diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/QueryEditor/ServiceGraphSection.tsx b/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/QueryEditor/ServiceGraphSection.tsx
index 14ff7b7cc83..494a4873b72 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/QueryEditor/ServiceGraphSection.tsx
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/QueryEditor/ServiceGraphSection.tsx
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
-import React from 'react';
+import { css } from '@emotion/css';
+import React, { useEffect, useState } from 'react';
 import useAsync from 'react-use/lib/useAsync';
 
-import { InlineField, InlineFieldRow } from '@grafana/ui';
+import { GrafanaTheme2 } from '@grafana/data';
+import { Alert, InlineField, InlineFieldRow, useStyles2 } from '@grafana/ui';
 
 import { AdHocFilter } from '../../../../features/variables/adhoc/picker/AdHocFilter';
 import { AdHocVariableFilter } from '../../../../features/variables/types';
@@ -19,7 +21,28 @@ export function ServiceGraphSection({
   query: TempoQuery;
   onChange: (value: TempoQuery) => void;
 }) {
+  const styles = useStyles2(getStyles);
+
   const dsState = useAsync(() => getDS(graphDatasourceUid), [graphDatasourceUid]);
+
+  // Check if service graph metrics are being collected. If not, displays a warning
+  const [hasKeys, setHasKeys] = useState<boolean | undefined>(undefined);
+  useEffect(() => {
+    async function fn(ds: PrometheusDatasource) {
+      const keys = await ds.getTagKeys({
+        series: [
+          'traces_service_graph_request_server_seconds_sum',
+          'traces_service_graph_request_total',
+          'traces_service_graph_request_failed_total',
+        ],
+      });
+      setHasKeys(Boolean(keys.length));
+    }
+    if (!dsState.loading && dsState.value) {
+      fn(dsState.value as PrometheusDatasource);
+    }
+  }, [dsState]);
+
   if (dsState.loading) {
     return null;
   }
@@ -73,6 +96,19 @@ export function ServiceGraphSection({
           />
         </InlineField>
       </InlineFieldRow>
+      {hasKeys === false ? (
+        <Alert title="No service graph data found" severity="info" className={styles.alert}>
+          Please ensure that service graph metrics are set up correctly according to the{' '}
+          <a
+            target="_blank"
+            rel="noreferrer noopener"
+            href="https://grafana.com/docs/tempo/next/grafana-agent/service-graphs/"
+          >
+            Tempo documentation
+          </a>
+          .
+        </Alert>
+      ) : null}
     </div>
   );
 }
@@ -95,3 +131,10 @@ function queryToFilter(query: string): AdHocVariableFilter[] {
 function filtersToQuery(filters: AdHocVariableFilter[]): string {
   return `{${filters.map((f) => `${f.key}${f.operator}"${f.value}"`).join(',')}}`;
 }
+
+const getStyles = (theme: GrafanaTheme2) => ({
+  alert: css`
+    max-width: 75ch;
+    margin-top: ${theme.spacing(2)};
+  `,
+});