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Search Sentinel

Alerts & Notifications

Multi-channel alert system with instant notifications when issues are detected

What are Alerts & Notifications?

Search Sentinel's alert system ensures you are immediately notified when website monitoring detects changes, failures, or anomalies. Configure alerts for specific checks, choose your preferred notification channels, and customize alert conditions to match your workflow.

Alerts can be sent via email, Slack, Microsoft Teams, or custom webhooks. Set up different alert rules for different URL groups, team members, or severity levels.

Notification Channels

Sample alert notification showing email, Slack, and Teams integrations

Email Alerts

Send alerts to multiple email addresses. Perfect for individuals or when you need a permanent record of all issues.

  • Send to unlimited email addresses
  • HTML-formatted emails with full details
  • Direct links to affected URLs
  • Change summary and comparison data
  • Grouped or individual notifications

Slack Integration

Post alerts directly to Slack channels. Ideal for team collaboration and real-time response.

  • Connect multiple Slack workspaces
  • Route alerts to specific channels
  • Rich message formatting with actionable buttons
  • Thread replies for issue discussions
  • Mention specific users or groups

Microsoft Teams Integration

Send alerts to Microsoft Teams channels. Perfect for organizations using Microsoft 365.

  • Connect to Teams channels via webhooks
  • Adaptive card formatting
  • Quick action buttons
  • Team collaboration features
  • Integration with Microsoft workflows

Custom Webhooks

Send alerts to any HTTP endpoint. Integrate with your own systems, ticketing tools, or automation platforms.

  • POST JSON data to any endpoint
  • Custom headers and authentication
  • Full alert payload with all metadata
  • Retry logic for failed deliveries
  • Integrate with PagerDuty, Zapier, or custom tools

Alert Triggers

Configure which events trigger notifications:

Content Changes

  • • Title changed
  • • Meta description changed
  • • H1 heading changed
  • • Canonical URL changed

Technical Issues

  • • Status code errors (4xx, 5xx)
  • • Redirect changes
  • • Response time threshold exceeded
  • • Page unreachable

Code & Scripts

  • • Code snippet missing
  • • Unwanted code detected
  • • Robots.txt changed
  • • X-Robots-Tag changed

Performance

  • • Core Web Vitals degraded
  • • LCP threshold exceeded
  • • INP threshold exceeded
  • • CLS threshold exceeded

Alert Configuration Options

Alert Grouping

Control how multiple alerts are delivered:

  • Immediate: Send each alert as it occurs (default)
  • Grouped: Combine multiple alerts within 15 minutes into one notification
  • Daily Digest: Receive one summary per day with all issues

Severity Levels

Assign severity to different alert types:

  • Critical: 5xx errors, page unreachable, major code snippet failures
  • Warning: 4xx errors, performance degradation, minor content changes
  • Info: Successful checks, scheduled reports, routine updates

Quiet Hours

Suppress non-critical alerts during specified hours (e.g., overnight or weekends). Critical alerts always get through.

Alert Routing

Send different alerts to different channels based on URL groups, check types, or team assignments. For example, send SEO changes to the marketing team and technical errors to developers.

Common Use Cases

Development Team Alerts

Send 5xx errors and page unreachable alerts to Slack #dev-alerts channel with immediate delivery. Developers can respond quickly to production issues.

Marketing Team Notifications

Send SEO changes (title, description, canonical URL) to Microsoft Teams marketing channel. Daily digest keeps the team informed without overwhelming them.

Executive Summary Reports

Email weekly summary reports to executives showing all monitoring activity, trends, and issues resolved. Clean format, high-level overview.

Third-Party Integrations

Use webhooks to send alerts to PagerDuty for on-call rotation, create Jira tickets automatically, or trigger custom automation workflows.

Setting Up Alerts

1

Connect Your Channels

Add email addresses, connect Slack/Teams workspaces, or configure webhook endpoints in the integrations settings.

2

Configure Alert Rules

Choose which checks trigger alerts, set severity levels, and define grouping preferences.

3

Assign to URL Groups

Apply alert configurations to specific URLs or URL groups. Different sites can have different alert settings.

4

Test Your Setup

Send test alerts to verify channel configuration and message formatting before going live.

Frequently Asked Questions

How quickly are alerts sent after detection?

Alerts are sent within seconds of issue detection unless you have grouping or quiet hours configured.

Can I send different alerts to different people?

Yes. Use alert routing to send specific alert types to specific channels or email addresses. You can also assign URLs to team members.

What happens if a notification fails to deliver?

We retry failed deliveries up to 3 times with exponential backoff. If delivery still fails, you can see failed notifications in the alert history.

Can I temporarily disable alerts?

Yes. You can disable alerts globally, per URL group, or per individual URL. Useful during planned maintenance or deployments.

Do alerts count against my credit limit?

No. Alerts are unlimited and do not consume monitoring credits. Only URL checks consume credits.