Alert Configuration Templates
Detailed alert configuration templates for each alert category. Use these templates when setting up a new alert system for a domain.
Ranking Alerts
Position Drop Alerts
| Alert Name |
Condition |
Threshold |
Priority |
Action |
| Critical Drop |
Any top 3 keyword drops 5+ positions |
Position change >=5 |
Critical |
Immediate investigation |
| Major Drop |
Top 10 keyword drops out of top 10 |
Position >10 |
High |
Same-day review |
| Moderate Drop |
Any keyword drops 10+ positions |
Position change >=10 |
Medium |
Weekly review |
| Competitor Overtake |
Competitor passes you for key term |
Comp position < yours |
Medium |
Analysis needed |
Position Improvement Alerts
| Alert Name |
Condition |
Threshold |
Priority |
| New Top 3 |
Keyword enters top 3 |
Position <=3 |
Positive |
| Page 1 Entry |
Keyword enters top 10 |
Position <=10 |
Positive |
| Significant Climb |
Keyword improves 10+ positions |
Change >=+10 |
Positive |
SERP Feature Alerts
| Alert Name |
Condition |
Priority |
| Snippet Lost |
Lost featured snippet ownership |
High |
| Snippet Won |
Won new featured snippet |
Positive |
| AI Overview Change |
Appeared/disappeared in AI Overview |
Medium |
Keywords to Monitor
| Keyword |
Current Rank |
Alert Threshold |
Priority |
| [keyword 1] |
[X] |
Drop >=3 |
Critical |
| [keyword 2] |
[X] |
Drop >=5 |
High |
| [keyword 3] |
[X] |
Drop >=10 |
Medium |
Traffic Alerts
Traffic Decline Alerts
| Alert Name |
Condition |
Threshold |
Priority |
| Traffic Crash |
Day-over-day decline |
>=50% drop |
Critical |
| Significant Drop |
Week-over-week decline |
>=30% drop |
High |
| Moderate Decline |
Month-over-month decline |
>=20% drop |
Medium |
| Trend Warning |
3 consecutive weeks decline |
Any decline |
Medium |
Traffic Anomaly Alerts
| Alert Name |
Condition |
Priority |
| Traffic Spike |
Unusual increase |
Investigate |
| Zero Traffic |
Page receiving 0 visits |
High |
| Bot Traffic |
Unusual traffic pattern |
Medium |
Page-Level Alerts
| Page Type |
Alert Condition |
Priority |
| Homepage |
Any 20%+ decline |
Critical |
| Top 10 pages |
Any 30%+ decline |
High |
| Conversion pages |
Any 25%+ decline |
High |
| Blog posts |
Any 40%+ decline |
Medium |
Conversion Alerts
| Alert Name |
Condition |
Priority |
| Conversion Drop |
Organic conversions down 30%+ |
Critical |
| CVR Decline |
Conversion rate drops 20%+ |
High |
Technical SEO Alerts
Critical Technical Alerts
| Alert Name |
Condition |
Priority |
Response Time |
| Site Down |
HTTP 5xx errors |
Critical |
Immediate |
| SSL Expiry |
Certificate expiring in 14 days |
Critical |
Same day |
| Robots.txt Block |
Important pages blocked |
Critical |
Same day |
| Index Dropped |
Pages dropping from index |
Critical |
Same day |
Crawl & Index Alerts
| Alert Name |
Condition |
Priority |
| Crawl Errors Spike |
Errors increase 50%+ |
High |
| New 404 Pages |
404 errors on important pages |
Medium |
| Redirect Chains |
3+ redirect hops detected |
Medium |
| Duplicate Content |
New duplicates detected |
Medium |
| Index Coverage Drop |
Indexed pages decline 10%+ |
High |
Performance Alerts
| Alert Name |
Condition |
Priority |
| Core Web Vitals Fail |
CWV drops to "Poor" |
High |
| Page Speed Drop |
Load time increases 50%+ |
Medium |
| Mobile Issues |
Mobile usability errors |
High |
Security Alerts
| Alert Name |
Condition |
Priority |
| Security Issue |
GSC security warning |
Critical |
| Manual Action |
Google manual action |
Critical |
| Malware Detected |
Site flagged for malware |
Critical |
Backlink Alerts
Link Loss Alerts
| Alert Name |
Condition |
Priority |
| High-Value Link Lost |
DA 70+ link removed |
High |
| Multiple Links Lost |
10+ links lost in a day |
Medium |
| Referring Domain Lost |
Lost entire domain's links |
Medium |
Link Gain Alerts
| Alert Name |
Condition |
Priority |
| High-Value Link |
New DA 70+ link |
Positive |
| Suspicious Links |
Many low-quality links |
Review |
| Negative SEO |
Spam link attack pattern |
High |
