The rules
Alerts are generated per keyword, per rank check, by comparing the new position to the previous one.Started or stopped ranking
These two are terminal — when either fires, no other alert is raised for that keyword on that check. A keyword appearing at position 2 for the first time raises Ranking Improved alone, not Entered Top 3.
“Not ranking” means outside the top 100, not literally absent from Google. Surnex reads the first 100 results; anything beyond that is indistinguishable from no ranking at all.
Significant movement
When both positions are known, a move of 5 or more places in either direction raises:- Ranking Improved — moved up 5+
- Ranking Dropped — moved down 5+
Band crossings
Independently of the 5-place rule, crossing a threshold raises its own alert:
There is no “Lost Top 3” alert. A fall from position 2 to 7 raises Ranking Dropped if it’s 5+ places, but nothing about leaving the top 3.
Several alerts from one check
The rules above are evaluated together, so one check can raise more than one alert:
The 12 → 9 row is the one that catches people out: a small move can be more important than a large one when it crosses a band.
When alerts are generated
Alerts are a by-product of a rank check, so they follow your rank tracking schedule — daily by default. Paused keywords aren’t checked and can’t raise alerts. A project’s very first check raises nothing at all: with no previous position to compare against, there’s no change to detect. Alerts start on the second check.Being notified
Alerts always land in the feed and the Notification center. Whether they also reach you by email depends on your notification preferences.What you can’t do yet
- Change the 5-place threshold
- Alert on a specific keyword only
- Alert on a specific position (for example, “tell me if we drop below 3”)
- Turn off individual alert types — preferences control delivery channels, not which alerts exist