So we use Google Alerts for many different things and content writing and establishing keywords that aren't frequently searched but can be used to create a pillar of a larger search term. For instance, for a funeral home client, we use death terms in Google Alerts which alerts us and we use that scenario to explain why planning a funeral is important and rank for many different terms that people will be searching for relating to that accident etc..
This same scenario can be mimicked or recreated in almost any industry such as plumbing we get alerted when local laws force different things such as water heater safety upgrades, low flow compliance, and different things so we can write about topics while they are hot and new like a brand new water heater, okay I am kidding!! But it really gives us topics that are new and will become a hot topic which gives us a chance to push out content focused around it as fast as possible and thus helping establish us as an authority.
If you aren't using Google alerts then you are missing out on a lot of SEO ideas and things that can really help boost your clients!