This is a tutorial on how to create a Google Alert in order to help monitor your digital footprint.

1. Creating a Google Alert
Purpose: So that you can keep track of your digital footprint.
Here are step by step instructions on how to set up a Google alert:
1. go to http://www.google.com
2. On the top right of the page you will see a ‘Sign in’
link, click on that
3. You will now be able to either sign in (if you
have a Google account) or create an
account if you don’t have one.
4. After you have gone through creating your account you will be back on the Google
homepage. To get to ‘alerts’ click on the ‘more’ link
1.
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2. 5. Then click on the ‘even more’ button and you will see all the products that
Google offers. From here click on ‘Alerts’.
6. Here is where you will set up your
alerts. You can have your alerts be
emailed to you directly, or go directly to
an RSS reader like Google Reader (see
below).
To set up the alert to be sent to your
email, fill in the form and click ‘create
alert’. You will need to set up separate
alerts for each name you want to be
alerted about.
What should you set up an alert for?
• Full name, nicknames, usernames, your website/wiki/blog address (if you have one)
7. Once you have created an alert you will be sent to a ‘manage your alerts’ page where you
can check your alerts and change them as needed. From here you can also add more alerts for
more names, or other search terms.
That does it! You will have your alerts sent to your email. If you want to
change, or add more alerts, simply go back to your Google homepage
and click on ‘alerts’, then ‘manage alerts’.
Setting up alerts that go to your Google Reader Account:
Setting up a Google Reader account makes keeping track of your alerts,
and other subscriptions to various websites and blogs, much easier. If
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3. you don’t have a Google reader account simply select ‘Reader’ from the ‘Google products’ list
and follow the instructions to set one up.
Back at Google Alerts fill in the alert request so that it
gets delivered to your feed.
Then when you want to check your alerts you open up
your Google Reader account and scan through them.
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