This article covers the most common platform-wide errors, unexpected behaviors, and how to get help from the Search Atlas support team.
The Search Atlas interface is shaking or glitching when I navigate. What's wrong?
This intermittent UI animation issue occurs on some browser/OS combinations and is being tracked by the engineering team. Try: (1) hard-refresh the page (Ctrl+F5 or Cmd+Shift+R), (2) clear your browser cache, (3) try a different browser (Chrome is recommended). ⚠️ If it persists across browsers and sessions, submit a support ticket with your browser version and operating system.
I'm getting a generic "Something went wrong" error. How do I troubleshoot it?
- Hard-refresh the page
- Clear browser cache and cookies for searchatlas.com
- Try in an incognito/private window to rule out browser extension conflicts
- Check
status.searchatlas.com(if available) for any ongoing incidents - If the error is in a specific feature, note the exact page URL and what action triggered it, then contact support
What does a 400 Bad Request error mean?
A 400 error means the request was rejected because something in the input is invalid or missing — usually a required field that's blank, a URL format issue, or a conflicting setting. ⚠️ Check the specific feature's requirements: for On-Page Audit, ensure the target keyword and URL are both filled; for Website Studio, ensure the domain is formatted correctly; for OTTO schema, check that required fields are populated.
What does a 500 Internal Server Error mean?
A 500 error means something failed on the server side — not your input. These are typically transient. ✅ Wait 30 seconds and try again. If it happens repeatedly on the same action, contact support with the page URL, the action you were performing, and the time of the error.
An export or download is failing or the file is empty. What should I do?
⚠️ Wait for all data widgets on the page to fully load before exporting — exporting while data is still loading produces incomplete files. If the export consistently fails or is empty: try a different browser, disable browser extensions (ad blockers can intercept download requests), and try generating the export again.
My keyword cluster generation failed with "Please try again." What's happening?
This transient error occurs when the cluster generation service is under high load or when the input keyword set is too large for a single operation. Try: (1) retry with a smaller keyword set, (2) wait a few minutes and retry, (3) if the error persists, contact support with the specific keyword(s) that triggered it.
Why is the Search Atlas dashboard slow or unresponsive?
Common causes: (1) browser extension conflicts — try in incognito mode, (2) large data sets in the current view — filter or paginate to reduce the render load, (3) your internet connection — test on a different network, (4) platform load during peak hours — try again after a few minutes. 💡 If slowness is consistent over multiple days and sessions, contact support.
How do I report a bug?
Contact support via the in-dashboard chat (click the help icon, typically bottom-right) and type "Human Teammate". Then report to our agents the bug.
Include:
- Your account email
- The page URL where the issue occurred
- What you were trying to do
- What happened instead
- A screenshot or screen recording if possible
- The approximate time of the issue
💡 The more specific your report, the faster the team can reproduce and fix it.
Why is my QUEST / AI Visibility query timing out?
OpenRouter (the service that routes queries to AI platforms) can be temporarily congested or a specific AI provider may be rate-limiting. ✅ Wait 2–5 minutes and retry. If timeouts are consistent over more than an hour, contact support — they can check the OpenRouter and provider status.
The platform says I'm out of a certain credit or quota. What are my options?
Go to Avatar (top-right) → Billing → Plans & Top-ups to check which quota is exhausted. Options: (1) wait for the monthly reset (quota resets on your billing anniversary), (2) purchase a top-up add-on from account menu (person icon, top-right) → Billing → Plans & Top-ups, (3) upgrade to a higher plan if your usage consistently exceeds your current plan's limits.
My account was logged out unexpectedly. Why?
Session tokens expire after a period of inactivity (typically 24–72 hours depending on your session settings). ✅ Re-login using your credentials. ⚠️ If you're being logged out repeatedly within a short period, your session may be conflicting with another active session — log out of all devices from Settings → Security and log back in.
Something in the platform is working differently than the Academy tutorial shows. Is the tutorial outdated?
Search Atlas releases updates frequently. If a feature's behavior doesn't match the tutorial, the UI may have been updated since the tutorial was recorded. 💡 Check the What's New section in the dashboard for recent changes, or ask Atlas Brain directly — it has current knowledge of the platform. If you believe a tutorial is materially incorrect, contact support so it can be flagged for update.