Troubleshooting: Scanning, Reprocessing & Knowledge Graph

🛠️ OTTO Crashes, Lost Pages, and ROI Discrepancies Explained

🔍 Overview Some customers have noticed a significant drop in Flawless Pages, unexpected changes in OTTO ROI figures, and lost keyword or meta optimizations after experiencing an OTTO crash or site error. This article explains why these issues occur, what triggers them, and the steps you can take to recover and prevent further data loss. ⚠️ Why OTTO Crashes Can Cause Page and ROI Drops OTTO continuously crawls and applies optimizations to your site. When a critical error occurs during a crawl cycle — such as a failed URL status check, a gateway rewrite error, or a site getting stuck in a reprocess state — OTTO may do one or more of the following: - Roll back previously applied meta data and keyword optimizations to a safe state, causing Flawless Page counts to drop. - Fail to generate new suggestions because URLs could not be connected or crawled successfully. - Convert successful page responses (200) to errors (500) if the OTTO gateway encounters an API fault, which can trigger de-indexing in Google Search Console. - Lose canonical URL settings on render paths where OTTO exited unexpectedly. These behaviors are built-in safety mechanisms, but they can have a visible and frustrating impact on your reported metrics. 📊 Why Page Counts and ROI Figures Fluctuate OTTO ROI and Flawless Page counts are calculated dynamically each time OTTO scans your site. If your site experienced a crash and then a partial recovery, you may see figures jump between values (for example, 382 pages one day and 275 the next, or ROI shifting from $165K to $105K) for the following reasons: - Recrawls re-evaluate every page from scratch. Pages that were previously counted as Flawless may no longer meet all criteria if optimizations were rolled back. - Credits spent during the crash period may not be reflected in recovered data. If OTTO applied fixes that were later rolled back due to an error, those pages lose their Flawless status even though credits were consumed. - ROI is tied directly to Flawless Page count. As the number of optimized pages changes, the estimated ROI recalculates automatically. There is no manual override — the figure always reflects the current state of your site. - Indexing delays from Google can cause further discrepancies between what OTTO reports and what is visible in Google Search Console. 🚀 How to Check Your Current OTTO Status 1. Go to Left sidebar → OTTO SEO → Overview to see your current Flawless Pages count and OTTO ROI figure. 2. Navigate to Left sidebar → OTTO SEO → All Audits to review any recent audit findings and identify pages that lost their Flawless status. 3. Check Left sidebar → OTTO SEO → Crawl Monitoring to see if any crawl errors or stuck states are currently active on your site. 4. If your site shows a status that appears frozen or unresponsive, go to Left sidebar → OTTO SEO → All Sites and use the Scan action to trigger a fresh crawl. 🛠️ Steps to Recover Lost Optimizations 1. Trigger a new scan. Go to Left sidebar → OTTO SEO → All Sites and select Scan next to your affected site. This forces OTTO to re-evaluate all pages and re-apply eligible optimizations. 2. Review rolled-back pages. In Left sidebar → OTTO SEO → All Audits, filter for pages that previously had optimizations and now show issues. Re-apply fixes manually where needed. 3. Check canonical URLs. If OTTO exited unexpectedly on certain render paths, canonical tags may be missing. Confirm canonical settings are correctly applied on affected pages after the next crawl completes. 4. Monitor Google Search Console. If any URLs returned 500 errors during the crash window, check GSC to confirm those URLs are being re-indexed. It may take several days for Google to re-crawl and restore rankings. 5. Avoid re-processing during active errors. If OTTO is still showing crawl failures, wait for the current scan to complete or contact support before running additional scans, as overlapping processes can compound data loss. 💡 How to Prevent This in the Future - Use the Freeze feature cautiously. You can freeze sites in Left sidebar → OTTO SEO → All Sites using Freeze sites to pause automated changes if you suspect instability. - Monitor Crawl Monitoring regularly. Checking Left sidebar → OTTO SEO → Crawl Monitoring after major site changes helps you catch stuck crawl states before they escalate. - Document your baseline. Take note of your Flawless Pages count and ROI figure after each successful scan so you have a reference point if figures shift unexpectedly. 💬 Still Seeing Discrepancies? If your page counts or ROI figures continue to fluctuate after completing a fresh scan, or if you believe credits were consumed for optimizations that were subsequently rolled back without resolution, our team can investigate your specific site history. If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

