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Is there a specific rule for what bumps count? I read in another post where someone was cautioned about using Watch List since that could eat up the allocated counts. I suspect my light usage would seldom approach 500/month but would like to understand a bit more.

I'm guessing that count is only incremented when the 'group' from an internet search is revealed. Certainly if you queue something for download from the search results it's revealed.

Perhaps anytime a search result gets funneled into a Watch List the group has to be revealed - bumping the count? If so, then when I tested search against my current (extensive) Filter Profile that returned 160 matches in the past week, that would cost 160 counts IF I had a Watch List based on that Profile Filter?

The Internet Search counter gets incremented any time results are returned from a normal search (not watch list search). When you are performing manual searches, we do not count any searches that return "No Results". Whether you queue search results for download or not has no bearing on the counter. So we don't count files downloaded, we are counting searches.

For watch lists, we count for every hit whether results are returned or not. That's why we encourage watch list users to get an unlimited search subscription so they don't have to worry about it. You can configure watches to only check a couple of times a day if you want to stay with the "Standard" subscription of 500 searches per month.

"we are counting searches"

"Searches", or results returned from search? So the count is +1 each time I click search AND get results - regardless of the 'number' of results returned?

Suppose I use a Group Folder & Filter Profile once a week and last week got 160 matches. That would count as 160 searches - or just one search?

One click = one search. We do not count the number of results per query, we only count search queries that actually return results.