📍 What Is a Heatmap Pin Scan?
A heatmap pin is one point in the grid Search Atlas builds around your business. Search Atlas checks that point for local ranking results. A pin fails when the scan returns no usable results, usually because the data provider timed out, returned an error, or sent back nothing.
❌ Why Some Pin Scans Fail
Failed scans are usually caused by one of these issues:
- The data provider: The scan timed out, the provider returned an error, or it sent back an empty result. Search Atlas retries some of these automatically.
- Missing business location: If the business has no usable location, the heatmap cannot be built and every scan fails until a location is available.
- Temporary connection issues: The scan timed out or the data source was briefly unavailable.
- Empty results: A provider can successfully return no businesses for that point. That scan is complete, not failed, and the pin shows as not ranking.
💳 How Credits Are Used
Each scan uses Local SERP Heatmap quota points for every pin. Points for pins that fail because no result was delivered are returned to your balance. You can see overall quota used on the heatmap page, not credits for each pin or run.
🛠️ Steps to Reduce Failed Scans
- Open the heatmap and look for gray pins marked with an X. Those are the locations whose scans failed.
- If the whole heatmap says that fetching data failed, use Refresh Now to run it again.
- Remove or move pins that are very close together so each one represents a distinct point.
- Check the heatmap’s scan history for repeated “Fetching data failed” results before starting another full scan.
- Wait a few minutes and retry if the failure appears to be a temporary timeout.
🔍 Checking Your Scan Results
Use Refresh Now to run the heatmap again. Pins that succeed show a rank, or 20+ when your business ranks beyond position 20. Pins that still fail stay gray with an X and have no results to open.
🤝 Getting Further Help
If 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.