If your Search Atlas WordPress plugin header shows a red "Not Connected" badge after the page has been idle, refresh the page — your API key and connection remain intact. This is a known display glitch caused by temporary background-check failures during idle sessions.
🔴 What the "Not Connected" Status Badge Means
The badge in the Search Atlas plugin header reflects the result of the most recent background check between your WordPress site and the Search Atlas API. A green dot means the last check succeeded; a red "Not Connected" dot means the most recent check failed.
The badge updates automatically while any plugin page is open. After several minutes of inactivity, those background checks can fail for temporary reasons unrelated to your API key or account status.
💡 Why Idle Pages Trigger a False "Not Connected" Badge
The plugin runs a background process that sends periodic requests to the Search Atlas API to sync your connection status. On idle pages, these requests can be blocked or dropped due to:
- Temporary rate limiting on the server side — no action needed; the next check will succeed on its own
- Transient network errors — a brief hiccup returns an empty or null API response
- Request timeouts — the request times out before the Search Atlas API responds
When any of these temporary failures occur, the badge flips to "Not Connected." This is a known display issue currently under engineering review. A permanent fix is targeted for an upcoming plugin release, and we will update this article once it is deployed. The badge does not accurately reflect your actual connection state when triggered by idle-session check failures.
🔍 How to Confirm the "Not Connected" Badge Is a False Alarm
Before changing your API key or reinstalling the plugin, run these checks to confirm you are looking at a false alarm:
- Refresh the page. If the badge returns to green immediately after a refresh, the disconnect was caused by an idle-session check failure — not a real connection problem.
- Check how long the page was idle. If you stepped away for several minutes before noticing the red badge, idle-session failure is the most likely cause.
- Navigate away and return. Go to a different Search Atlas plugin page and come back — a green badge on the fresh page load confirms your connection is intact.
If the badge turns green after any of these steps, your connection is working correctly and no further action is needed.
🔄 How to Restore the Correct Connection Status After an Idle Session
To clear the false "Not Connected" badge, follow these steps:
- Press F5 (Windows / Linux) or Cmd + R (Mac) to refresh the current plugin page, or click your browser's Reload button.
- Wait for the page to finish loading — the header badge updates within a few seconds.
- Confirm the badge now shows a green dot and reads "Connected."
All Search Atlas features — rank tracking, site audits, and keyword research — are fully accessible immediately after the refresh. No re-authentication or settings change is required.
🛠️ What to Do If the Badge Still Shows "Not Connected" After Refreshing
If the badge remains red after a full page refresh, you may have a genuine connection problem. Work through these steps in order:
- Verify your API key. Go to Search Atlas → Settings → API Key and confirm the key is entered correctly with no extra spaces or missing characters.
- Check your account status. Log in at app.searchatlas.com and confirm your subscription is active.
- Deactivate conflicting plugins. Security or caching plugins can block outgoing API requests. Temporarily deactivate them one at a time to isolate any conflict.
- Check server firewall rules. Ask your hosting provider to confirm that outbound HTTPS requests to
api.searchatlas.comare permitted. - Re-save your API key. In Search Atlas → Settings, clear the API key field, re-enter your key, and click Save Changes.
If none of these steps resolve the issue, contact Search Atlas support and include your WordPress version, plugin version, and any error messages shown in your browser console (press F12 to open it).
🌀 A red "Not Connected" badge on an idle plugin page is almost always a temporary display glitch — a single page refresh is all it takes to recover. To review your full plugin setup, see Connecting the Search Atlas WordPress Plugin.