An expired SSL certificate
is a Google ranking event.
HTTPS is a confirmed ranking signal. When a client's SSL expires, their canonical redirects break, Googlebot flags the domain as insecure, and rankings move before any human notices the browser warning. SEO agencies need to know about SSL and DNS failures before they appear in Search Console — not two weeks later.
No credit card either way — start free, or trial the full workspace.
- SSL pre-expiry alert
- 30 days
- DNS change detection
- < 10 min
- Vendors monitored
- 11
- Max assets (Agency)
- 250
Where SEO agencies get hurt by infrastructure
Infrastructure failures are SEO emergencies in slow motion.
SEO agencies are uniquely exposed to infrastructure failures because the consequences lag the event by weeks. By the time Search Console shows a crawl error spike, the SSL has been expired for three days, the canonical chain has been broken, and the ranking recovery timeline is measured in weeks, not hours.
SSL expiry and search rankings
An expired certificate breaks your redirect chain
When a client's SSL certificate expires, every HTTPS-to-HTTPS 301 redirect becomes an error. Googlebot can't follow the canonical redirect chain, crawl frequency drops, and the site loses the authority signals that took months to build. By the time Search Console reports the crawl errors, the ranking impact has already landed.
DNS changes break canonical structure
A nameserver change can undo months of canonical work
SEO agencies spend significant time establishing canonical URL structures: www vs. non-www redirects, HTTPS enforcement, subdomain isolation. A single DNS change — from a client changing registrars, moving hosting, or adding a CDN — can silently break these canonicals. The www redirect points nowhere; Google now sees duplicate content.
Hosting vendor downtime affects crawl budget
Extended downtime signals low reliability to Google
Google's crawl rate algorithm considers site reliability. Extended downtime — from a hosting vendor outage — causes Googlebot to reduce crawl frequency on the assumption the site is unreliable. For sites in competitive SERPs, a crawl budget hit from an avoidable hosting incident can delay content indexing by weeks.
How it works
Catch infrastructure failures before Google does.
Merlonix is the layer between your client's infrastructure and your SEO work. It watches the signals that affect crawlability — certificate validity, DNS integrity, hosting reliability — and alerts on state changes, not on absence of HTTP 200s.
01
SSL monitored 30 days before expiry
Merlonix alerts on SSL certificates 30, 14, and 7 days before expiry — giving you a full renewal runway on every client site. Certificate validation is end-to-end: issuer, chain completeness, key algorithm, and the exact expiry date reported by the certificate, not the CDN in front of it.
02
DNS changes detected within minutes
A DNS-over-HTTPS resolver checks each monitored domain on every tick. A changed A record, a missing CNAME, a TTL anomaly — each is detected and alerted before Googlebot has a chance to crawl the affected URL. You know which record changed, not just that something broke.
03
Hosting vendor outages tracked before crawl impact
Vercel, Netlify, Cloudflare, AWS, GitHub — the platforms your clients run on — are monitored continuously. When a hosting incident opens, you know before Googlebot starts returning errors. Document the window, communicate to the client, file a coverage request if needed.
04
One alert per event, not per check
Merlonix deduplicates alerts at the state-transition level — you get one alert when a certificate expires, one when it renews. No alert fatigue from repeated checks. Alerts include the domain, the specific issue, and the current state of the check.
What the coverage means for SEO agencies
The best time to fix an SSL issue is 30 days before Google sees it.
SEO agencies that monitor infrastructure proactively never have to explain a traffic drop that started with a certificate expiry three weeks ago. They catch it on day one of the 30-day window. They renew. Googlebot never sees an error. The ranking signal stays clean.
30 days
SSL pre-expiry alert window — enough time to renew before any crawl impact
< 10 min
DNS change detection — catch canonical-breaking changes before the next Googlebot crawl
11
Hosting and infrastructure vendors monitored — the platforms client sites actually run on
1
Alert per state change — no alert fatigue, no repeated notifications
Pricing
One flat rate. Every client site you manage.
No per-domain billing. No per-alert charges. Flat monthly pricing that doesn't penalize you for growing your client base.
Starter
For solo SEO consultants monitoring a small client portfolio.
$19/ month
- 15 monitored assets
- 3 seats
- 5 min check cadence
- SSL + DNS + vendor monitoring
- 30-day SSL expiry alerts
Team
For SEO agencies with a growing roster of client sites.
$79/ month
- 60 monitored assets
- 10 seats
- 1 min check cadence
- SSL + DNS + vendor monitoring
- 30-day SSL expiry alerts
Agency
For large SEO agencies covering 100+ client domains.
$199/ month
- 250 monitored assets
- Unlimited seats
- 1 min check cadence
- SSL + DNS + vendor monitoring
- 30-day SSL expiry alerts
Compliance
For regulated-vertical teams that need continuous, audit-ready evidence.
$699/ month
- 500 monitored assets
- Unlimited seats
- 1 min check cadence
- SSL + DNS + vendor monitoring
- 30-day SSL expiry alerts
Beyond uptime
More than a 200 OK on every client site
The same account also watches the infrastructure and reputation layers a standard uptime check never reaches — each a live check you can turn on.
Turn monitoring into revenue
Resell client-ready reports as your own
Monitoring doesn’t have to be a cost line. Package the branded report and white-label status page as a deliverable in your retainer — the tooling underneath stays invisible, so to the client the work is yours.
Reports under your brand
Hand each client a polished SSL, DNS, and security report carrying your agency’s name and logo — not ours.
Status pages on their domain
Publish a live status page at status.theirbrand.com with automatic TLS and no “Powered by Merlonix” badge.
Your margin to keep
You pay one add-on cost and package it into the retainer you already bill. The markup — and the margin — are yours.
Common questions
Frequently asked questions
Do I need DNS or registrar access to my clients’ domains to monitor them?
No. Merlonix monitors from the outside in — it probes each domain’s public SSL certificate, DNS records, WHOIS/registration data, and HTTP responses the same way a browser or DNS resolver would. You add an asset by its hostname; no access to the client’s registrar, DNS provider, or servers is required.
What does Merlonix actually check on each site?
Every monitored asset gets continuous SSL-certificate (expiry, issuer, and chain changes), DNS-record, domain-registration/expiry, and uptime monitoring by default. You can also enable infrastructure and reputation checks a standard uptime monitor never reaches — security headers, DNSSEC/DANE, domain-hijack/registrar-lock, blocklist, and cron/heartbeat monitoring — each a live check you turn on per asset.
How often does it check, and how do alerts reach me?
Checks run on your plan’s cadence — as often as every 1 min on Team and above, and every 5 min on Starter. When a certificate, DNS record, registration, or response changes, you get an alert by email and Slack. Alerts fire on real state changes between definitive checks, not on a transient blip.
How much does it cost, and is there a free option?
Yes — there is a free $0 plan (no credit card) to watch a small number of assets, and paid plans start at $19/mo (Starter). You can also start a 14-day full-workspace trial with no card. See the pricing grid above for the assets, seats, and check cadence on each tier.
Catch SSL expiry before Googlebot does.
Add your first client domain in under two minutes. Merlonix starts monitoring SSL expiry, DNS integrity, and hosting vendor status immediately — 30-day alert window included. 14-day trial, no card required.