🛠️ OTTO Crash, Lost Pages & ROI Discrepancy Explained

🔍 Overview Some customers have noticed a sharp drop in Flawless Pages, unexpected changes in OTTO ROI figures, or both — often following a period of site instability. This article explains the most common causes, what happened behind the scenes, and the steps you can take to stabilise and restore your results. ⚠️ Why Did My Flawless Page Count Drop So Dramatically? A sudden drop in Flawless Pages (for example, from 600+ down to 96) is almost always caused by one or more of the following technical events: - OTTO recrawl crash: A known bug caused OTTO's recrawl process to crash when it encountered pages with a NULL status code. This halted suggestion generation and left affected URLs in an unresolved state. - Meta data rollback: In some cases OTTO rolled back previously applied meta data and keyword optimisations, causing pages that were previously counted as Flawless to lose their optimised status. - 500 errors introduced by OTTO Gateway: A Metasync/OTTO Gateway issue rewrote valid 200 responses as 500 (API_ERROR) on certain URLs. Google Search Console began de-indexing those pages, removing them from the Flawless count. - Lost canonical tags: A rendering issue caused OTTO to drop canonical URLs on specific render paths, which can cause Google to treat pages as duplicate or unverified, reducing the Flawless count. - Site stuck in manual reprocess state: If OTTO got stuck reprocessing your site, new optimisations could not be applied and previously counted pages reverted to an unoptimised state. Credits spent on pages that were later affected by these bugs are a legitimate concern. Please escalate through the chat widget (instructions at the bottom of this article) so our team can review your account and arrange any appropriate credit adjustment. 📊 Why Are My OTTO ROI Figures Changing (e.g. $165K → $105K)? OTTO ROI is a dynamic, recalculated estimate — it is not locked in at the moment optimisations are applied. The figure changes whenever: - The underlying page count changes (e.g. pages drop from Flawless back to Needs Work after a rollback or error). - Keyword ranking data refreshes from Google Search Console or our crawler, updating traffic and value assumptions. - Pages are de-indexed by Google following server errors (500s), reducing the estimated organic value OTTO can claim. - OTTO re-scans your site and discovers pages that were previously miscounted or skipped due to the NULL status-code crash. This means a drop from $165K to $105K does not necessarily mean $60K of real revenue was lost — it reflects a corrected calculation after page or ranking data changed. Once underlying issues are resolved and pages return to Flawless status, the ROI figure will recover accordingly. 🚀 Steps to Stabilise OTTO and Recover Your Pages 1. Run a fresh scan: Go to Left sidebar → OTTO SEO → All Sites and click Scan next to your site. This forces OTTO to recrawl with the latest fixes applied and clears stale NULL status-code entries. 2. Check for stuck reprocessing: In Left sidebar → OTTO SEO → Overview, confirm your site does not show a Processing or Pending status badge. If it does, contact support immediately via the chat widget. 3. Review the All Audits log: Navigate to Left sidebar → OTTO SEO → All Audits to see a history of changes OTTO applied or rolled back. This helps you identify which pages lost their optimisations and when. 4. Check Crawl Monitoring for 500 errors: Go to Left sidebar → OTTO SEO → Crawl Monitoring and filter by 5xx status codes. Any URLs showing 500 errors should be flagged to support so the Gateway rewrite issue can be investigated for your domain. 5. Re-apply optimisations to reverted pages: Once the scan completes and no errors remain, OTTO will automatically re-suggest optimisations for pages that were rolled back. Apply them to restore your Flawless count. 6. Monitor GSC re-indexing: After 500 errors are resolved, Google typically re-crawls and re-indexes affected pages within 1–4 weeks. Your ROI figure will rise again as those pages return to the index. 💡 How to Prevent This From Happening Again - Keep a staging environment key active if your site uses custom render paths — this prevents OTTO from bailing out and dropping canonicals mid-render. - Do not freeze and unfreeze OTTO rapidly during active reprocessing, as this can trigger the stuck-state bug. - Check Crawl Monitoring weekly for any spike in 4xx or 5xx errors so you can catch gateway issues before Google de-indexes pages. - Review the All Audits log after every OTTO scan to confirm optimisations were applied and not rolled back. 🙋 Still Seeing Discrepancies? If your page count or ROI figures continue to fluctuate after following the steps above, or if you believe credits were unfairly consumed during a crash event, our support team can manually audit your account history and arrange corrections. If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

