If you see an error when publishing a Press Release, it usually means a required field is missing, the content does not meet distribution guidelines, or your account is short on credits. This guide walks you through the most common causes and how to fix each one so your release publishes successfully.
✅ Before You Start
Most publishing errors can be prevented by confirming a few basics first:
- You are signed in to the correct workspace.
- Your subscription is active and you have at least one available Press Release credit.
- Your release includes a title, body content, and a target URL.
- Your internet connection is stable.
🔧 Common Errors and How to Fix Them
1️⃣ Missing or Incomplete Required Fields
This is the most frequent cause of a failed publish. The system blocks submission if any required field is empty.
- Open your Press Release draft.
- Check that the title, summary, and main body are all filled in.
- Confirm you have added at least one valid anchor text and target URL.
- Confirm the country field is set, as it is required for distribution.
- Make sure the target URL begins with https:// and points to a live, public page.
- Save your changes and try publishing again.
If you receive an error stating the country field is empty even though it is filled in, this was a known issue that has since been fixed. Refresh the page and try publishing again, and contact Search Atlas Support if it persists.
2️⃣ Content Does Not Meet Distribution Guidelines
Press Release distribution networks (Signal Genesys) apply editorial standards. Releases may be rejected if they contain prohibited content.
- Remove promotional or sales-heavy language (for example, "buy now" or pricing-only content).
- Avoid adult, gambling, or other restricted topics.
- Ensure the content is original and written in a news or announcement style.
- Keep the body within the recommended word count (typically 400–800 words).
- Check that links point to legitimate, working pages and not redirects or shorteners.
3️⃣ Insufficient Credits or Plan Limits
Publishing requires available Press Release credits. The number of credits required depends on the distribution channel you select (for example, some channels cost more credits than others), so a release that needs more credits than you have available will fail, often with the message "Signal Genesys: Insufficient credits!".
- Open your account billing or usage page.
- Review your remaining Press Release credits and compare them to the credits required by your chosen distribution channel.
- If you have too few, upgrade your plan or purchase additional credits.
- Return to your draft and publish once enough credits are available.
4️⃣ Invalid or Unreachable Target URL
If the URL you are linking to cannot be reached, the release will not publish.
- Open the target URL in a new browser tab to confirm it loads.
- Remove any password protection or "noindex" restrictions on the page.
- Replace any broken or staging URLs with a live, public address.
5️⃣ Image Upload Errors
An oversized, unsupported, or missing image can stop publishing.
- Use PNG or JPG format.
- Keep the file under 2 MB and at least 300×300 pixels.
- Re-upload the image and confirm it appears in the preview before publishing.
You may occasionally see "WEBP is not supported by Signal Genesys. Please upload JPG or PNG" even when your original image is a JPG or PNG. This happened because AI-generated or imported images were sometimes stored internally as WEBP. This has been fixed so eligible images are converted automatically; if you still see it, re-upload the image and try again.
If you see "Missing images: The press release requires at least one image in order to be deployed" even though images are present, this could occur when images were added to the Knowledge Graph after the release content was generated. This has been resolved so images on the linked Knowledge Graph are now picked up at publish time. If you encounter it on an older draft, open the editor and re-attach the image before publishing.
6️⃣ Session Timeout or Temporary Glitch
Occasionally an error is caused by an expired session or a brief connection issue.
- Refresh the page and confirm you are still signed in.
- Clear your browser cache or try an incognito/private window.
- Switch to a supported browser such as Chrome or Firefox.
- Attempt to publish again.
7️⃣ Distribution Channel Not Available
If a previous publish attempt failed partway through, a leftover "coming soon" distribution channel can be attached to your release and cause a retry to fail with an error such as "Distribution channel <name> is not available" — even though you never selected that channel.
- This has been fixed so unavailable "coming soon" channels are excluded automatically, and retrying the publish should now succeed.
- If you still see this error, contact Search Atlas Support with your draft details so the stale channel can be cleared.
💬 Still Seeing an Error?
If you have worked through the steps above and the release still will not publish, gather a few details to help our team resolve it faster:
- The exact error message text (a screenshot is ideal).
- The name or ID of the Press Release draft.
- The date and time you attempted to publish.
- The browser you are using.
Send these details to Search Atlas Support through the in-app chat or your support email, and our team will investigate and help you publish your release.