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Alert Services - A How to Guide: Search engine alerts

Many of the databases that the Limestone University Library subscribe to offer alert services. An alert is an email or RSS notification that the database can automatically send to you when new items are added to the database that match your specific searc

Search engine alerts

Search engines (Google, Yahoo, etc.) provide an alert service linked to their news service (Google News, Yahoo! News, etc.). It is also possible to set an alert on a topic of your choice.

An example with Google:

Google provides a free alert service, Google Alerts, that can regularly send the results of a specified query to an email address.

You do not need to create a personal account to create an alert. However, you will need an account to manage your alerts.

Google Alerts come in handy in a variety of situations, and they're easy to set:

 

 

  1. Go to google.com/alerts in your browser.
  2. Enter a search term for the topic you want to track.
  3. Choose Show Options to narrow the alert to a specific source, language, and/or region. 
  4. Select Create Alert.

Noise restriction for a Google alert

  • Go to the engine’s Advanced search feature
  • Fill in the most relevant fields (title, author, field, etc.).
  • Confirm.
  • Copy the query generated by Google. 
  • Copy it to the Google Alerts form and specify the parameters (type, frequency, email, etc.).

If you are experiencing problems with our guides and databases, please contact ProfessorJanet S. Ward, jward@limestone.edu, Assistant Director of the Library and Web Services Librarian.