Link Profile Alerts
| Alert Name |
Condition |
Priority |
| Toxic Score Increase |
Toxic score up 20%+ |
High |
| Anchor Over-Optimization |
Exact match anchors >30% |
Medium |
Competitor Monitoring Alerts
Ranking Alerts
| Alert Name |
Condition |
Priority |
| Competitor Overtake |
Competitor passes you |
Medium |
| Competitor Top 3 |
Competitor enters top 3 on key term |
Medium |
| Competitor Content |
Competitor publishes on your topic |
Info |
Activity Alerts
| Alert Name |
Condition |
Priority |
| New Backlinks |
Competitor gains high-DA link |
Info |
| Content Update |
Competitor updates ranking content |
Info |
| New Content |
Competitor publishes new content |
Info |
Competitors to Monitor
| Competitor |
Domain |
Monitor Keywords |
Alert Priority |
| [Competitor 1] |
[domain] |
[X] keywords |
High |
| [Competitor 2] |
[domain] |
[X] keywords |
Medium |
| [Competitor 3] |
[domain] |
[X] keywords |
Low |
GEO (AI Visibility) Alerts
AI Citation Alerts
| Alert Name |
Condition |
Priority |
| Citation Lost |
Lost AI Overview citation |
Medium |
| Citation Won |
New AI Overview citation |
Positive |
| Citation Position Drop |
Dropped from 1st to 3rd+ source |
Medium |
| New AI Overview |
AI Overview appears for tracked keyword |
Info |
GEO Trend Alerts
| Alert Name |
Condition |
Priority |
| Citation Rate Drop |
AI citation rate drops 20%+ |
High |
| GEO Competitor |
Competitor cited where you're not |
Medium |
Brand Monitoring Alerts
Mention Alerts
| Alert Name |
Condition |
Priority |
| Brand Mention |
New brand mention online |
Info |
| Negative Mention |
Negative sentiment mention |
High |
| Review Alert |
New review on key platforms |
Medium |
| Unlinked Mention |
Brand mention without link |
Opportunity |
Reputation Alerts
| Alert Name |
Condition |
Priority |
| Review Rating Drop |
Average rating drops |
High |
| Negative Press |
Negative news article |
High |
| Competitor Comparison |
Named in competitor comparison |
Medium |
Alert Response Plans
Critical Alert Response
Response Time: Immediate (within 1 hour)
| Alert Type |
Immediate Actions |
| Site Down |
1. Check server status 2. Contact hosting 3. Check DNS |
| Traffic Crash |
1. Check for algorithm update 2. Review GSC errors 3. Check competitors |
| Manual Action |
1. Review GSC message 2. Identify issue 3. Begin remediation |
| Critical Rank Drop |
1. Check if page indexed 2. Review SERP 3. Analyze competitors |
High Priority Response
Response Time: Same day
| Alert Type |
Actions |
| Major Rank Drops |
Analyze cause, create recovery plan |
| Traffic Decline |
Investigate source, check technical issues |
| Backlink Loss |
Attempt recovery outreach |
| CWV Failure |
Diagnose and fix performance issues |
Medium Priority Response
Response Time: Within 48 hours
| Alert Type |
Actions |
| Moderate Rank Changes |
Monitor trend, plan content updates |
| Competitor Movement |
Analyze competitor changes |
| New 404s |
Set up redirects, update internal links |
Low Priority
Response Time: Weekly review
| Alert Type |
Actions |
| Positive Changes |
Document wins, understand cause |
| Info Alerts |
Log for trend analysis |
Alert Notification Setup
Notification Channels
| Priority |
Channels |
Frequency |
| Critical |
Email + SMS + Slack |
Immediate |
| High |
Email + Slack |
Immediate |
| Medium |
Email + Slack |
Daily digest |
| Low |
Email |
Weekly digest |
Alert Recipients
| Role |
Critical |
High |
Medium |
Low |
| SEO Manager |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Dev Team |
Yes |
Yes (tech only) |
No |
No |
| Marketing Lead |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
| Executive |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Alert Suppression
- Suppress duplicate alerts for 24 hours
- Don't alert on known issues (maintenance windows)
- Batch low-priority alerts into digests
Alert Escalation
| If No Response In |
Escalate To |
| 1 hour (Critical) |
SEO Manager -> Director |
| 4 hours (High) |
Team Lead -> Manager |
| 24 hours (Medium) |
Team -> Lead |