A Provider Connection Test is a bounded request RankGear sends to confirm that saved provider or publishing credentials actually work — and to state up front whether running the test may be billable.
| Term | Provider Connection Test |
|---|---|
| Category | APIs, Reliability and Publishing |
| Also known as | Test Connection, Credential Test |
| Where it appears | Settings and domain tables |
What it means in RankGear
The Provider Connection Test sits in Settings and in the domain tables, alongside each saved provider or publishing target. When you trigger it, RankGear issues a single, deliberately small request against the stored credentials rather than starting a full job. The result confirms whether the key, token, or login is valid and reachable, and it flags whether that check itself counts against a paid quota.
How to interpret it
Read the outcome through four signals: the visible status, the diagnostics text, whether a retry is warranted, and what the credential check returned. A pass means the credentials authenticated and the endpoint responded. A failure is not one single thing — a timeout or network hiccup is transient and worth one retry, while an authorization rejection points to an invalid or expired credential that retrying will not fix. Use that distinction to decide whether to re-run the test or go correct the configuration.
| Outcome | What it tells you | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Pass | Credentials authenticated and the endpoint responded | Proceed |
| Transient failure (timeout or network) | A temporary problem, not the credential itself | Retry once |
| Authorization failure | The credential is invalid or expired | Fix the configuration; do not keep retrying |
Example
You paste a new API key into a provider row and run the test. A timed-out endpoint may earn one bounded, slightly longer retry before RankGear gives up. An authorization failure, by contrast, stops immediately and does not fire repeated paid calls — so a wrong key costs you a single check, not a burst of billed requests.
Important considerations
- Credentials and remote publishing targets deserve care: a connection test should be read-only wherever the provider allows it, so the check never changes or publishes anything.
- Secrets stay redacted in the status and diagnostics output — the test reports success or failure, never the key itself.
- Some providers bill for the test request; RankGear states whether a given check may be billable before you incur it.
- A pass confirms the credential authenticates right now; it is not a guarantee of provider uptime or remaining quota for a later full run.
Related terms
Part of the RankGear glossary · how RankGear measures · the 870 factors.