I would not be the least bit surprised to see them drop Android in the future (2-3 years).
Here’s a partial list of “fantastic” new things Google dropped in just the last two years – Wave, Buzz, Desktop, Notebook, Friend Connect, One Pass, Picnik, Needlebase, Video, Sync for Blackberry and iGoogle – and now Alerts.
Thanks again,
Gary
Hi Gary, Wow, that would be interesting, if Google dropped Android. Would any other company jump on that opportunity and keep developing the platform or would Google allow it to whither? That would be a fascinating development.
Excellent list of services that Google has dropped. We have to remember that Google’s services are free so somehow it seems wrong to complain when a service is shuttered. Yet, losing a service that was incredibly helpful can be extremely frustrating.
One of the services that I miss most is Aardvark. The service crowdsourced answers to your questions. When you registered for the service, you listed your areas of expertise. For example, you could list restaurants in your home town. Then when someone had a question on a topic in your area, Aardvark asked you if you wanted to give an answer. The service was very helpful when you traveled, but my daughter used it for questions such as “what’s the best way to make new friends?”
Google bought Aardvark and then quickly closed the service.
I wrote an article on Aardvark that I was all set to publish then Google made its announcement. Such a sad day.
Hi again Carolyn,
Apparently Aardvark came and went before I even got hooked! You said your daughter used it which made me wonder how many physics and math questions were posted right before class assignments were due.
It’s hard to see who would want Android in its current state – many versions and devices that can’t be upgraded combined with its “free” business model. I’m sure some company would find a use for it but not what we’ve come to expect from google.
Of course Android could be sold and controlled like Windows which might make sense. – one version that anybody could install for a price. The difficulty we are starting to encounter is that mobile software is incredibly cheap. There are MS Office compatible apps that sell for 10-15 dollars compared to the hundreds Microsoft charged in the past. And many of these apps are upgraded for free.
Apple’s iOS comes with every device and can be upgraded at no charge. if you started charging much for Android, you’d run into the same fragmentation problem – many people would not bother to upgrade – catch 22. Apple has a motivation to make iOS cheap/free; they make money many other ways from iPhones and iPads. Google thought that would be the case with Android but it may not turn out as they hoped. Guess we’ll wait and see.
Gary
That’s exactly right, Gary. I remember once someone on Aardvark refused to answer my daughter’s question because they thought it was her homework (it wasn’t).
Yes, Apple has an incentive to update its iOS platform but older models aren’t supported. When apps get updated then those older devices can become obsolete for apps.
But Android devices seem to become obsolete much more quickly.
iOS users are much more willing to pay for apps too so Google Play isn’t generating as much revenue as the iTunes App Store. But developers are writing apps for Android, which is important for adoption. Palm, Windows Phone and BlackBerry realized the challenges of luring developers to their platforms.
These certainly are interesting times!
I get it businesses need to trim irrelevant offerings. It is annoying that we could be far more productive if we were not re-doing work every 3-6 months though.
Hi Michele, So true. Yes, Google’s services are free, but we are left scrambling when one of them is ended. We aren’t as likely to start using a new Google service when we don’t trust that it will be around for very long.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts with us, Michele!
Google Alerts is going away? I’ve just read the same goes for the Google Reader. What exactly is happening and why is Google closing such good services?
For example I haven’t been using Google reader for quite a while now but I bet a lot of people still do…I wonder what are their plans for the mighty G+…
Hi Christian, Any guesses about Google’s motivations are pure speculation, but we have to remember that all of these Google services are free to us. Google is a for-profit company that provides services for free to generate advertising revenue. If a service doesn’t generate advertising revenue, then is it in Google’s best interest to continue supporting it?
The service I would miss most if Google closed it is Google Earth. I would have a very difficult time finding a suitable substitute for all of the features that Google Earth provides.
