diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/alerting/README.md b/x-pack/plugins/alerting/README.md
index b14f2e30202b7..5139b05d4f4fa 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/alerting/README.md
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/alerting/README.md
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ The following table describes the properties of the `options` object.
 |executor|This is where the code for the rule type lives. This is a function to be called when executing a rule on an interval basis. For full details, see the executor section below.|Function|
 |producer|The id of the application producing this rule type.|string|
 |minimumLicenseRequired|The value of a minimum license. Most of the rules are licensed as "basic".|string|
-|ruleTaskTimeout|(Optional) The length of time a rule can run before being cancelled due to timeout. If not specified, the default value of "5m" is used.|string|
+|ruleTaskTimeout|(Optional) The length of time a rule can run before being cancelled due to timeout. If not specified, the default value of "5m" is used. Requests made to Elasticsearch will also receive the same timeout configuration, up to 5m.|string|
 |cancelAlertsOnRuleTimeout|(Optional) Whether to skip writing alerts and scheduling actions if a rule execution is cancelled due to timeout. If not specified, the default value of "true" is used.|boolean|
 |useSavedObjectReferences.extractReferences|(Optional) When developing a rule type, you can choose to implement hooks for extracting saved object references from rule parameters. This hook will be invoked when a rule is created or updated. Implementing this hook is optional, but if an extract hook is implemented, an inject hook must also be implemented.|Function
 |useSavedObjectReferences.injectReferences|(Optional) When developing a rule type, you can choose to implement hooks for injecting saved object references into rule parameters. This hook will be invoked when a rule is retrieved (get or find). Implementing this hook is optional, but if an inject hook is implemented, an extract hook must also be implemented.|Function