(I know.  I know.  Google Search is the _most_ useful.)

This isn’t anything new, as it’s been out for a long while, but here we have probably the only tool from Google that actually saves more time than it helps to waste when it comes to scouring the net for the interesting information you seek.

From the Google Alerts FAQ :  "1. Google Alerts are emails automatically sent to  you when there are new Google results for your search terms."

Because Google is always crawling the web, it usually knows about new information before you do, so it compares what it finds with what you want to know and emails you accordingly. (The one downside being that it will email you the same information more than once if it finds it on more than one web page.  So it’s best, for busier topics, to receive updates no more than once per day, to eliminate the spam effect.)

This seems like the Google tool that goes most unnoticed, and I’m baffled as to why.  I can only think that maybe people don’t know about it.  But it’s easy to use (as you can see from the picture,) you fill in your regularly searched terms, select the type (I usually go with Comprehensive, but you can get more specific,) tell it how often you want to hear about new results, and where you want those results emailed.  It’s too good to be true, but it is true.

I have a handful of terms I want to know about as soon as Google finds them.  Here are my top two:  1) Most important to me is my name.  I want to know where and why my name is on the Internet, in case it’s somewhere it shouldn’t be;  2) I want any and all news having to do with the ship my brother is currently calling home.  (He doesn’t really call it home, but he’s living on it for quite a while.)  He’s in the Navy and I want to know as much as I can about anything having to do with his ship’s status.

If you’re not already using it, check it out.  Google Alerts — Enjoy it with your breakfast!

Most Useful Google Tool, Google Alerts was first posted to justinll.com on July 11, 2008.