You have made an excellent point about Google Plus. So far Google has not permitted advertising on that site. Will we enjoy an ad-free experience there much longer? When and if ads do appear, will people complain loudly? Will they miss Google Plus when it goes away? What about Google Hangouts?
Google is a dominant force on the Internet and they can do pretty much as they please.
I really hope they don’t cancel google plus! Right now I’m loving everything about it. As for Google Reader, I know a few people who are still angry about that service closing down.
Nothing new in alkwalker Alerts but it is important to save your alerts in it because rumors are say Google is also shutdown Google alert. so i only keep with Google alert and keep my information with Google new note share productivity tool and set new alert with alkwalker. Thanks.
Be Alert !
Hi Olivia, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! You’re exactly right, Talkwalker isn’t a new idea but they do a good job of replacing Google Alerts and make the transfer of alerts very easy. I hope you enjoy Talkwalker Alerts and stay alert! 🙂
The import from Google Analytics feature is an important difference in this platform vs. the others I’ve seen. I’ll try it out and come back and let you know what I think. Thanks for the writeup.
Hi David, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! Yes, the ability to import your alerts from Google Alerts is a very handy feature of Talkwalker Alerts. Please do stop back by and let us know your thoughts about this new service.
Hi Carolyn,
I use Google alerts, so I might have to swap. I’m still getting them, so I assume I’m OK for a while. I miss MSN and I’m having to use Skype. We can’t share photos now like on MSN. I was chatting to a student on a bus from Xiaogan to Wuhan in China this morning, they still have MSN and i was using Skype. It works but it’s not as good. MSN did go wrong sometimes though and use too much CPU power. Change isn’t always progress.
Hi Mike, I suggest that you export your alerts from Google Alerts to Talkwalker now, before Google Alerts is closed. I’m getting a lot more alerts from Talkwalker than I do from Google Alerts so you might be very surprised to find out what you’ve been missing. Plus, exporting the alerts is much easier than trying to recreate them, as I learned. 🙂
Hey Carolyn,
I had read Gini’s post and this was when I learned that Google Alerts was going away as well. My goodness, whatever are they thinking but was glad that she suggested Talkwalker. I will admit that Alerts didn’t do a good job with the search terms I had put in there. I very seldom got any alerts and I know for a fact that my terms were being searched so I was disappointed with their service.
Am excited about giving this one a try so I just now signed up. Glad you wrote about it because I didn’t do it at the time I read Gini’s post. See, you helped me after all.
Thanks Carolyn and enjoy your weekend.
~Adrienne
Hi Carolyn,
Great helpful Post.
Thanks for bringing that up and explaining Talkwalker Alerts as an alternative to Google alerts. I am new online and I have never set up an account with Google Alerts and since Google will discontinue this service, then it is better to start directly with Talkwalker Alerts. I will be setting up Talkwalker right away.
Thanks Carolyn for such a great educating post.
Be Blessed,
Neamat
Thank you for the heads up on this service. I confess to getting disillusioned with Google Alerts, so really looking forward to seeing if this cuts the mustard.
Hi Kevin, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! I hope you find Talkwalker Alerts gives you better results than you had with Google Alerts.
Good news! As best I can tell, the poor performance of Google Alerts that has plagued Google’s monitoring service for months finally seems over.
noticed an improvement that began on April 1 — and no April Fool’s, that’s really when things began getting better.
I’ve been watching my alerts closely each day, and the trend has continued. Google Alerts is again finding new content that I’d expect it to find, content that it used to uncover until it went into a puzzling decline earlier this year.
Br,
Ron D
Hi Ron, That’s great news. I’m glad Google Alerts is working well for you again. Unfortunately, since the service is going away, their resurgence of helpful alerts won’t be useful for very long.
Totally going to have to start using this. It is hard to keep an eye on the “competition” and to see where I am going in the bizz. Great article, thanks!
Hi K.H., Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! Great idea, using Talkwalker Alerts to keep an eye on the competition is a great way to get notices of their news.
Thanks for stopping by to share your thoughts with us.