Scheduled auto-tests

A one-off test tells you where you are today. A schedule tells you where you are going. Auto-tests run your saved queries on a recurring cadence and let you catch visibility drops without going back into the dashboard.

Turning them on#

There are two entry points:

When adding a site: the Enable weekly auto-tests checkbox.
In Search Visibility: the status bar with Set up or Manage.

After the first manual run, the dashboard also offers a Make this recurring? prompt, with the option to enable it or dismiss it with Not now.

Cadences#

Cadence	Description	Suits
Daily	The most aggressive.	Fast-moving brands or campaigns; launch periods.
Weekly	The balanced default: catches drift without burning tokens.	Most cases.
Monthly	The lightest.	Stable, low-budget catalogues.

Cost#

The panel works out the estimate before you save: ≈ N tokens per run and ≈ N per 30 days. The rule is simple:

Calculation

1 token  ×  active queries  ×  configured engines  =  cost per run

With 40 active queries and 4 engines, each run costs 160 tokens. At a weekly cadence that is around 640 tokens a month; daily, around 4,800.

Danger

A daily cadence over a large query set drains the monthly balance of almost any plan in a few days. Always check the estimate the panel shows before saving.

Tip

To cut the cost without losing signal: retire queries you no longer care about, concentrate the schedule on the discovery ones (they are the ones that actually move) and leave brand queries for occasional manual runs.

States#

Active

The bar shows Auto-tests active, the last run and the cadence.

Paused

The schedule exists but does not run. No next run is calculated.

Off

There is no schedule for this site. The bar invites you to set one up.

From the side panel you can Pause, Resume, change the cadence with Save cadence, or turn it Off entirely.

What happens when tokens run out#

Plan	Behaviour
Free	Scheduled runs pause until the next billing period. There are no extra charges.
Paid	Runs continue and the spending is billed as Extra usage at your plan's per-token rate.

Following the runs#

Every scheduled run is recorded in Change history as Search Visibility scheduled scan, with the cadence, the date and the usage for the action. From there you also get a direct link to Manage schedule.

Note

Auto-tests and auto-optimization are two independent schedules, each with its own cadence and its own state. Turning one on does not turn on the other.