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I just use Google Alerts itself and scope the URL, for example site:https://news.ycombinator.com "Apple Watch” or site:https://news.ycombinator.com tennis

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I didn't realize that worked! Google Alerts is awesome.

do you get notified reliably? I always found out Google Alerts don't fire as often as they should

I do. I have each set to fire “as-it-happens,” but it’ll often be a few hours before it appears in my email.

How do you know it's reliable? In my experience, Google Alerts misses a lot of mentions on HN and Reddit.

I would challenge you to try an alternative (like https://f5bot.com/) for a week. You may be surprised at how many more hits it gets over Google Alerts.

Perhaps you should share that you own/operate f5bot

Of course. It's not a secret.

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