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🏗️ Search Atlas — Website Studio Issues

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Camilo Aponte

Camilo Aponte

Last updated on Sep 30, 2026

This article covers the page editor, custom domains, publishing, and AI generation.

⚠️ Error 1: "Generate with AI" never completes

What's happening:

AI page generation involves multiple sequential steps (structure, copy, SEO metadata) and can take several minutes.

Steps to try:

  • Wait up to 5 minutes before concluding it failed.
  • Try generating one section at a time rather than the full page.
  • Simplify your brief — contradictory or unusually complex instructions increase failure rate.
  • Check AI generation credits: account menu (person icon, top-right) → Billing → Plans & Top-ups. If your AI generation credits are at 0 or exhausted, you will need to upgrade your plan or wait for your usage to reset — contact support or visit the billing page to review your options.
  • Contact support if generation consistently fails after multiple attempts.

🧠 Error 2: Atlas Brain in Website Studio stuck spinning / never completes analysis

What's happening:

This is distinct from a standard AI generation delay. Atlas Brain inside Website Studio can get stuck in an infinite spinning/loading state that persists across browsers and devices and is not resolved by clearing cache. In known cases it has lasted 4.5+ hours and required engineering intervention.

Steps to try:

  • Confirm it is not a browser/cache issue by testing in incognito and on a different device.
  • If spinning persists beyond 30 minutes with no progress, this is a known backend issue requiring engineering escalation.
  • Contact support with a screen recording of the stuck state, the affected site, and timestamps.

🌐 Error 3: Custom domain stuck on "Pending SSL Certificate"

What's happening:

Either DNS hasn't propagated yet or the DNS configuration is incorrect.

Note on propagation status: During the 1–48 hour propagation window, status indicators may show as pending or in-progress. Do not interpret intermediate states as errors requiring escalation — propagation can still be completing successfully even when the UI does not yet show a green/verified state.

Steps to try:

  • Log into your domain registrar and confirm your CNAME record points exactly to the target shown in your Website Studio domain setup instructions.
  • Check propagation at dnschecker.org — search for your domain's CNAME. Green checkmarks globally means propagation is complete.
  • DNS propagation takes 1–48 hours — wait before troubleshooting further.
  • After DNS fully propagates, wait another 1–2 hours for SSL provisioning.
  • If DNS is fully propagated but SSL is still pending after 48 hours, click the gear icon or three-dot menu next to your site name in Left Sidebar → Website Studio, then open Project Settings → Domain Settings (Custom Domain) and use the Remove button next to the domain, then Re-add it to restart SSL provisioning.
  • Known backend issue: If a domain has been stuck in 'pending' for more than 48–72 hours with no error message displayed at all, this is a known backend issue where the domain can be silently stuck. In that case the Remove/Re-add workaround may not resolve it — contact support directly with your domain name so the team can investigate on the backend.

🔒 Error 4: Custom domain showing SSL/security warning on a previously working site

What's happening:

This is a distinct failure mode from initial SSL provisioning. If a site that was previously serving over HTTPS now shows a browser security warning (e.g., "Your connection is not private," NET::ERR_CERT_DATE_INVALID), this may indicate an expired Let's Encrypt certificate that did not auto-renew and requires manual renewal intervention on the backend.

Steps to try:

  • Contact support immediately with your domain name and a screenshot of the browser warning.
  • Do not remove and re-add the domain in this case — that workaround is for initial provisioning, not for an expired certificate on a live verified domain.
  • Avoid sharing the affected URL with end users until the certificate is reissued, as browsers will block access by default.

🔄 Error 5: Published site still shows old content after hitting Publish

What's happening:

Your browser or a CDN edge node is serving a cached version.

Steps to try:

  • Hard-refresh the live site: Ctrl + Shift + R / Cmd + Shift + R.
  • Clear your browser cache fully and reload the live URL.
  • Open the live URL in an incognito window to bypass your browser cache.
  • Test on a different device or network (e.g., mobile data) to rule out a local cache.
  • Allow up to 10–15 minutes for CDN cache propagation after publishing.
  • Test by adding ?v=2 to the URL — this bypasses the CDN cache for your browser.
  • Go back to Left Sidebar → Website Studio → Select Your Project → Publish Again, if the update still hasn't appeared after 15 minutes.

