AI-Powered Local News Monitor - Claude AI Executive Briefings & Trend Analysis

Monitor local news with Claude AI-powered executive briefings, sentiment analysis, and link opportunity identification. Track business mentions, competitor press coverage, and industry trends from Google News. BYOK (Bring Your Own Key) for AI features. Essential for reputation management, PR strategy, competitive intelligence, and local SEO link building.

Features

• Google News Search - Search news by location, keywords, and business name
• Mention Tracking - Alert when your business or competitors are mentioned
• Sentiment Analysis - Positive, negative, or neutral classification with confidence scores
• Link Opportunities - Identify news sites for potential backlink outreach
• Competitor Coverage - Track competitor press mentions and PR activity
• AI Executive Briefings - Claude AI synthesizes all news into strategic intelligence (BYOK)
• Key Theme Extraction - AI identifies recurring themes and trends
• PR Opportunity Detection - AI prioritizes media outreach opportunities
• Webhook Alerts - Real-time notifications via Zapier, Make, n8n
• Anti-Detection - Residential proxies for reliable access
• No Login Required - Works with public Google News data
• Demo Mode - Test with sample data before going live

Who Should Use This Actor?

Local Business Owners

Know when your business is mentioned in the news. Track coverage sentiment and respond to both positive and negative press.

PR & Communications Teams

Monitor media landscape for your clients. Identify journalists covering your industry, track competitor PR activity, and find guest article opportunities.

Local SEO Agencies

Discover local news sites for link building outreach. News mentions from local outlets are high-quality backlinks for local SEO.

Reputation Management Firms

Get instant alerts on negative coverage. AI briefings provide strategic recommendations for crisis response.

Franchise Operators

Monitor news across all franchise locations. Compare coverage and sentiment across markets.

Competitive Intelligence Teams

Track competitor press mentions, product launches, partnerships, and executive changes through news monitoring.

Quick Start

Demo Mode (Free Test)

{
  "demoMode": true
}

Monitor Your Business

{
  "businessName": "Acme Plumbing",
  "location": "Dallas, TX",
  "keywords": ["plumbing", "home services"],
  "maxArticles": 50,
  "includeSentiment": true,
  "demoMode": false
}

Competitor News Tracking

{
  "keywords": ["competitor name 1", "competitor name 2"],
  "location": "Austin, TX",
  "maxArticles": 100,
  "includeSentiment": true,
  "demoMode": false
}

With AI Executive Briefing

{
  "businessName": "Your Business",
  "keywords": ["your industry", "competitor 1", "competitor 2"],
  "location": "Miami, FL",
  "maxArticles": 100,
  "includeSentiment": true,
  "anthropicApiKey": "sk-ant-...",
  "enableAiBriefing": true,
  "demoMode": false
}

Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
businessName	string	-	Your business name for mention tracking
keywords	array	-	Industry keywords and competitor names
location	string	-	City/state for local news focus
maxArticles	number	50	Maximum articles to find
includeSentiment	boolean	false	Analyze sentiment of each article
identifyLinkOpps	boolean	false	Flag potential link building opportunities
anthropicApiKey	string	-	Your Anthropic API key for AI briefings (BYOK)
enableAiBriefing	boolean	false	Generate AI executive briefing
proxyConfiguration	object	Residential	Proxy settings
demoMode	boolean	true	Return sample data for testing
webhookUrl	string	-	Webhook URL for alerts

Output Format

Article Output

{
  "article": {
    "title": "Local Plumber Wins Small Business Award",
    "url": "https://dallasnews.com/business/...",
    "source": "Dallas Morning News",
    "date": "2026-01-25",
    "snippet": "Acme Plumbing was recognized for outstanding customer service..."
  },
  "analysis": {
    "mentionType": "direct",
    "sentiment": "positive",
    "sentimentScore": 0.85,
    "relevance": "high",
    "keyTopics": ["award", "customer service", "small business"]
  },
  "opportunities": {
    "isLinkOpportunity": true,
    "linkType": "resource",
    "suggestedAction": "Reach out to thank journalist, request link"
  },
  "scrapedAt": "2026-01-28T10:30:00.000Z"
}

AI Executive Briefing Output (BYOK)

