🔍 Overview
Two related issues sometimes catch Search Atlas users off guard: Site Metrics not returning data and plan credits not updating immediately after an upgrade. This article explains both, what causes them, and exactly what to do to resolve each one.
📊 Why Site Metrics May Not Be Working
Site Metrics pulls live data from external providers whenever you run an analysis. If something goes wrong during that request, you may see a blank result, a loading spinner that never finishes, or an error message. The most common causes are:
- Temporary server errors: A background process that fetches provider data occasionally returns an error (HTTP 500). This is resolved automatically, but retrying after a few minutes usually fixes it immediately.
- Insufficient fresh-data credits: Each time you request up-to-date metrics for a site, one "fresh provider call" credit is consumed. If your plan quota is exhausted, the system falls back to cached data or skips the request silently.
- LLM Visibility toggle unresponsive: The AI Visibility toggle inside Site Metrics may appear clickable but not respond. This is a known UI issue that has been resolved in a recent release — refreshing your browser or clearing your cache usually corrects it.
⚙️ How to Run a Site Metrics Analysis
- In the left sidebar, click Site Metrics, then select All Sites.
- Enter the domain you want to analyse in the search bar and click Analyze.
- If the results look outdated or fail to load, navigate to Keywords → Keyword Research (History tab) to check whether a previous run completed successfully.
- To force a fresh data pull, click Analyze again. If your plan has remaining fresh-call credits, new data will be fetched immediately.
- If you need to review AI-powered visibility data, navigate to AI Visibility in the left sidebar and ensure the AI Visibility toggle is active. If the toggle is unresponsive, do a hard refresh (Ctrl + Shift + R on Windows, Cmd + Shift + R on Mac).
💳 Why Credits Did Not Change After Upgrading to $199
After upgrading your plan, you may notice that your available credits look the same as before. This is expected behaviour in most cases, and here is why:
- Credits refresh at your billing cycle renewal, not at the moment of upgrade. When you move to a higher plan mid-cycle, your new credit allowance takes effect at the start of your next billing period. The credits you had remaining from your previous plan stay in place until then.
- The credit-status display can lag. There is a known intermittent issue where the credit counter shown in the platform under-reports your remaining balance. The actual quota available to the system may be higher than what is displayed. This means analyses may succeed even when the counter reads zero.
- Fresh provider call quota: The specific quota that controls how many times Site Metrics can fetch live data (allowed_site_explorer_fresh_provider_calls) is being wired into plan configurations as part of an upcoming release. Until that update is fully deployed, some plan tiers may not yet reflect the correct fresh-call limit in the UI.
✅ What to Do Right Now
- Check your current plan and renewal date: Go to your account settings and confirm when your billing cycle renews. Your new credit limits will apply from that date.
- Try your analysis anyway: Because the credit display can lag, your account may already have access to more fresh calls than the counter shows. Click Analyze in Site Metrics → All Sites and see if the request completes successfully.
- Refresh your browser: A hard refresh clears stale UI state and forces the platform to re-read your current credit balance from the server.
- Wait for the billing cycle to renew: If you are still within your current period, your upgraded quota will be fully available from your next renewal date.
🚀 Quick Reference: Site Metrics Navigation
- All Sites list: Left sidebar → Site Metrics → All Sites
- Site overview and AI Visibility activation: Left sidebar → Site Metrics → Overview
- AI Visibility detail: Left sidebar → Site Metrics → AI Visibility
- Keyword data: Left sidebar → Keywords (Keyword Research)
- Page-level data: Left sidebar → Site Metrics → Pages
- Topical authority view: Left sidebar → Site Metrics → Topical Dominance
💬 Still Need Help?
If you have followed the steps above and Site Metrics is still not working, or your credits do not look right after your billing cycle has renewed, our team can investigate your account directly. 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.
Additional Notes
Before reaching out to support, have ready: your account email, the date you upgraded, credit balance before and after upgrade, and any error messages observed. Also: log out and back in to force an account sync.