🔄 Locate and Use OTTO's Manual Reprocess Button

🧭 What Is the Manual Reprocess Button? The manual reprocess button is a dedicated control inside your OTTO project that lets you trigger a fresh analysis of your site's SEO data on demand. It is not the same as the Recrawl Site option in Site Auditor, and it is separate from OTTO's standard crawl feature. If a support tool or article pointed you toward either of those, this article will guide you to the correct button. 📍 Where to Find the Manual Reprocess Button 1. Log in to Search Atlas and click OTTO SEO in the left sidebar, then open All Sites (SEO Automation) inside it. This opens the OTTO dashboard at /seo-automation-v3. 2. Select the OTTO project you want to reprocess from your project list. 3. Once inside the project (OTTO Grader), scroll to the Recommendations section and look for the manual reprocess button. 4. Click the button to trigger reprocessing for that project. ⏱️ Cooldown Period — Important Timing Rule OTTO enforces a mandatory 1-hour cooldown between manual reprocess actions. If you click the button and nothing happens, or the button appears inactive, it means a reprocess was already triggered within the last 60 minutes. You must wait for the full hour to pass before the button becomes available again. - The cooldown applies per project, not per account. - Automated reprocessing that OTTO runs on its own also counts toward the cooldown timer. - There is no way to override or skip the cooldown period. 🔍 Manual Reprocess vs. Other Crawl Features It is easy to confuse similar-sounding features in Search Atlas. Here is a quick comparison to help you use the right tool: - Manual Reprocess (OTTO project) — Re-analyzes your site's SEO data within your active OTTO project. Use this when you want OTTO to reflect recent changes you have made to your site. - Recrawl Site (Site Auditor) — Initiates a new technical crawl of your website inside the Site Auditor tool. This updates audit data such as broken links, missing tags, and page errors, but does not trigger OTTO reprocessing. - OTTO Crawl — A background crawl that OTTO manages automatically as part of its ongoing optimization cycle. This runs on its own schedule and is separate from the on-demand manual reprocess. ✅ When to Use Manual Reprocessing Trigger a manual reprocess when: - You have recently published or updated pages and want OTTO to recognize those changes immediately. - You deployed new meta titles, descriptions, or structured data and want OTTO's recommendations to reflect the current state of your site. - OTTO's displayed data seems out of sync with your live site content. 🛠️ Troubleshooting - Button is greyed out or unclickable — The 1-hour cooldown is still active. Check when the last reprocess was triggered and wait until 60 minutes have passed. - Button is not visible — Confirm you are inside an OTTO project, not on the Site Auditor or another tool. Navigate to OTTO SEO in the left sidebar, open All Sites (SEO Automation), and re-enter your project. - Reprocessing completed but data looks unchanged — Allow a few minutes for the updated data to fully load. Refresh the page after 2–3 minutes to see the latest results. If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

