Why am I getting Google alerts on old content?

January 18, 2017 2:46 PM

I have a blog that has not been updated in three years. Back then, I set up a Google alert for the blog title, in case, you know, I made it big and didn't notice. I have not received any Google alerts since I stopped posting, until this week.

I have now received two alerts, each linking to topics on the blog, like, imagine it was a food blog, the alerts don't link to "Fried Chicken" but "Main Dishes."

What's Google doing with my topics this week?

posted by OrangeVelour to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

The question isn't very clear. Is Google alerting you to your own posts, but three years after you posted them, as if they were new posts?

In that case, it looks like you may have set up your own Google alert, not just for the blog title, but also for the topics, such as Main Dishes, and Google has taken its time alerting you to your own posts.

Or is it alerting you to posts by other about the topics, and they also mention your blog? That sounds like the normal function of your own Google alert for the blog title.
posted by JimN2TAW at 4:23 PM on January 18, 2017

Response by poster: Sorry, say the site is blogblog dot com, my alert is for "blogblog" . I used to get alerts for any new post or when anyone mentioned the name of the blog.

This week I'm getting new alerts that take me to sections of my site that I set up 3 years ago that categorize the posts, so more like your first interpretation but not to specific posts.
posted by OrangeVelour at 3:11 AM on January 19, 2017

My Google Alert emails have a link inside that says "this is not relevant" or something similar. Do you have that link?
posted by soelo at 8:37 AM on January 19, 2017

Response by poster: Yes, I can flag these "not relevant" but I'm not bothered by receiving the messages, more curious why Google just discovered these pages.
posted by OrangeVelour at 2:04 PM on January 19, 2017