Most problems come down to three things: Chrome is closed, an engine wants you to sign in or verify, or an engine changed its page. Find your symptom below.
The AEOmeter icon shows a red "!"
A check stopped and needs you. While things run normally, the icon shows progress such as 3/8 instead.
- 1
Click the AEOmeter icon
The popup shows the engine, the prompt and the reason, for example a sign-in page or a verification check.
- 2
Click Show tab
Fix it yourself in that tab: sign in, complete the verification, or wait out a usage limit.
- 3
Click Resume
The check continues where it stopped. If you would rather drop it, click Skip check.
In the dashboard, the same check shows as Needs attention with "Resume it from the AEOmeter icon in Chrome, or cancel."
Sign-in walls, verification and usage limits
AEOmeter stops at any sign-in wall, CAPTCHA, verification page or usage limit. It never tries to get around them and never handles your credentials.
- If a check failed with "Sign in to Claude in Chrome, then run the check again" (or another engine), sign in to that engine in the Chrome profile where the extension is installed, then start another run. Failing that one check keeps the other engines moving.
- Repeated verification pages usually mean an engine is suspicious of the session. Sign in fresh in a normal tab, use the engine once by hand, then run again.
- Usage limits come from your plan on that engine. Run fewer prompts per day or wait for the limit to reset.
Chrome says AEOmeter "started debugging this browser"
This is expected. The extension uses Chrome's debugger to type into the AI engines in background tabs, and Chrome shows this banner whenever an extension does that. It appears while checks run.
Clicking Cancel on the banner pauses the run. Nothing is lost. Open the AEOmeter popup and click Resume to continue.
A check failed
A failed check is never counted as a brand miss. It is left out of every rate. Common reasons:
| Reason | What to do |
|---|---|
| No finished answer within 10 minutes | Run it again. If it keeps happening on one engine, the engine may have changed its page. |
| The engine replied with an error instead of an answer | Open the engine yourself to see whether it is having problems, then run again later. |
| Sign-in required | Sign in to that engine in the same Chrome profile, then run again. |
| The tab was closed after the prompt was sent | Run it again. A check closed before sending reopens by itself. |
| Chrome or the extension restarted mid-answer | Run it again. A prompt that was already sent is never sent a second time. |
How to retry
AEOmeter does not resend failed checks on its own. To retry, create another run: click Run now on the Overview, or open the prompt and use Run all now or Run on one engine. Each retry opens a fresh tab and a fresh conversation.
"No AI Overview shown"
Google ran the search and showed results without an AI Overview. This is a normal outcome. Google shows AI Overviews for some searches and not others, and it can vary by day, location and wording. Before deciding, the check waits about 20 seconds and scrolls through the results, because some overviews load lower on the page.
These checks are excluded from rates, never counted as misses. If a prompt never gets an AI Overview, try wording it the way people search, for example "best crm for freelancers" rather than a long conversational question.
Sources are missing or incomplete
- Claude often answers in prose with no sources. An answer without links is a real result.
- ChatGPT can group several sources behind one pill. When AEOmeter cannot read every grouped source, the answer is marked as having incomplete source coverage and keeps the sources it found.
- Inline links inside the answer text are saved with the answer but are not counted as citations. See citations vs inline links.
- If your own site never shows as cited, check that its domain is listed for your brand in Brand & competitors.
Extension status: not installed, offline, paused
| Status in the dashboard | Meaning | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Extension not installed | No browser has connected to this organization. | Use Add to Chrome on the Overview, then click Connect. |
| Extension offline | A connected browser has not checked in recently, usually because Chrome is closed. | Open Chrome. Queued checks start once it reconnects. |
| Extension paused | Chrome is open but collection is paused. | Click the AEOmeter icon in Chrome and choose Resume. |
| Extension ready | Chrome is open, connected and collecting. | Nothing. Checks run while Chrome stays open. |
If the popup says "N answers waiting to upload", answers were saved in Chrome but not sent yet, often because you were offline. Click Retry in the popup.
Daily checks did not run
- Scheduled checks only run while Chrome is open and connected. If your computer was asleep at the scheduled time, the checks wait in the queue and run once Chrome is back.
- A check marked Skipped (newer run) was replaced by a newer run before it started, so you do not get duplicate answers.
- The dashboard shows the next scheduled time and the last actual capture separately. If the last capture is old, Chrome has not been available.
- Pick a schedule time when your computer is usually on.
Pause, Resume and Skip check
| Button in the popup | What it does |
|---|---|
| Pause | Stops new checks. An answer already generating on the engine is not cancelled. |
| Resume | Continues the paused check, or turns collection back on. |
| Skip check | Gives up on the paused checks so the queue can move on. They show as cancelled. |
| Show tab | Brings the running check's tab to the front so you can see or fix it. |
You can also cancel queued checks from Engines & schedule in the dashboard, one at a time or all at once. Checks that already started are not cancelled this way.
If the popup says a check from another account is unfinished, someone else used this browser with a different AEOmeter account. Click Cancel check to continue with yours.
Still stuck?
Email [email protected] with the engine, the prompt, roughly when it happened and what the popup said. A screenshot helps. Never send passwords or account tokens.
Questions
Will AEOmeter solve CAPTCHAs for me?
No. It stops and waits for you. Verification pages and CAPTCHAs are never bypassed.
Can a prompt be sent twice by accident?
No. A check interrupted before sending starts over in a fresh tab. One interrupted after sending fails instead of sending again.
Do failed checks lower my Visibility?
No. Failed, blocked and "no AI Overview" checks are excluded from the denominator. See the methodology.
