In this guide, we’ll show you how to set up Monitoring and Alerts for your webpage
Overview
Monitoring your webpages is an automated process that can help you keep a closer eye on their web performance. Combined with Alerts, you can be notified about any performance issues on your pages, allowing you to be proactive in solving issues.
It’s prudent planning to have a second set of eyes on your webpage to ensure that it’s performing the way you expect it to.
In this guide, we’ll show you how to set up monitoring and alerts in GTmetrix.
You’ll need at least a GTmetrix Basic account to follow along.
Don’t have one? Sign up for one FREE!
Importance of monitoring and alerts
We’ve previously covered in detail why monitoring is important for web performance.
In general, the internet is highly complex and your page’s performance relies on many interdependent factors:
- Front-end/back-end code
- Server configuration and performance
- Third-party services
- Network connectivity
- and many other related components
Any of these components can unexpectedly change, which can drastically affect your page’s performance.
As a result, this can impact your website traffic, operations, and/or revenue.
By monitoring performance and setting alerts, you can be notified when your page’s performance drops below your specified criteria, allowing you to take early action before it impacts your business or operations.
How to set up Monitoring
You will need to be logged in to your GTmetrix account to set up monitoring for your page.
We cover how to select monitoring options and frequencies in our article here, to help you determine the best monitoring set up for your website.
1) Analyze a URL and generate a GTmetrix Report
Be sure to set any Analysis Options you wish, such as location, mobile device*, connection speed, etc.
You can also click on an existing GTmetrix Report that you’ve already generated.
* Mobile tests are only available for PRO users.
2) On the GTmetrix Report, click on Monitor
The Monitor button is located on the right-hand sidebar (top on lower resolution screens).
A menu should slide out giving you monitoring frequency options.
3) Select a monitoring frequency
Click on the dropdown to select your desired monitoring frequency (how often you want GTmetrix to automatically test your page).
You can choose Monthly, Weekly, Daily, or Hourly (select PRO plans only*) depending on how frequently you want to test your page.
Click on Save Settings when you’re done with your selection.
Your page will now be analyzed according to your selected frequency.
* Hourly monitoring is only available on PRO Starter plans and above.
How to set up Alerts
You will need to be logged in to your GTmetrix account to set up Alerts for your monitored page.
1) Open a monitored GTmetrix Report and click on Set up Alerts
The Set up Alerts button is located on the right-hand sidebar (top on lower resolution screens).
A menu should slide out giving you Alert condition options.
2) Turn on the Enable E-mail Alerts feature
Enabling E-mail Alerts will allow GTmetrix to notify you by e-mail when your Alert condition is met.
Note that Alerts can only be enabled on monitored pages.
3) Click on Add a Condition
A series of dropdown inputs will appear, allowing you to select the specific condition for the alert.
4) Select the metric, condition and value you wish to receive an alert on
​When deciding on conditions and their thresholds, it’s best to choose a benchmark based off your past performance.
Due to the nature of the internet, performance can fluctuate. It’s best to choose a condition value that is outside your normal performance.
For example, if you’re getting a GTmetrix Grade between a B and C typically, set your GTmetrix grade condition to less than a C.
Note that conditions are based on the OR operator, which means Alerts will be triggered if any set conditions are met.
You can enter up to 10 different alert conditions for each monitored page.
Click on Save Settings when you’re done setting your conditions.
GTmetrix will now send you an e-mail alert if the performance of your monitored page drops below your set performance criteria.
We’ve written a guide to help you figure out how to set Alert conditions and thresholds for your page.
Making changes to monitored pages
You can make changes to your monitoring frequency and/or Alert settings by simply visiting a monitored GTmetrix Report, and modifying the monitoring frequency or Alert conditions.
Note that reports generated through monitored tests include the (monitored job) notice in the Report Generated data.
Changing Analysis Options
It might be the case that you may need to change certain Analysis Options (e.g., location, device, connection speed, etc.) for your monitored pages.
While it is possible to do so, we recommend that you don’t make these changes on the same monitored report.
This is because changing the Analysis Options will yield different results, as the test conditions have changed.
If you’re monitoring using one set of Device/Connection/Location options, we recommend starting a separate monitoring cycle when you you want to use a different set of Device/Connection/Location options for your page.
However, we do understand that Basic/Free users only have 1 Monitored Slot, so exercise your best judgement when changing Analysis Options for monitored pages.
Disabling monitoring on your page
If you wish to disable monitoring on any page, open the monitored report and click on Monitor on the right-hand sidebar (top on lower resolution screens).
Select Not monitored from the dropdown and click on Save Settings.
From now on, this URL will no longer be monitored.
Summary
The internet is complex and there are a multitude of factors that affect web performance at any given point in time. One-time optimizations aren’t usually enough to maintain the desired performance levels for your page.
Monitoring, combined with alerts, notifies you when your page’s performance drops below your specified criteria, allowing you to take early action before it impacts your business or operations.
Need more monitored URLs or more frequent tests?
PRO subscribers can keep a better eye on their website with:
PRO Hourly Splash
More monitoring slots and hourly monitoringMonitor more pages and get more fine grained reports to ensure your website’s performance is consistent for all hours of the day. |
PRO Remote Monitoring Splash
Monitoring from 22 different global regionsGTmetrix can monitor your page from 22 different global test locations for the most accurate performance assessment. |
PRO Simulated Device Splash
Monitoring with Mobile devicesYour website is likely accessed by more than one type of device. With mobile testing, GTmetrix can monitor your site as an iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, or any of our other 30+ mobile devices. |
PRO More Features Splash
…and more options for deeper insightGenerate resource usage graphs for monitored pages, capture video of page load when an alert is triggered, change screen resolutions and much more with a GTmetrix PRO plan. |
