🔍 Overview
Your Rank Tracker quota is not based on the number of keywords you track alone. It is calculated by multiplying your tracked keywords by the number of SERP pages tracked per keyword. This means your quota consumption can be significantly higher than your keyword count, which often causes confusion when reading the usage display.
📐 The Quota Calculation Formula
Every time a keyword is tracked, Search Atlas retrieves ranking data across one or more pages of search results. Each page of results counts as one quota unit per keyword.
Formula: Quota Units Used = Keywords Tracked × SERP Pages Tracked
For example, if you track 198 keywords at a SERP depth of 10 pages, that single refresh consumes 1,980 quota units — even though only 198 keywords are being monitored.
📋 Real-World Examples
- 198 keywords × 10 SERP pages = 1,980 quota units
- 612 keywords × 1 SERP page = 612 quota units
- 100 keywords × 5 SERP pages = 500 quota units
- 50 keywords × 10 SERP pages = 500 quota units
As these examples show, a smaller set of keywords tracked at a higher SERP depth can consume far more quota than a larger set tracked at a shallow depth.
❓ Why Your Usage Seems Higher Than Your Keyword Count
If your quota display shows a much higher number than the total keywords across your projects, SERP depth is almost always the reason. In the scenario where only one project refreshed after the billing reset — with 198 keywords tracked at 10 SERP pages — the usage would correctly show 1,980 out of 2,000 quota units, even though only 198 keywords were involved in that refresh.
Key points to remember:
- Quota units reset at the start of each billing cycle.
- Only refreshes that occur after the billing reset consume units from the new cycle.
- Projects that have not refreshed since the reset do not yet contribute to the current cycle's usage.
- Each subsequent project refresh will add further units based on that project's keyword count and SERP depth setting.
🗺️ How to Check Your Rank Tracker Usage
- In the left sidebar, navigate to Keywords → Rank Tracker (Keyword Rank Tracker).
- Open the project you want to review.
- Check the number of tracked keywords and the SERP depth setting configured for that project.
- Multiply those two values to estimate the quota units that refresh will consume.
Reviewing each project's SERP depth setting helps you understand and predict your total quota consumption across all projects.
💡 Tips to Manage Your Quota
- Reduce SERP depth on projects where deep ranking data is not essential. Tracking positions on page 1 only (1 SERP page) uses far fewer units than tracking 10 pages.
- Audit each project regularly to ensure SERP depth settings match your actual needs.
- Prioritize high-value keywords for deeper SERP tracking, and use shallower depths for lower-priority terms.
If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.