🔍 Overview
When you track the same website URL across multiple Search Atlas projects — for example, one project for Las Vegas HVAC and another for Phoenix HVAC — you may find that keywords merge into a single existing project rather than remaining in separate projects. This article explains what is happening and provides guidance on how to organise geo-specific keyword tracking, as well as how to escalate if the behaviour is affecting your account unexpectedly.
⚠️ What Happens When the Same URL Is Used Across Multiple Projects
Some users have reported that when a second Rank Tracker project is created for a URL that already exists in another project, keywords added to the new project appear inside the original project instead. The second project may not persist as a separate entry in the project list.
This means you may experience:
- Keywords added to a new project (e.g. HVAC – Las Vegas) appearing inside a pre-existing project for the same domain.
- The newly created project not appearing independently in your project list.
- Inability to maintain separate rank-tracking records for the same URL across different geographic campaigns.
Whether this is intended platform behaviour or a bug may depend on your account configuration. If this is disrupting your workflow, please contact support with the details listed below.
✅ Suggested Approach: Use Keyword Lists for Each Geography
One way to organise geo-specific keyword tracking within a single project is to use Keyword Lists. Rather than creating separate projects for each location, you can create one project for the website URL and group location-specific keywords into named Keyword Lists inside that project. This allows you to segment and filter keywords by region, service line, or campaign.
To set this up, navigate to Keywords → Keyword Research in the left sidebar and open the Keyword lists tab (use Create List to add a new list), and create a separate list for each geographic area (for example: Las Vegas – HVAC and Phoenix – HVAC). Add the relevant keywords to each list accordingly.
If you are unsure how to locate the Keyword Lists feature in your account, our support team can walk you through the steps.
📍 Tracking Local Rankings With Location-Specific Keywords
For local SEO across multiple service areas, make sure each keyword is configured with the correct target location when it is added to the project. This ensures rank data reflects the intended geographic market rather than a generic or default location.
🚨 If the Merging Behaviour Is Affecting Your Account
If the keyword merging behaviour is causing issues that the Keyword Lists workaround does not resolve, please reach out to our support team. To help us investigate as quickly as possible, have the following information ready:
- The domain URL shared across the affected projects.
- The names of all projects involved (e.g. the original project and the one that merged or disappeared).
- A description of the exact steps you took when the merging occurred.
- Any screenshots or screen recordings that show the unexpected behaviour.
- The date and approximate time when you first noticed the issue.
If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.