🔄 Understanding OTTO's Weekly Analysis and Recommendation Refresh

🤔 Why Did My Optimizations Disappear? If you noticed that some of your AI-generated recommendations from last week are no longer visible — or that previously completed optimizations appear to need redoing — this is expected behavior. OTTO runs a weekly analysis cycle that refreshes its recommendations based on the latest data from your site, search engine signals, and competitive landscape. This refresh ensures that OTTO's suggestions always reflect current SEO conditions rather than outdated information. However, it also means that recommendations generated in one cycle may be replaced or updated in the next. ⚙️ How the Weekly Analysis Cycle Works Each week, OTTO automatically re-crawls your connected site and re-evaluates all SEO factors. Here is what happens during each cycle: 1. OTTO scans your site for new technical issues, content gaps, and on-page opportunities. 2. It compares your current performance against updated keyword data and competitor signals. 3. A fresh set of recommendations is generated to reflect these findings. 4. Recommendations that were resolved or no longer relevant may be removed; new ones may appear. Because the analysis starts fresh each week, recommendations that were generated but not yet applied may no longer appear in the new cycle if OTTO determines they are no longer the highest priority or if the underlying data has changed. ✅ The Difference Between Applied and Unapplied Changes This is the most important distinction to understand: - Applied changes — most optimizations are served through the OTTO pixel script at page load, so if the pixel is removed or the OTTO project is deleted, those pixel-served changes will stop showing on the site. Changes that were written directly into the site's CMS (for example through the WordPress plugin) can remain. - Unapplied recommendations — suggestions that were generated but not yet acted on may be refreshed, updated, or replaced during the next weekly cycle. If you saw optimizations disappear that you believed were already applied, it is worth verifying directly on your site or CMS that those changes were successfully saved and published. 🛠️ How to Access OTTO and Review Current Recommendations To review your latest OTTO recommendations and take action before the next weekly refresh: 1. In the left sidebar, click OTTO SEO, then open All Sites (SEO Automation). 2. Select the site you want to manage. 3. Review your current recommendations across all categories — Content, Authority, and Technical. 4. Apply any high-priority changes promptly to ensure they are deployed before the next analysis cycle runs. 💡 Best Practices to Avoid Losing Progress Follow these habits to stay on top of OTTO's weekly refresh without losing work: - Act on recommendations within the same week they are generated to ensure they are applied before the cycle resets. - Prioritize high-impact suggestions first. If you cannot action everything in one session, focus on the items flagged as critical or high priority. - Confirm each change is fully applied before closing your session. Look for confirmation indicators within the OTTO interface that a recommendation has been accepted and deployed. - Check in at least once per week to stay current with the latest analysis results and catch any new issues as they arise. 📊 Why Weekly Regeneration Is a Feature, Not a Bug SEO is not a one-time task — search engine algorithms, competitor strategies, and your own site content change constantly. OTTO's weekly regeneration cycle is designed to keep your optimization roadmap accurate, relevant, and prioritized at all times. Older, lower-impact suggestions are replaced with fresher, higher-value opportunities so that every recommendation you see is worth acting on. Think of each weekly cycle as receiving a new, up-to-date SEO audit rather than a static list that grows stale over time. 💬 Still Have Questions? If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

🔍 OTTO Scan Pending Tasks Troubleshooting Guide

🧭 Overview After running an OTTO scan, some tasks may remain in a Pending status instead of completing automatically. This can happen for a variety of reasons related to your site setup, content, or permissions. This guide explains what to do if tasks stay pending and what to prepare when escalating to our support team. ❓ Why Do Tasks Stay Pending After an OTTO Scan? OTTO automates SEO fixes across your site, but certain conditions can prevent tasks from moving out of a pending state. Possible reasons include: - Missing images or missing alt text: OTTO may flag images that lack alt text, but completing these fixes may require manual input in your CMS before the task can be resolved. - CMS permission restrictions: OTTO may not have sufficient access rights to write changes directly to your content management system, which can block automatic deployment. - Unsupported page types: Certain page templates, dynamically generated pages, or password-protected content may not be compatible with OTTO's automated deployment. 🖼️ Resolving Pending Tasks for Missing Images and Alt Text If OTTO has flagged image or alt text tasks as pending, these typically require manual action in your CMS. General steps to resolve them include: 1. Review your OTTO task list to identify which tasks are in a pending state and note the affected URLs. 2. Go to the affected page in your CMS and locate the image flagged by OTTO. 3. Add a descriptive, keyword-relevant alt text value to the image. 4. Save and publish the change in your CMS. 5. Return to OTTO and re-run the scan for that URL to check whether the fix has been detected. Repeat this process for each pending image or alt text task. If tasks remain pending after completing these steps, escalate to our support team as described below. 🚫 Manual Deployment Failures: What to Prepare for Support If tasks continue to fail or return to a pending status after your attempts to resolve them, our support team will need to investigate on the backend. To help us assist you as quickly as possible, please have the following ready before reaching out: - Your project name and the domain associated with the OTTO scan. - The specific task names or URLs that remain in a pending or failed state. - Any exact error messages displayed when you attempt manual deployment. - The date and approximate time the scan was run or the failure occurred. - Details about your CMS, any active SEO plugins, or third-party tools that may interact with OTTO. If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

