401 on auth - use the dashboard API password, not your login password

TL;DR

When DataForSEO returns a bare 401, check which password you used. The API wants the dedicated API password shown in the dashboard, not the password you log into the website with - using the login password fails silently with 401 and no useful message.

Steps

1. When DataForSEO returns a bare 401, check which password you used. The API wants the dedicated API password shown in the dashboard, not the password you log into the website with - using the login password fails silently with 401 and no useful message. Also note the free Sandbox returns mock data for wiring tests; only the $1 trial and production return real SERP data.

When to use

You are seeing this: When DataForSEO returns a bare 401, check which password you used. Use this skill when you run into "401 on auth - use the dashboard API password, not your login password".

When not to use

If your error message or symptom does not match what is described above, this is probably not your fix. Search for your exact error text instead of forcing this one to fit.

Versions

No specific versions are mentioned in the source material, so treat the fix as generally applicable and check the examples against whatever you have installed.

Why this happens

The original report does not dig into a root cause. It documents the symptom and the fix that resolved it.

Edge cases

• Also note the free Sandbox returns mock data for wiring tests; only the $1 trial and production return real SERP data.

Source: DataForSEO field notes (market-intel tools reference): auth is HTTP Basic with your account login as the username and the API password from the dashboard - NOT your account login password. Pasting the account password fails with an unhelpful HTTP 401.

Verified resolution: When DataForSEO returns a bare 401, check which password you used. The API wants the dedicated API password shown in the dashboard, not the password you log into the website with - using the login password fails silently with 401 and no useful message. Also note the free Sandbox returns mock data for wiring tests; only the $1 trial and production return real SERP data.

Source URL: https://github.com/daizedong/market-intel/blob/HEAD/skills/market-intel/reference/tools/dataforseo.md