📦 Error 6: Website Studio fails to load or create a site — "Container not running" error

What's happening:

The Website Studio backend container that powers site creation, loading, and preview is not running. This blocks creating new sites, opening existing sites, and previewing pages.

Steps to try:

  • Refresh the page and retry the action.
  • Wait 2–3 minutes and try again — the container may be restarting.
  • Clear your browser cache and reload Website Studio.
  • Try in an incognito window or a different browser.
  • If the error persists, contact support — this may require a backend container restart by engineering.

🖥️ Error 7: Page preview shows blank or doesn't load in the editor

What's happening:

The preview renderer encountered an error, usually with unsaved changes.

Steps to try:

  • Save your current work, then refresh the editor page.
  • Toggle between Edit and Preview mode a few times to reset the preview renderer.
  • Try in a different browser — Safari sometimes has issues with iframe-based editors.
  • Disable browser extensions and reload.
  • Contact support with your browser type and any console error messages if preview consistently fails.

📩 Error 8: Form submissions aren't being received

What's happening:

Notification settings are misconfigured or emails are going to spam.

Steps to try:

  • Check the submission log first: Left Sidebar → Website Studio → [Your Page] → Project Settings→ Forms → Form Submissions.
  • If submissions appear in the log but emails aren't arriving, check spam for form notification emails.
  • Verify the notification email address in form settings is correct.
  • Test by submitting the form yourself and confirming it appears in the log.
  • Contact support with your form ID if submissions appear in the log but notification emails aren't being sent.

🖼️ Error 9: Page thumbnail in the dashboard shows the old design

What's happening:

Thumbnail generation is a background task that runs after publishing — it's not instant.

Steps to try:

  • Wait up to 30 minutes after publishing for the thumbnail to update.
  • Hard-refresh the Website Studio dashboard.
  • Your live site is correct even if the thumbnail shows an old version — this is cosmetic only.
  • Re-publish the page if the thumbnail still shows old content after 1 hour.
  • Contact support only if thumbnails show a blank white image — that indicates a generation service issue.

⚡ Error 10: My landing page loads slowly for visitors

What's happening:

Large uncompressed images or heavy scripts are slowing the page down.

Steps to try:

  • Compress all images before uploading — uncompressed images are the most common cause.
  • Use WebP format instead of PNG or JPG.
  • Reduce the number of animations and auto-play video sections.
  • Contact support with your page URL and PSI score — our team can identify specific bottlenecks.

🤖 Error 11: AI-generated page content doesn't match my brand

What's happening:

Brand Vault isn't configured or isn't linked to the project.

Steps to try:

  • Complete your Brand Vault in full: More Features → Brand Vault — fill in Business Info, Brand Voice, and Target Audience.
  • Link Brand Vault to your project: OTTO SEO in the left sidebar → All Sites → open your project → Brand Vault.
  • After updating Brand Vault, wait 15 minutes before generating new content.
  • In your generation request, specify: "Write in [tone] for [audience], consistent with my brand voice."
  • Edit AI-generated copy as a starting point — treat it as a first draft.

🔧 Error 12: OTTO changes not applying on Website Studio sites

What's happening:

OTTO on-page deployments (such as meta descriptions and title tag changes) may not be compatible with Website Studio static sites managed through Search Atlas. This is a known limitation currently under engineering review.

Steps to try:

  • Verify the change directly inside Website Studio's page editor (Meta / SEO settings) rather than relying on the OTTO deployment alone.
  • Contact support to confirm whether your site is affected by the known OTTO ↔ Website Studio integration limitation.
  • In the meantime, apply meta and title tag updates manually in Website Studio and re-publish the page.

Most Website Studio issues are not system failures—they are typically related to DNS propagation, caching layers, AI processing time, or configuration gaps.

Website publishing and rendering involve multiple systems (browser, CDN, DNS, SSL), which may introduce short delays or inconsistencies.