🔄 OTTO Re-Scanning After Knowledge Graph Updates

🔍 Overview When you update your Knowledge Graph in Search Atlas, OTTO needs to re-evaluate your site to generate fresh recommendations based on the new information. This article explains exactly how that process works, what happens automatically, and when you need to take manual action. ⚙️ How OTTO Re-Scanning Works OTTO does not automatically re-scan your site on a daily schedule after a Knowledge Graph update. Instead, re-scanning is triggered manually by you whenever you are ready to apply updated recommendations. This gives you full control over when OTTO processes your latest Knowledge Graph data — so you are never caught off guard by unexpected changes to your recommendations. Here is what the process looks like from start to finish: 1. Update your Knowledge Graph — Add, edit, or remove entities, relationships, or attributes inside your Knowledge Graph. 2. Navigate to OTTO — In the left sidebar, go to OTTO SEO, then open All Sites (SEO Automation) (URL: /seo-automation-v3). 3. Trigger a manual re-scan — Initiate a new scan from within the OTTO dashboard. OTTO will pull in your latest Knowledge Graph data and regenerate recommendations accordingly. 4. Review updated recommendations — Once the scan completes, your recommendations will reflect all changes made to the Knowledge Graph. 💡 Why Manual Triggering Instead of Automatic? Manual triggering is intentional by design. Here is why this approach benefits you: - You stay in control. Knowledge Graph updates can be incremental — you may make several edits over a few days before you are ready to push them into your SEO recommendations. Manual triggering lets you batch those changes. - No unexpected recommendation shifts. Automatic daily re-scans could alter your active recommendations without warning. Manual control means changes only happen when you decide. - Predictable workflow. You can align re-scans with your content or publishing schedule rather than relying on a background process. 🛠️ Step-by-Step: Triggering a Re-Scan After a Knowledge Graph Update 1. Finish all edits to your Knowledge Graph before triggering a scan — this ensures OTTO processes your complete set of changes in one pass. 2. In the left sidebar, click OTTO SEO, then open All Sites (SEO Automation) (/seo-automation-v3). 3. Locate the site or project you want to re-scan. 4. Click the Scan (or Run diagnostics) button for that project. 5. Wait for the scan to complete — scan time varies depending on site size. 6. Review your new recommendations and deploy or approve any changes as needed. 📊 What Changes After a Re-Scan? After OTTO completes a re-scan using your updated Knowledge Graph, you can expect the following to refresh: - On-page recommendations — Titles, meta descriptions, headings, and body content suggestions updated to reflect new entities and relationships. - Schema markup suggestions — Structured data recommendations aligned with your revised Knowledge Graph. - Internal linking opportunities — New or adjusted link suggestions based on updated topic clusters. - Content gap insights — Any new gaps identified from additional Knowledge Graph entities. ✅ Best Practices - Make all Knowledge Graph edits before triggering a re-scan to avoid running multiple scans unnecessarily. - Re-scan after any significant Knowledge Graph update — adding new core entities, restructuring relationships, or changing your primary topic focus. - For minor edits (fixing a typo, small attribute update), you can batch several small changes together and re-scan once. - Keep a note of what you changed in the Knowledge Graph each time so you can verify the updated recommendations make sense. 💬 Need More Help? If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

🔄 Refresh OTTO Analysis After Site Migration

🗺️ Overview When you migrate your site to a new build — even if the URLs remain the same — OTTO needs to re-analyse the updated pages before it can deliver accurate recommendations. This article explains how to trigger a fresh OTTO analysis and how OTTO handles 301 redirects after a migration. 🧭 How to Trigger a Fresh OTTO Analysis After completing your site migration and confirming that your 301 redirects are live, navigate to OTTO SEO → All Sites (SEO Automation) in your Search Atlas account and trigger a new analysis for the relevant site. OTTO will begin crawling your site and refreshing all audit data based on the current state of your pages. Depending on your site size, this process may take some time, and the dashboard will update when it is complete. Once the analysis is complete, OTTO's task list and recommendations will reflect your migrated site's current content and structure. ⏱️ How Long Does It Take for OTTO to Recognise 301 Redirects? OTTO does not automatically detect 301 redirects in real time. Recognition happens when a new crawl is triggered manually. Here is what to expect: - Immediate effect: Triggering a new analysis right after migration starts a fresh crawl that takes your current 301 redirects into account. - Previous suggestions: OTTO may retain audit items tied to old page states until the new analysis completes. Once the run finishes, outdated suggestions are replaced with findings based on the redirected and migrated pages. ✅ Best Practices Before Running the Analysis To get the most accurate results from OTTO after a migration, confirm the following before triggering a new analysis: - All redirects are correctly implemented and live. - The migrated site is fully accessible — not behind a staging password or maintenance mode. If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

