## **🧾 Why Am I Being Charged Beyond My Base Plan?**

The Starter plan includes a set number of indexing credits each billing cycle. If you submit more URLs than your plan allowance covers, Search Atlas may apply **top-up credits** to keep your requests running. These additional charges will appear as a separate line item on your invoice.

To understand your charges, review the billing section of your Search Atlas dashboard, where you can see a breakdown of your base plan credits and any additional top-up charges applied during the billing period.

- **Base plan credits:** Included in your monthly fee and reset each billing cycle.
- **Top-up credits:** Applied when base credits are exhausted, billed at the applicable top-up rate.
- **Unexpected charges:** If you see charges you don't recognize, please reach out to our support team with your account details and the invoice date so we can review the billing activity with you.

## **🔍 How Does Indexing Work on the Starter Plan?**

The Starter plan uses two indexing methods to request that search engines crawl and index your pages:

1. **Google Search Console (GSC) Integration:** Search Atlas connects to your verified GSC property and submits URLs through the Google Indexing API. This method is subject to Google's daily quota limits, which are set by Google and cannot be changed by Search Atlas.
2. **Bing IndexNow:** Search Atlas simultaneously pings Bing via the IndexNow protocol, which typically processes submissions faster than GSC.

For both methods to work, you must complete the integration setup within your Search Atlas account. If either connection is missing or broken, submissions may fail or remain pending without being sent.

**Important:** Submitting a URL does not guarantee indexing. Search engines make the final decision on whether and when to index a page. Indexing requests are a signal, not a command.

## **⚙️ What to Do If Indexing Is Not Working**

If pages are not being indexed or submissions appear to be failing, the most reliable first step is to contact our support team directly. Because indexing issues can stem from GSC quota limits, integration configuration, or plan-tier restrictions — factors that vary per account — our team can review your specific setup and identify the root cause.

When you reach out, please have the following ready to help us resolve your issue as quickly as possible:

- Your Search Atlas account email or workspace name
- The URLs you submitted that are not being indexed
- The approximate date and time you submitted them
- Any error messages or status labels you have seen in your dashboard
- Whether your GSC property is verified directly in Google Search Console at **search.google.com/search-console**

Unverified GSC properties cannot receive API submissions.

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.