An audit is a snapshot of your SEO at a single moment. But your PrestaShop catalog lives and breathes all the time: one product climbs on Google, another slips, someone edits a page and your score drops. The Optimizer Watchdog is there to make sure nothing slips through the cracks between two audits.
It's your SEO guard dog: it continuously monitors your Google Search Console data and the health of your catalog, and alerts you whenever an action is worth taking — whether that's a problem to fix or an opportunity to seize.
TL;DR: what is the Watchdog for?
- 24/7 monitoring of your SEO and your Search Console, with no effort on your part.
- Prioritized alerts by severity level (Opportunity, Critical, Warning, Info).
- Opportunities detected automatically (products on page 2, quick wins left unoptimized).
- A weekly email digest so you never miss a thing, even without opening the app.
- A dedicated page: find everything in the Optimizer Watchdog menu (
/watchdog).
1. How does the Watchdog work?
The Watchdog doesn't just look at a score. It compares how your data evolves over time and raises an alert only when a meaningful change occurs. It works from two sources:
- Google Search Console changes: at every sync, the Watchdog compares each page's position, impressions, clicks, and CTR between the old and new values.
- The health of your catalog: it watches for products that receive traffic yet remain poorly optimized, as well as how your average SEO score evolves.
Key point: most of the most powerful alerts rely on your real Search Console data. Without GSC connected, the Watchdog still works on catalog health, but you miss out on ranking and traffic alerts. Connect your Search Console to unlock its full power.
No duplicates: the anti-repeat window
To avoid drowning you in identical alerts, the Watchdog deduplicates: the same alert (same type, same product) won't be recreated if an identical one was already raised in the last 7 days. You get the information once, clearly — not on a loop.
2. The 4 severity levels
Every alert is classified by color and level, so you instantly know where to start.
| Level | Label | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 🟢 Opportunity | Opportunity | A traffic gain within reach. Grab it first. |
| 🔴 Critical | Critical | A significant loss (e.g. dropping from page 1 to page 2). Handle it fast. |
| 🟠 Warning | Warning | A sign of degradation to keep an eye on and fix. |
| 🔵 Info | Info | Contextual information, no urgency. |
3. Which alerts does the Watchdog raise?
Here are the alerts actually generated by the engine, along with what triggers them.
Alerts based on Google Search Console
🎯 One step from page 1 (Opportunity) A product has just entered page 2 of Google (position ~11 to 20) with real impression volume. It's so close to page 1 that a targeted optimization may be all it takes to tip it over. This is the classic striking distance — a high-leverage quick win.
📉 Ranking drop (Critical or Warning) A page is losing ground on Google. If it falls from page 1 to page 2 (or beyond), the alert is Critical. If it drops 5 places or more without leaving its usual pages, it's flagged as a Warning. Either way, re-optimize the page to recover your ranking.
📊 Traffic drop (Warning) The impressions of a page that already had meaningful traffic have dropped sharply (a fall of around 40% or more). The Watchdog prompts you to check the page and its content to understand what happened.
🖱️ Low CTR (Warning) A page is well ranked (page 1) and gets plenty of impressions, but almost nobody clicks. The problem isn't the ranking but your storefront in Google: you need to rewrite the Title and meta description to capture more clicks. (See also: fixing a low CTR.)
⚔️ Cannibalization detected (Warning) This page is ranking on a keyword already targeted by another page in your store: your two URLs are competing. The Watchdog recommends differentiating the content or adding a link to the "authority" page.
Alerts based on catalog health
🆕 High-potential products left unoptimized (Opportunity) Several products receive Google traffic but have a weak SEO score: that's optimization left on the table. This alert fires as soon as several products are affected, because optimizing them is a quick win.
📉 Average SEO score drop (Warning) Your store's average SEO score has fallen compared to about a week earlier. Content may have been changed in PrestaShop. The Watchdog suggests running a new scan and re-optimizing. (To track these changes, see understanding the dashboard.)
Good to know: every applicable alert tells you which product is concerned, offers a View page link to the real URL, and an Optimize shortcut so you can act right away.
4. The Optimizer Watchdog page
Head to the Optimizer Watchdog menu. There you'll find:
- The number of unread alerts shown at the top of the page.
- The list of your alerts, most recent first. Unread alerts are highlighted (colored background and a green dot); read alerts are dimmed.
- For each alert: its title, its message, its severity level, and — where relevant — a View page link and an Optimize shortcut.
Marking as read
- One alert: click Mark read at the bottom of the alert in question.
- All alerts: click Mark all as read at the top of the page.
Marking an alert as read doesn't delete it: it stays viewable, but drops out of your unread counter. It's your way of saying "seen it, I've got this."
5. The weekly email digest
You don't need to open the app every day. Once a week, the Watchdog sends you a recap email of the alerts from the last 7 days that haven't yet been notified to you.
This digest contains:
- A summary at the top (number of opportunities, critical alerts, and warnings).
- The list of the week's alerts, sorted from most recent to oldest.
- A "View all alerts & act" button that takes you straight to your Watchdog page.
Each alert is included only once: once sent in a digest, it won't reappear in the next one. The Watchdog keeps watch as long as your subscription is active.
Frequently asked questions
Does the Watchdog use credits? No. Monitoring, alerts, and the digest don't use your credits. Your credits are only consumed when you run an optimization or a translation. Scanning and auditing also remain free and unlimited.
Why don't I see any ranking or traffic alerts? These alerts rely on your Google Search Console data. Until GSC is connected, the Watchdog can't compare your positions, your impressions, or your CTR. Connect your Search Console to enable them.
Will I get the same alert multiple times? No. The Watchdog deduplicates identical alerts over a 7-day window, and each alert appears only once in the email digest.
How often is the email digest sent? The digest is weekly: it gathers the alerts from the last 7 days that haven't yet been emailed to you.
What does "striking distance" mean in an alert? It's a product that has just reached page 2 of Google (positions ~11 to 20) with real impressions. It's one step from page 1: a targeted optimization can tip it over. See identifying striking-distance keywords.