Configure alert preferences
Your alert preferences are in Settings > Alerts. To open Settings, click your profile picture at the bottom of the sidebar, then click Settings. You can also open the page from the bell in the app header. Click the bell, then click the gear icon (Alert settings) at the top of the list. The Alerts inbox also has an Alert settings button.
Your alert settings apply to every Google Ads account that you connect, not only to the active account. You cannot set different thresholds for each account.
The page groups the 17 alert types into three sections: Protect, Performance, and Governance. A Custom alerts section follows. Each alert type is a row with an on/off switch. Click the row to open its settings.
When Alert settings is locked
Alert settings is locked while daily checks do not run. The page then shows the offer "Nothing is watching your Google Ads account". Daily checks do not run before you buy credits for the first time. They also stop when your credits run out and the 3-day grace period ends. Buy credits to open the page. See Monitoring and the daily rate.
Turn an alert type on or off
The switch at the left of each row turns the alert type on or off. All 17 alert types are on by default. When you turn an alert type off, it does not fire, it does not go to the inbox, and it does not send email. Hero Marketer resolves the active alerts of that type on all your accounts.
Some automations need an alert type:
- If you turn off Search terms wasting budget, the Block wasting search terms automation cannot act.
- If you turn off Profitable campaign capped by budget, the Lift the budget on profitable campaigns being capped automation cannot act.
Daily checks cost 0.25 credits a day for each connected account. To stop the charge, turn off all 17 alert types and all automations. Or disconnect the account. If you turn off only some alert types, the charge continues.
Choose email or in app
Open a row to see Where to alert me, with two checkboxes: Email and In app.
- Every alert that fires always goes to the bell and the Alerts inbox.
- The Email checkbox controls whether you also get an email.
- If you clear both checkboxes, the alert type uses its default channels.
- To stop an alert type completely, turn it off.
- The checkboxes are not available while the alert type is off.
Ten alert types send email by default:
- Google Ads connection broken
- Conversion tracking stopped working
- Campaign spending without converting
- Profitable campaign capped by budget
- Click through rate dropping
- Conversion rate dropping
- Account spend spiking
- Campaign stopped serving
- Cost per conversion spiking
- Account changed outside Hero Marketer
The other seven alert types go to the app only by default:
- Daily budget running out too fast
- Search terms wasting budget
- Losing impression share to competitors
- Campaign not spending its budget
- Keyword Quality Score dropping
- Responsive search ad got weaker
- Cost per click spiking
Change thresholds
Open a row to see Thresholds. The rule shows as a sentence. Click a value in the sentence to change it with a slider or a number field.
- Most alert types let you change their main thresholds.
- The time periods are fixed, for example the last 7 days or the last 14 days.
- Two alert types have no thresholds to change: Responsive search ad got weaker and Account changed outside Hero Marketer.
Four alert types also let you change how many checks in a row the condition must occur:
- Google Ads connection broken: 1 to 12 checks. The default is 3.
- Keyword Quality Score dropping: 1 to 14 checks. The default is 3.
- Cost per click spiking: 1 to 14 checks. The default is 3.
- Cost per conversion spiking: 1 to 14 checks. The default is 2.
Every other alert type fires after one check.
Which direction makes an alert fire less often
The direction depends on the alert type:
- For a drop alert, such as Click through rate dropping, a lower percentage needs a bigger drop. The alert then fires less often.
- For a spike alert, such as Cost per click spiking, a higher multiple needs a bigger spike. The alert then fires less often.
- A higher minimum, such as minimum impressions or minimum spend, makes an alert fire less often.
- More checks in a row make an alert fire less often and later.
Preview the last 30 days
Nine alert types show a line such as "Would have alerted you 3 times in the last 30 days". The number uses your current settings. Change a threshold, then read the line before you keep the change.
The nine alert types with a preview are:
- Account spend spiking
- Campaign stopped serving
- Cost per conversion spiking
- Click through rate dropping
- Conversion rate dropping
- Campaign not spending its budget
- Campaign spending without converting
- Conversion tracking stopped working
- Cost per click spiking
The other eight alert types show a message that starts with "No preview, because".
Reset one alert type
To put one alert type back at its default settings, open its row and click Reset to recommended. When every value is at its default, the row shows a Recommended settings badge. There is no reset for all alert types at the same time.
Muted items
When an alert names a campaign, keyword, search term, or ad, its drawer shows a mute button, for example Mute alerts for this campaign. Muting stops that one alert type for that one item. The alert type stays on for all other items. Use mute for a campaign that crosses a threshold on purpose. Do not use mute to turn off a whole alert type. Mute is not available for account-level alerts or for custom alerts.
Each item that you muted for an alert type shows under Muted for this alert in that row, as a chip with the item's ID. You can mute up to 200 items for each alert type. To unmute an item, click the × on its chip.
Changes save automatically
The page has no Save button. When you change a switch, a checkbox, or a threshold, the change saves after about half a second. A Saved indicator with a check mark shows in the row that changed.
Choose a threshold
For the default rule of each alert type, see Alert types. Read the rule before you change a threshold.
Use the default settings for a few weeks before you change a threshold. If you make an alert too sensitive, you get many alerts, and you can start to ignore the inbox.
Common changes
- Turn off Search terms wasting budget if you review search terms every week. This alert type goes to the app only by default. It can raise many alerts if your account has many search terms that do not convert. If you turn it off, the Block wasting search terms automation cannot act.
- Select Email for Campaign not spending its budget if underspend is unusual on your account. The default is in app only, because most accounts have at least one campaign that spends less than its budget.
- Raise the Click through rate dropping and Conversion rate dropping thresholds to 80% if you find them too quiet. A lower value, such as 60%, needs a bigger drop and fires less often.
- Raise the checks in a row for Cost per click spiking from 3 to 7. Do this if the auction prices on your account change often.
Custom alerts
Below the three sections, Custom alerts lists the rules that you made for the active account. Custom automations do not show in this list. They show in Settings > Automations. To make a rule, click Create custom alert. See Create a custom alert.
What this page does not control
- The check times. Hero Marketer checks each account at 06:00 in the account's time zone. It checks budget pace and spend spikes every hour from 09:00 to 22:00. You cannot change these times.
- Emails from Google. Google sends its own emails about account suspension and billing failures. Hero Marketer does not repeat them.
- Separate settings for each account. Your alert settings apply to all your connected accounts.
Unsubscribe from alert emails
Every alert email has the link Unsubscribe from this alert type at the bottom. The link opens a page with the title "Turn off these alert emails?". Click Unsubscribe to remove email for that alert type. You do not need to log in. The alert type stays on, and its alerts still go to the app. To get email again, select Email in the row of that alert type.