Not so long ago, big (and small) companies hired media-monitoring or clipping services to report when news about the companies appeared in print or on television.

Today, there are free services, such as Google Alerts, that can help with this task. Google Alerts sends emails to you when your organization is mentioned online. While it might not catch everything, it is fairly reliable in its findings.

With Google Alerts, you can choose how often you want results delivered to you (weekly, daily, or as-it-happens) and if you want all results, or only the best ones. You decide which search terms you want to receive alerts for and can change your terms if you aren’t getting the results you expect. For example, you can use different versions of your company’s name, such as [ABC + Company], ABC Company, or [ABC OR Company], to see which search terms deliver the best results.

To get started with Google Alerts, go https://www.google.com/alerts. Here are some suggestions on how to use it:

• Find news about your business or organization online
• Track mentions of your competitors online
• Identify links coming into your business or organization from your partners’ websites
• Find people who might by repurposing your content