Use this guide to diagnose and fix the most common Keyword Research errors in Search Atlas — including blank results, outdated rankings, stuck bulk jobs, and incorrect country data.

## 🔎 Error 1: Keyword Search Returns Blank Results or All Dashes

**What's happening:** The Search Atlas keyword database or a third-party data source is temporarily unavailable.

1. Check your spelling and try keyword variations.
2. Change the target country — a keyword with no US data may have data for UK or CA. If a specific country code consistently returns results for the wrong region (e.g., UK selection returning US data), that is a country-routing bug — escalate using **Error 7** below.
3. Wait 10 minutes and retry — data provider outages are usually brief.
4. Try a completely different keyword to determine whether all searches are failing or just this one.
5. Contact support if all keyword searches return empty for more than 30 minutes.

A working search returns keyword metrics in the results table.

## 📊 Error 2: Competitor Data Columns (SpyFu, SEMrush) Show Empty Values

**What's happening:** A third-party data provider (SpyFu or SEMrush) is temporarily unavailable.

1. Refresh the page and retry after 15 minutes.
2. Try a different competitor domain — the issue may be specific to that domain's data coverage.
3. Switch between data source tabs if available (e.g., from SpyFu to SEMrush view).
4. Note that very new or very small sites have no data in third-party databases — this is expected behavior, not a bug.
5. Contact support if all competitor columns remain empty across all keywords for more than 24 hours.

Competitor columns populate once the data provider is back online.

## ⚙️ Error 3: Bulk Keyword Analysis Is Stuck on "Processing"

**What's happening:** Large keyword lists take time to process, and very large lists can time out.

1. For lists over 500 keywords, allow 20–40 minutes before concluding something is wrong.
2. Refresh the page — the job may have completed but the status indicator didn't update.
3. Check your job history: **Left Sidebar → Keywords → Keyword Research (Keyword lists tab)**.
4. Split large lists into batches of 250 keywords and resubmit.
5. Remove duplicate keywords from the list before resubmitting.

A completed job appears in Keyword Lists with a downloadable results file.

## 📈 Error 4: Keyword Rankings Haven't Updated in Several Days

**What's happening:** Rank tracking updates on a schedule determined by your plan tier.

1. Check the **Last checked** timestamp in the Rank Tracker.
2. Confirm the correct search engine, country, and device type are selected.
3. Verify the exact domain format being tracked (www vs. non-www).
4. Check your tracking frequency setting using either path:

   - **Left Sidebar → Keywords → Rank Tracker → Select Your Site → Settings**
   - **Left Sidebar → Keywords → Rank Tracker → [your site card] → ⋮ (three vertical dots) → Settings**
5. Contact support if daily-tracked keywords haven't updated in more than 72 hours.

Rankings update on your next scheduled tracking cycle once settings are confirmed correct.

## 🌐 Error 5: "Live SERP" Check Never Loads

**What's happening:** Live SERP checks are rate-limited and load slower than cached data because they retrieve real-time search results.

1. Wait up to 3 minutes — live SERP checks involve real-time data retrieval.
2. Avoid triggering multiple live checks simultaneously.
3. Wait 15 minutes between runs if you've made several recent requests.
4. Confirm this feature is included in your current plan.
5. Try during off-peak hours (early morning) for faster response times.

A successful Live SERP check displays the current search results page for your keyword.

## 🧠 Error 6: Keyword Difficulty Scores Look Very Different from Other Tools

**What's happening:** This is expected — each SEO tool calculates difficulty using different data sources, weighting factors, and SERP signals. Score differences across tools are normal, not a bug.

- Compare relative difficulty trends rather than absolute scores across tools.
- Use Search Atlas Keyword Difficulty as one signal among several.
- Cross-reference with SERP analysis and competitor strength for high-value terms.

No action is needed — treat Search Atlas Keyword Difficulty as a directional signal alongside other metrics.

## 🌍 Error 7: Country-Specific Results Are Wrong (e.g., UK Returns US Data)

**What's happening:** The country-targeting layer occasionally routes queries to the wrong regional dataset, or URLs redirect to the wrong country's SERP. This is a backend routing issue — users cannot fix it directly.

1. Confirm the selected country code in the dropdown matches your intended target.
2. Clear your browser cache and retry once to rule out a stale session.
3. Record a short screen capture showing the country selection and the incorrect results returned.
4. Contact support immediately with the recording and example keywords — this issue requires escalation to the specialized data team and cannot be resolved through standard retries.
5. If you've already reported it, re-test periodically; fixes are deployed without notice and previously failing country codes begin loading correctly once resolved.

After escalation, the affected country code returns correct regional data once the fix is deployed.

**🎯 You now know how to diagnose and resolve the most common Keyword Research issues in Search Atlas. If a problem persists after trying all steps, contact the Search Atlas support team with your account details and a description of the issue.**