🔄 OTTO Automatic Re-Scanning After Knowledge Graph Updates

🤖 How OTTO Handles Knowledge Graph Updates If you're unsure whether OTTO automatically re-scans your site after a Knowledge Graph update — or whether a manual trigger is needed — this behavior has not been fully confirmed through our support documentation. The specifics of how OTTO responds to Knowledge Graph changes (automatic vs. manual re-scan) may vary, and the Search Atlas team is best placed to clarify the current behavior for your account and project setup. 📋 What to Do If You've Updated Your Knowledge Graph If you've recently made changes to your Knowledge Graph (such as adding business details, updating entity relationships, or refining brand information) and you're not seeing updated recommendations in OTTO, gather the following information before reaching out so our team can investigate and assist you quickly: - Project name: The name of the website project in your Search Atlas account where OTTO is active. - Description of the Knowledge Graph change: What you updated (e.g., added a new entity, changed business information). - Approximate time of the change: When the Knowledge Graph update was made. - Current state of recommendations: What you currently see in OTTO's recommendations and what you expected to see instead. Having these details ready will allow our support team to identify what happened, confirm the expected behavior, and help you get OTTO reflecting your latest Knowledge Graph data as quickly as possible. If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

🔄 Fix OTTO Scan Pending Tasks Redirect Loop

🔍 What Is This Issue? Some customers find themselves stuck in a loop where OTTO SEO repeatedly redirects them to a pending tasks page. No matter which section of the platform they try to access, they are sent back to the same pending tasks screen and cannot navigate away. This article explains what to do right now and when to escalate. ⚠️ Why This Happens This appears to be an internal issue within the OTTO scan process where pending tasks become unresolved and the platform continues routing you back to the pending tasks screen. The exact root cause requires investigation by our technical team on the backend. 🛠️ Steps to Try First 1. Hard-refresh the platform. Press Ctrl + Shift + R (Windows/Linux) or Cmd + Shift + R (Mac) to clear the cached state and reload the page. 2. Wait 20–30 minutes and try again. Some scan tasks are processed asynchronously. Giving the process time to complete may allow the loop to resolve on its own. 3. Clear browser cookies and cache for the platform domain. A stale session can sometimes persist the redirect state. Clear your browser data, log back in, and return to OTTO SEO. 📋 When to Escalate If the steps above do not resolve the issue, this will require backend investigation by our support team. Please have the following information ready before reaching out: - The name of the project or site affected - A description of the pending tasks shown (e.g. the number and type of tasks listed) - The approximate time the loop started - Any actions you took in OTTO SEO immediately before the issue began If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

