🔍 Overview
When adding a new project and connecting your WordPress site to Search Atlas, the plugin may time out during installation or fail to authenticate. This article explains what causes the issue and how to resolve it by regenerating your API key and reauthenticating the plugin.
⚠️ What Causes This Issue
This timeout or authentication failure typically occurs when the API key used by the WordPress plugin becomes invalid or revoked. This can happen after account changes, reconnection attempts, or a platform update. Once the key is no longer valid, the plugin cannot complete the handshake with Search Atlas, causing it to stall or time out.
🛠️ How to Resolve It
- Regenerate your API key. Log in to your Search Atlas account and navigate to your account or API settings. Locate your existing API key and regenerate it to create a new, active key. Copy the new key carefully.
- Reconnect the plugin in WordPress. Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard. Navigate to the Search Atlas plugin settings. Remove or disconnect the existing API key, then enter the newly generated key and save. This reauthenticates the plugin with your Search Atlas account.
- Test the connection. Once the new key is saved, attempt to complete the project setup in Search Atlas. The plugin should now connect without timing out.
- Confirm everything is working. Verify that your WordPress project appears correctly in Search Atlas and that the plugin is active and communicating as expected.
💡 Tips to Avoid This in the Future
- If you ever revoke or regenerate your API key for any reason, always update it in the WordPress plugin immediately to prevent authentication failures.
- Avoid clicking the connect or authenticate button multiple times during setup — repeated attempts can create conflicting key records and worsen the timeout issue.
- If the connection fails after a fresh key entry, wait a few minutes before retrying, as key propagation can occasionally take a moment.
🚨 If You Still See a 500 Error
In some cases, the authentication popup may return a 500 error even after regenerating the API key. This is a known issue currently being investigated by the engineering team. If regenerating the key does not resolve the problem for you, please do not attempt multiple additional regenerations, as this can make the issue harder to diagnose.
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.