Ranking Alerts notify you when tracked keywords move significantly in Google search results. Instead of manually checking positions daily, ILLIXIS monitors your rankings and alerts you when action is needed.
Alert triggers:
These alerts help you:
Ranking alerts are generated automatically by a background process:
You don't need to do anything - alerts appear automatically when conditions are met.
The system compares current position (3-day average) against position 7 days ago:
| Change Type | Trigger Condition |
|-------------|-------------------|
| Position Drop | Moved down by threshold or more (e.g., #5 to #10) |
| Position Gain | Moved up by threshold or more (e.g., #15 to #10) |
| Entered Top 10 | Was #11+ now #10 or better |
| Left Top 10 | Was #10 or better, now #11+ |
| Entered Top 3 | Was #4+, now #1-3 |
| Target Reached | Hit your custom target position |
| New Ranking | First time ranking for this keyword |
What it means: Your keyword has fallen significantly in search results.
Default threshold: 5 positions (configurable)
Example: Keyword "best running shoes" dropped from position #3 to position #9.
Action to take:
What it means: Your keyword has improved significantly.
Default threshold: 5 positions (configurable)
Example: Keyword "marathon training guide" improved from position #18 to position #11.
Action to take:
What it means: Your keyword is now on page 1 of Google.
Why it matters: Page 1 receives 95%+ of all clicks. This is a significant milestone.
Action to take:
What it means: Your keyword dropped from page 1 to page 2+.
Why it matters: Traffic will drop significantly (often 50%+).
Action to take:
What it means: Your keyword is in the top 3 results.
Why it matters: Top 3 positions receive 50%+ of all clicks.
Action to take:
What it means: Your keyword hit the target position you set.
Example: You set a target of "Top 10" and the keyword reached position #8.
Action to take:
What it means: You're ranking for a keyword for the first time.
Why it matters: Indicates content is being indexed and gaining visibility.
Action to take:
The alert threshold determines how many positions must change before an alert is created.
To configure:
Threshold recommendations:
| Threshold | Best For |
|-----------|----------|
| 3 positions | High-sensitivity monitoring (lots of alerts) |
| 5 positions | Balanced (recommended for most users) |
| 10 positions | Low-sensitivity (only major changes) |
Lower thresholds = more alerts. Higher thresholds = fewer but more significant alerts.
For critical keywords, you can set custom thresholds:
Custom thresholds override the global setting for that specific keyword.
In Rank Tracker, the sidebar shows recent alerts:
Click an alert to see:
| Field | Description |
|-------|-------------|
| Keyword | The affected keyword |
| Alert Type | Drop, gain, entered top 10, etc. |
| Old Position | Position 7 days ago |
| New Position | Current position |
| Change | Positions gained or lost |
| Page URL | The ranking page |
| Date | When alert was created |
Filter the alert list by:
| Status | Meaning |
|--------|---------|
| New | Unread alert, requires attention |
| Seen | You've viewed it, remains visible |
| Dismissed | Hidden from view (still in history) |
Alerts auto-mark as "Seen" when you view the Rank Tracker dashboard. Seen alerts remain visible for 30 days.
To remove an alert from your dashboard:
Dismissed alerts are hidden but not deleted. You can view them via filters.
To clear multiple alerts:
Ranking alert emails include:
Click "Unsubscribe" at the bottom of any ranking alert email, or toggle off in Settings > Notifications.
| Process | Schedule | Description |
|---------|----------|-------------|
| GSC Data Sync | Daily at 4:00 AM UTC | Fetches latest position data |
| Trend Computation | Wednesdays after sync | Calculates 7-day and 30-day changes |
| Alert Generation | After trend computation | Creates alerts for significant changes |
| Email Delivery | Immediately or batched | Based on your notification preferences |
Alerts are typically available by 6:00 AM UTC on Wednesdays, with fresh data from the GSC sync.
No alerts appearing:
Too many alerts:
Alert shows wrong position:
Not receiving email alerts:
What to track:
Alert response times:
Weekly routine:
Monitor your keyword positions over time, spot trends before they become problems, and get alerted when rankings shift.
Google Search Console GSC provides search performance data that powers ILLIXIS features like content decay detection, competitive gap discovery, and Maya's search opportunity recommendations.
A Keyword Brief is your strategic foundation for content creation. Enter a keyword and ILLIXIS analyzes the search landscape, identifies what's ranking, spots competitive gaps, and generates a comprehensive creative strategy.
SERP Intelligence analyzes Google's top 100 search results to reveal competitive landscape data for your target keywords. This intelligence powers strategic decisions about word count, content structure, and positioning.
ILLIXIS automatically identifies opportunities to link related content within your site. Every article gets analyzed for semantic relevance to your existing content library, with AI-generated anchor text and contextual placement recommendations.
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