🔧 Fix OTTO Automatic SEO Updates Not Running

🧭 Overview If OTTO's automatic SEO updates are not running on your WordPress site, the issue is usually caused by one of four root causes: a broken plugin connection, a conflicting cache or security plugin, a misconfigured OTTO activation, or a WordPress cron failure. This article walks you through each diagnostic layer so you can pinpoint and fix the problem without needing to escalate. ✅ Before You Begin: Confirm Your Setup Baseline Answer the following questions before proceeding. Your answers will point you to the correct section below. - Is the Search Atlas plugin installed, activated, and showing a Connected status in WordPress → Search Atlas? - Does the OTTO dashboard in Search Atlas (left sidebar → OTTO SEO → SEO Automation) show any recent activity or a last-run timestamp? - Are there any error messages visible in WordPress → Search Atlas or in your browser console? - Which cache plugin are you using (e.g., WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache, LiteSpeed Cache, none)? - Do you have a security or firewall plugin active (e.g., Wordfence, Cloudflare, Sucuri)? Keep your answers handy as you work through the steps below. 🔌 Step 1: Verify the Plugin Connection to Search Atlas 1. In your WordPress admin panel, go to Plugins → Installed Plugins and confirm Search Atlas SEO is active. 2. Go to WordPress admin → Search Atlas → Settings and check that your API key is entered and the status reads Connected. 3. If the status shows Disconnected or blank, copy your API key from Search Atlas (left sidebar → OTTO SEO → SEO Automation, then navigate to your account settings) and re-paste it into the plugin settings field. 4. Click Save Changes, then refresh the page to confirm the connection status updates to Connected. 5. If the connection still fails after re-entering the key, deactivate the plugin, delete it, reinstall it fresh from the WordPress plugin directory or your Search Atlas dashboard download link, and re-enter the API key. 🤖 Step 2: Check OTTO Activation and Dashboard Activity 1. Log in to Search Atlas and navigate to left sidebar → OTTO SEO → SEO Automation. 2. Confirm that OTTO is toggled on for your target site. A grey or paused indicator means OTTO is not actively processing updates. 3. Review the activity log or last-run timestamp. If OTTO shows no activity in the past 24 hours despite being enabled, the issue is likely a delivery problem between Search Atlas and your WordPress site — not an OTTO configuration issue. 4. Check whether specific update categories (meta tags, schema, internal links) are individually enabled. Each category can be toggled independently; confirm all desired categories are active. 5. If OTTO was recently activated, allow up to 30 minutes for the first batch of updates to be pushed to the plugin. 🚫 Step 3: Identify and Resolve Cache or Security Plugin Conflicts Cache and security plugins are the most common cause of OTTO updates being blocked or silently discarded after delivery. 1. Disable your cache plugin entirely (not just clear the cache) and then trigger a manual OTTO update from the Search Atlas dashboard. Check whether the update appears on your site. 2. If the update goes through with the cache plugin disabled, the cache plugin is intercepting requests. Configure it to exclude the Search Atlas plugin endpoint from caching rules. Refer to your cache plugin's documentation for REST API exclusion settings. 3. If you use WP Rocket, go to WP Rocket → Advanced Rules and add /wp-json/search-atlas/ to the Never Cache URL(s) field. 4. If you use LiteSpeed Cache, go to LiteSpeed Cache → Excludes and add the Search Atlas REST route to the exclusion list. 5. For Wordfence or Cloudflare, check the firewall activity log for any blocked requests originating from Search Atlas IP ranges. Whitelist those IPs or create a firewall rule to allow the REST API calls through. ⏱️ Step 4: Diagnose WordPress Cron Failures OTTO relies on WordPress cron (WP-Cron) to schedule and execute updates on your server. If WP-Cron is broken or disabled, updates will queue but never run. 1. Install and activate the free WP Crontrol plugin from the WordPress plugin directory. 2. Go to Tools → Cron Events and look for any Search Atlas or OTTO-related cron events. Confirm they are scheduled and not overdue by hours or days. 3. If no Search Atlas cron events appear, deactivate and reactivate the Search Atlas plugin to re-register the scheduled events. 4. Check whether DISABLE_WP_CRON is set to true in your wp-config.php file. If it is, your host requires a real server cron job. Contact your hosting provider to set up a server-level cron that calls wp-cron.php every 5 minutes. 5. On high-traffic or managed WordPress hosts (e.g., WP Engine, Kinsta), WP-Cron is often replaced by a system cron automatically. Confirm with your host that scheduled tasks are running correctly. 🔍 Step 5: Collect Error Details for Faster Resolution If the steps above do not resolve the issue, gather the following information before contacting support. This prevents unnecessary back-and-forth and gets you to a resolution faster. - Screenshot of the OTTO dashboard in Search Atlas (left sidebar → OTTO SEO → SEO Automation) showing current status and last activity. - Any error messages from WordPress admin → Search Atlas or your browser's developer console (press F12 → Console tab). - Name and version of your cache plugin and any active security plugins. - Your WordPress version and PHP version (found in WordPress admin → Tools → Site Health → Info). - Whether DISABLE_WP_CRON is present in your wp-config.php. - A list of troubleshooting steps you have already attempted. 💬 Need More Help? If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