{
  "type": "ai_executive_briefing",
  "summary": "Your media presence this period is strong with 3 positive mentions. Key competitor ABC Plumbing received negative coverage for delayed service. Opportunity to position your 24/7 availability in upcoming press.",
  "keyThemes": ["customer service awards", "industry regulation changes", "labor shortage"],
  "competitorInsights": [
    {
      "competitor": "ABC Plumbing",
      "coverage": "negative",
      "insight": "Customer complaints about response times"
    }
  ],
  "prOpportunities": [
    "Pitch story about your award to local TV stations",
    "Offer expert commentary on new plumbing regulations",
    "Respond to competitor's service issues with your 24/7 messaging"
  ],
  "recommendedActions": [
    "Contact Dallas Morning News journalist for follow-up",
    "Issue press release about award",
    "Launch social media campaign highlighting reliability"
  ],
  "analyzedAt": "2026-01-28T12:00:00.000Z"
}

Pricing (Pay-Per-Event)

Event	Description	Price
article_found	Per article found	$0.02
sentiment_analyzed	Per article with sentiment	$0.01
ai_briefing_generated	AI executive briefing	$0.25

Example costs:

• 50 articles basic: 50 x $0.02 = $1.00
• 50 articles with sentiment: (50 x $0.02) + (50 x $0.01) = $1.50
• 50 articles with sentiment + AI briefing: $1.50 + $0.25 = $1.75
• Demo mode: $0.00

Note: AI briefings use your own Anthropic API key (BYOK) - additional Anthropic API costs apply.

Common Scenarios

Scenario 1: Reputation Monitoring

{
  "businessName": "Your Business Name",
  "location": "Your City, ST",
  "maxArticles": 50,
  "includeSentiment": true,
  "demoMode": false
}

Schedule weekly runs to catch all mentions of your business.

Scenario 2: Local Link Building

{
  "keywords": ["your industry", "your city events"],
  "location": "Your City, ST",
  "maxArticles": 100,
  "identifyLinkOpps": true,
  "demoMode": false
}

Find local news sites and journalists for backlink outreach.

Scenario 3: Strategic Intelligence with AI

{
  "businessName": "Your Business",
  "keywords": ["competitor 1", "competitor 2", "industry trends"],
  "location": "Your City, ST",
  "maxArticles": 200,
  "includeSentiment": true,
  "anthropicApiKey": "sk-ant-...",
  "enableAiBriefing": true,
  "demoMode": false
}

Get AI-synthesized competitive intelligence and PR recommendations.

Webhook & Automation Integration

Zapier / Make.com / n8n

1. Create a webhook trigger in your automation platform
2. Copy the webhook URL to webhookUrl
3. Route results to Google Sheets, Slack, email, etc.

Popular automations:

• Negative mentions -> Slack alert (crisis detection)
• Link opportunities -> Airtable (outreach database)
• AI briefings -> Email (weekly executive summary)
• All mentions -> Google Sheets (media monitoring log)

Apify Scheduled Runs

Schedule daily or weekly runs for continuous news monitoring.

FAQ

Q: Do I need a Google News account?

A: No. This scraper uses public Google News data. No login required.

Q: How does sentiment analysis work?

A: Each article is analyzed for positive, negative, or neutral sentiment with a confidence score (0-1). This helps you quickly identify coverage that needs attention.

Q: What is BYOK?

A: Bring Your Own Key. You provide your own Anthropic API key for Claude AI executive briefings. This gives you control over AI costs.

Q: How do I identify link building opportunities?

A: Set identifyLinkOpps: true. The scraper identifies news sites that could provide backlinks, categorizes the opportunity type, and suggests outreach actions.

Q: Can I monitor multiple competitors?

A: Yes. Add competitor names to the keywords array. Each mention is tracked and categorized by competitor.

Common Problems & Solutions

"No articles found"

• Check business name and keyword spelling
• Try broader industry terms
• Some smaller markets have less news coverage

"Rate limited"

• Wait 10-15 minutes between runs
• Reduce maxArticles
• Use residential proxies (default)

"AI briefing not generating"

• Verify your Anthropic API key is correct
• Ensure enableAiBriefing: true is set
• Check your Anthropic account has available credits

"Demo data showing"

• Set demoMode: false - no account required

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📞 Support

• Actor Arsenal: Full Actor Catalog
• Developer: John Rippy

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