The two emails
| Subject looks like | Sent when | |
|---|---|---|
| New-issue alert | 2 new issues on example.com | A check finds a link that is newly flagged, or has become more serious. |
| Link-marker alert | 1 link on example.com lost its nofollow marker | A link that was marked nofollow, sponsored or ugc on a page is no longer marked, so it now passes ranking credit. See which rel should a link have. |
| First summary | We’re now watching example.com | The first full pass finishes. It is sent once. |
| Weekly summary | example.com: nothing new this week or example.com: 3 flagged links still open | A full check finishes, and no email has gone about this site for roughly a week. |
| Trial ended | Your 7-day trial of monitoring for example.com has ended | Sent once when a free monitoring trial finishes, with what it found and how to carry on. |
What an alert contains
An alert lists up to 10 new findings, most serious first. For each one it gives the destination, the reason it was flagged, and the page it was found on. A button opens the full report. If there are more than 10, it says how many more.
Out of context: “Spring pruning” links to pharma content (hidden link)
/blog/spring-pruning · Anchor text “cheap meds”One alert is sent per check, not one per link, so a check that finds five new links sends one email.
When no email is sent
- While the first full pass of a site is still running. A large site can take several checks.
- For findings that were already there at that first pass. They show in the report and in the first summary.
- When alerts are turned off for that site.
- For findings you have ignored, unless they get more serious.
- When a check can’t run, for example because the sitemap can’t be read. The site shows Couldn’t check and is tried again.
A worked example
You add example.com on a Monday. The first check reads every page and records what it finds, including two links that were already flagged. No alert is sent for those, because they were there before monitoring began. When that first full pass finishes, a “now watching” email says how many pages and links were checked and that two are flagged.
On Thursday an editor pastes an embed code into a post, and it contains a hidden link to a pharmacy. The post’s sitemap date changes, so the next check reads it. The link is new, the destination is judged, and it is flagged as Needs review with the Hidden badge. That check sends one alert, listing the destination, the reason and the page. If nothing further changes, the next email is the weekly summary.
What counts as “more serious”
A link already flagged can trigger a fresh alert if its verdict moves up. A link that was Needs review and is now Not safe, or one that was merely a keyword match and is now on a blocklist, counts as worse. A link that stays at the same level does not repeat. A link that disappears is described as gone in the report, and no alert is sent for good news.
How the summary email behaves
The summary is a short note that monitoring is still running. It is sent after a full check finishes, and only when no email has gone out about that site for roughly 7 days, so a site that has just had an alert will not get a summary the day after. It says either that nothing new was found this week or how many flagged links are still open. Findings you have ignored are not counted in that number.
Acting on an alert
- Open the report from the button in the email. The new findings are marked, so you can see what changed.
- Read the reason, then open the page the link is on. Check whether a person added the link or whether it appeared unexpectedly.
- Remove the link or change it, or if it is fine, ignore the finding so that you are not alerted again.
- After you change the page, re-check the fixed links to confirm the report matches the live site.
Turning alerts off
Each monitored site has an Alerts on button on the Monitoring page. Select it to turn alerts off for that site, and again to turn them back on. Every email also links to that page. Monitoring itself keeps running either way, and findings still appear in the report.
Questions
Why didn’t I get an alert?
Check that the first full pass has finished, that alerts are on for the site, and that the finding wasn’t already there at the first pass. Then check your spam folder. Alerts are sent after a scheduled check, so a change that happened since the last one won’t be reported until the next.
Can alerts go to someone else?
Not yet. They go to the email address you sign in with.
How soon after a change will I hear about it?
After the next scheduled check that reads the changed page. Checks start within 5 minutes of being due, and how often a site is due depends on your plan. A page whose sitemap date does not change may wait for the rotating slice or the monthly pass, as explained on how monitoring works.
Why did I get an email about a link I ignored?
Ignored findings are left out unless they get more serious. If an ignored link moves from a keyword match to a blocklist match, it is worth another look and is reported again.
Does an alert mean the site was hacked?
No. It means a link was newly flagged. Read the reason, open the page, and decide. See verdicts explained.
Warnings before a linked domain expires
Besides new findings, monitoring watches when the domains you link to run out. A site you link to can lapse without anything on your pages changing, and that is the moment someone else can register the name and receive your visitors.
- 30 days before: the first email, listing every linked domain that has just come within 30 days of running out, with each date.
- 7 days before: a second email for any that are still not renewed.
- Once each: a domain is never warned about twice for the same stage. If its owner renews it, the warnings start again for the new date.
- Already a finding: a domain that has expired or is no longer registered is not repeated here. It arrives as a finding, with the usual alert.
How this counts in your LinkSignal
An expiry warning in an alert is the same fact that the linked domains expiring within 30 days row of your site’s external LinkSignal counts, and it only exists where the registry publishes an expiry date. Where there is no date, nothing is estimated and nothing is scored. See the LinkSignal overview for every row and how the score is worked out for the points. LinkSignal is Link Signals’ own metric, worked out only from what this tool finds, and it is not connected to any search engine or third-party score.
Add a sitemap to monitoring and Link Signals emails you when something new turns up.
