🔗 What this article covers
Use this guide when a client website and your white-label plugin are not connecting, or when the site does not appear in your Search Atlas dashboard. The plugin on the client site and the project in your dashboard must use the same site address and the same connection details.
✅ Before you connect
Check these items first. Most failed connections come from a mismatched address or an inactive plugin.
- You are signed in to the Search Atlas account that owns the client project.
- The client site is a WordPress site and you can sign in as an administrator.
- The public site address uses the live URL clients visit, including https and the correct www or non-www version.
- White-label branding is saved in your account before you install the plugin.
- Security, firewall, or maintenance-mode plugins are not blocking WordPress admin or outbound connections.
🛠️ Install the plugin on the client site
- In Search Atlas, open the client project and go to the white-label or plugin connection area.
- Download the white-label plugin package, or copy the connection key shown for that project.
- On the client WordPress site, go to Plugins, choose Add New, then Upload Plugin.
- Upload the package, install it, and select Activate.
- Open the plugin settings in the WordPress admin menu. The menu name matches the brand you saved in white-label settings.
- Paste the connection key, or complete the connect action shown in the plugin, then save.
Install the plugin only on the live site you want Search Atlas to manage. A staging site uses a different address and will not satisfy a connection for the live project.
📊 Link the site in your dashboard
- Return to the same client project in Search Atlas.
- Confirm the project URL exactly matches the site address in WordPress, including protocol and www.
- Select the option to connect, refresh, or verify the plugin.
- Wait for the status to show the site as connected. Then refresh the project page once.
The dashboard can only see a site after the plugin is active and the key for that project has been saved on that site. A key from another project or another account will not connect.
🔍 Confirm both sides see each other
- In WordPress, the plugin shows a connected or active status and does not display an invalid-key message.
- In Search Atlas, the same project shows the site as connected.
- The domain in both places matches character for character.
- You are not checking a different project, folder, or client record.
⚙️ Fix a site that still will not connect
- Deactivate the plugin, then activate it again. Save the connection key one more time.
- Compare the WordPress site address with the project URL. Update the project if the live address changed.
- Remove any older copy of the plugin so only one Search Atlas white-label plugin is active.
- Temporarily pause caching, security, and firewall plugins, then try the connection again. Re-enable them after it succeeds.
- Confirm the WordPress user is an administrator and that the site is not in maintenance mode.
- If the site moved from staging to production, disconnect the old address and repeat the connection on the new address.
Do not share the connection key in email or tickets. If you believe the key was exposed, generate a new connection from the project and paste the new key into the plugin.
**💬 Still need helpIf you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and send your message. A member of our support team will reply in the chat.
Have the client domain, the project name, and a short description of the status shown in WordPress and in Search Atlas ready so the team can review the connection quickly.