🧭 Overview
When an On-Page Audit shows a Failed status with no additional detail, it usually means the audit could not complete one or more critical checks on your URL. This article walks you through a structured diagnostic process so you can pinpoint the cause and get your audit running successfully.
🗺️ How to Access On-Page Audit
Navigate to Left sidebar → Content → On-Page Audit. Enter your target URL and start the audit from this page. If the audit returns a Failed status, work through the steps below before re-running it.
🔎 Step 1 — Confirm the URL Is Accessible
The most common cause of a silent failure is that Search Atlas cannot reach the page. Check each of the following:
- Open the URL in a private/incognito browser window. If the page does not load for you either, the site or page is down — the audit cannot run until it is back online.
- Check for a login wall or paywall. If the page requires a password or account to view, the crawler is blocked. Audit publicly accessible pages only.
- Check for a CAPTCHA or bot-detection screen. Security tools like Cloudflare's "I am not a robot" challenge will block the crawler. Contact your hosting provider or IT team to whitelist Search Atlas.
- Try a direct page URL, not a redirect chain. Paste the URL into a redirect checker (e.g., type it into your browser and watch the address bar). If the final destination URL is different from what you entered, use the final destination URL in the audit.
🤖 Step 2 — Check Your robots.txt and Meta Robots Tags
Even if a page loads in a browser, it may be blocking crawlers at the server level.
- Visit yourdomain.com/robots.txt and look for any Disallow rules that match your target URL path.
- View the page source (right-click → View Page Source) and search for a meta name="robots" tag. If its content includes noindex or nofollow, the audit may be restricted.
- If either block is in place and is intentional, the audit cannot be run on that URL. If it is unintentional, update your robots.txt or meta tag and re-run the audit.
⚙️ Step 3 — Verify the URL Format
An incorrectly formatted URL will always cause a failure. Before re-running the audit, confirm:
- The URL begins with https:// or http:// (include the protocol).
- There are no trailing spaces, hidden characters, or broken special characters copied from another tool.
- The URL points to a specific page, not a JavaScript-only single-page app route that returns a blank HTML shell to crawlers.
📋 Step 4 — Note the Exact Conditions of the Failure
If the audit still fails after the checks above, gathering the right details will help our team resolve it quickly. Before contacting support, note the following:
- The full URL you entered (e.g., https://oakknollranch.com/page-name).
- The exact time and date you ran the audit.
- Whether this is the first time you have tried this URL or whether it worked before.
- Whether other URLs on the same domain audit successfully.
- Any browser console errors if you are comfortable opening browser developer tools (press F12 → Console tab).
🔄 Step 5 — Clear and Re-Run the Audit
Once you have confirmed the URL is reachable, not blocked, and correctly formatted, try the following before escalating:
- Navigate back to Left sidebar → Content → On-Page Audit.
- Delete the failed audit entry if the option is available.
- Re-enter the URL carefully and start a new audit.
- Wait at least two full minutes before checking the status — large pages can take longer to process.
⚠️ Common Causes at a Glance
- Site is down or returning a 4xx/5xx error — wait for the site to recover, then retry.
- Cloudflare or similar firewall blocking the crawler — whitelist Search Atlas crawlers with your hosting provider.
- robots.txt Disallow rule — update the rule if the block is unintentional.
- Redirect loop or broken redirect — use the final destination URL.
- JavaScript-rendered page with no static HTML — audit a static version of the page if possible.
- URL typo or missing protocol — re-enter the URL with https://.
💬 Still Failing? Contact Support
If you have worked through every step above and the audit continues to fail, our team can investigate the specific error at the server level. Please have the details from Step 4 ready when you reach out — this allows us to diagnose the issue without back-and-forth delays.
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.