An API key is a secret token that authorizes RankGear’s requests to an external provider under your own account, so the provider knows who is calling and bills the work to you.
| Term | API Key |
|---|---|
| Category | APIs, Reliability and Publishing |
| Also known as | Credential Key |
| Where it appears | Settings → API keys |
What it means in RankGear
You add API keys under Settings → API keys, one per provider you want RankGear to reach on your behalf — a search-data source, a language model, an image generator, or a publishing endpoint. RankGear stores the key locally and attaches it to the requests it makes for you, which means the resulting usage, quota, and cost sit with your provider account rather than with RankGear. A key present and passing its test is the signal that a given integration is ready to run.
How to interpret it
Treat the key’s state as the first thing to check when an integration misbehaves. RankGear shows a visible status alongside each key, and you can run a credential test to confirm the token is accepted. Read that state together with the run diagnostics: a request that timed out points to a transient network or provider hiccup and is worth one bounded retry, while an outright authorization rejection points at the key itself — missing, mistyped, expired, or lacking the scope the call needs — and no amount of retrying will fix it. Separating those two cases stops you from burning paid calls against a credential that was never going to work.
| Signal | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Test passes / status healthy | The token is accepted; the integration is ready to run. |
| Timeout or 5xx during a run | Likely transient; a single bounded retry is reasonable. |
| Authorization failure (401/403) | The key is invalid, expired, or under-scoped; stop and fix it, don’t retry. |
Example
You paste a language-model provider’s key into Settings → API keys and run its test, which passes. During a later content run one request times out, so RankGear issues a single longer retry and the call completes. A week on, the provider rotates the token; the next run returns an authorization failure, RankGear halts that integration instead of hammering the provider with repeated paid calls, and its status flags the key so you know to replace it rather than chase a phantom network problem.
Important considerations
- An API key is a secret. RankGear keeps it redacted in the interface and in logs, and you should avoid exporting or sharing it in reports or screenshots.
- Keys can expire or be rotated by the provider without notice; a run that worked yesterday can fail on authorization today, so the credential test is the fastest way to confirm the token is still good.
- Every call made with your key counts against your provider quota and bill, not RankGear’s — the bounded-retry behaviour exists partly to keep failed calls from multiplying that cost.
- Credential and publishing-target tests should stay read-only where possible, so verifying a key never risks changing anything on the remote side.
- A working key authorizes access; it says nothing about ranking. The data or content it unlocks from a provider is a comparative input to your analysis, not a Google score, and should be read as such.
Related terms
Part of the RankGear glossary · how RankGear measures · the 870 factors.