Finding Sweepstakes Wins - How to Solve Common Problems with Google Alerts

If you simply type your name into the Google Alerts box, the chances are that you'll receive a lot of results that are not about you. Why? Because a simple search for your first and last name will display pages on which both names are included, but not necessarily next to each other. For example, if your name is "John Gold," you may get results from a page that references John Brown and Sam Gold. It might be an interesting page, but it's surely not a win for you.

The Solution: If you enclose a search term in quotation marks, you will receive results ONLY from pages where that exact phrase is found. So if you're having that problem with your Google Alerts results, simply enter your name as "john gold."

Even using quotes in your Google Alerts won't help keep you from getting false results if you have a very common name like "John Smith." If you have a common name, you will be deluged with Google Alerts that have nothing to do with you, and which certainly won't help you find your sweepstakes wins.

The Solution: Use the plus sign in your search to add words that will add context to your search. For example, you could set up the following searches:

• "john smith" +sweepstakes
• "john smith" +win
• "john smith" +prize

Maybe your name is uncommon, but it happens to be similar to a celebrity's. For example, say that your name is Wentworth Miller, which wasn't a problem until an actor with the same name became the star of the hit TV series, Prison Break.

The Solution: Use the minus symbol to tell Google that you don't want to see pages including that term. So if you are getting results from a popular person with your name exclude terms that usually refer to them. For example, try these searches:

• "wentworth miller" -"prison break"
• "wentworth miller" -"michael scoffield"

Just remember not to be too broad; with this search, you wouldn't receive a Google Alert notice if you won a Prison Break DVD.

Many sweepstakes sponsors don't list the winners' full names on their website out of respect for their privacy. This makes it challenging to find the wins with a web search, however.

The Solution: Create some searches for other common ways that sponsors use to identify you. This could include your first and last name, your sweepstakes email address, and the first part of your sweepstakes email address (before the @ symbol). For example, these are a few searches that I could add:

• "sandra g."
• "contests.guide@about.com"
• "contests.guide"

Remember that there's no limit to how many Google Alerts you can have at one time.

Sometimes, all of the tweaking in the world won't keep you from getting far more Google Alerts that are unrelated to sweepstakes wins than you can keep up with.

The Solution: Instead of searching for your name, try using another piece of information like your street address (or email address, as shown above). While there could be many people in the world with your name, not many will have the exact same address as you do. Just be sure to spell your address in the Google Alert the same way as you do for your sweepstakes forms (i.e., don't search for 123 Main Street if you use 123 Main St. to enter sweeps).

If you set up a wide range of Google Alerts to cover most of the ways your sweepstakes wins could be listed, you could wind up receiving quite a lot of Google Alerts - maybe even enough to make you feel overwhelmed.

The Solution: Change the frequency of your Google Alerts. You can choose between "As It Happens" (which will send the most emails), "Once a Day," and "Once a Week." It's much easier to skim over a single email with a lot of results to see if any are relevant than to open a whole lot of emails, each with a single result. You can set a different frequency for each of your Google Alerts. I use the "Once a Day" option with my heavy-volume results, but if that's still too much to look through, pick the Once a Week option.