🔄 Manual Reprocess in OTTO: What It Does, Where to Find It, and When to Use It

The Manual reprocess action in OTTO allows you to manually trigger a reprocessing of your OTTO project. This option is useful only when significant changes are made to your site and you want OTTO to reprocess the project before the next automatic cycle. This article explains: - Where to find Manual reprocess - What it does (and does not do) - Usage limits - When escalation is not required 📍 Navigation Path Search Atlas → OTTO SEO → OTTO SEO → All Sites → Select a website → Recommendations → Manual reprocess 🧭 Where to Find Manual Reprocess (UI Location) The Manual reprocess button appears: - Inside the OTTO SEO module - After selecting a specific site - Within the Recommendations section - At the top of the recommendations panel - Positioned next to the section title “Recommendations” 📝 Official Description Hovering over the button displays the following tooltip: “Click to manually reprocess your OTTO project. This action is useful when significant changes are made to your site. It can be triggered once every 24 hours.” ⚙️ What Manual Reprocess Does 1. Triggers a manual reprocessing of the selected OTTO project 2. Re-evaluates the project after significant site changes 3. Applies only to OTTO 4. Does not affect other Search Atlas tools ⏱️ Usage Limits and Cooldown 1. Manual reprocess can be triggered once every 24 hours 2. If the button was already used: - It cannot be triggered again until the 24-hour window has passed 3. This cooldown is expected behavior ❓ FAQs ❓ When should I use Manual Reprocess? When significant changes are made to your site, as stated in the tooltip. ❓ Why can’t I click Manual Reprocess again? The action is limited to once every 24 hours. ❓ Does Manual Reprocess mean something is broken? No. It is a manual control, not an error state. ❓ Do I need to contact support if it’s on cooldown? No. Cooldown behavior is expected and does not require support. Manual reprocess is a controlled, rate-limited action designed to reprocess an OTTO project after meaningful site changes. If it has already been triggered within the last 24 hours, waiting is the correct and expected next step.

🔧 Fix OTTO v3 Location Settings Reverting to Default

What's Happening Some users have reported that their OTTO v3 company location settings revert to a default value — often a UK location — after they have previously configured them. This can cause content generated by OTTO v3 to reflect the wrong country or region. How to Fix It Follow these steps to manually correct and re-save your OTTO v3 location settings: 1. Open your OTTO v3 project. From your Search Atlas dashboard, navigate to the project where the location is reverting. 2. Go to OTTO v3 Settings. Inside the project, locate the OTTO v3 configuration or settings section. 3. Find the Company Location or Business Location field. Look for the field that controls your company's country or region. This is the field that may be reverting to an incorrect default (e.g. a UK location). 4. Set the correct location. Select or type the correct country and/or region for your business. 5. Save your changes explicitly. Make sure to click the Save (or equivalent confirmation) button after updating the field. Do not navigate away before saving. 6. Re-activate OTTO v3 if prompted. In some cases, re-deploying or re-activating OTTO v3 on the project after saving ensures the updated location is applied to future content generation. 7. Verify the change persisted. Leave the settings page, then return to it and confirm the correct location is still displayed. If the Issue Persists If your location settings continue to revert after following the steps above, the root cause may be specific to your account or project configuration. Please have the following information ready when you contact support: - The name of the project or workspace where the location settings are reverting. - The location value that keeps appearing (e.g. the incorrect default country or region). - The correct location you need the settings to reflect. - Any steps you have already taken to try to fix the issue (e.g. re-saving settings). - Approximate date and time when you first noticed the reversion. If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

🛠️ Fix OTTO v3 Company Location Reverting to Default

🔍 Why Does This Happen? OTTO v3 uses a Domain Knowledge Network (DKN) to personalise AI-generated SEO content for your business. If your company location settings appear to revert to UK defaults, it usually means the DKN company details were never fully saved, were saved under the wrong domain, or were cleared during a domain reset. Every time OTTO generates content, it pulls from these stored details — so an incomplete or missing profile will cause it to fall back on default values. 📍 Where to Find Company Location Settings Follow these steps to locate and update your company details inside OTTO v3: 1. In the left sidebar, click OTTO SEO, then open SEO Automation (URL: /seo-automation-v3). 2. Select the correct domain from the domain switcher at the top of the page. Make sure you are editing the intended domain before making any changes. 3. Navigate to the Domain Knowledge Network section within the OTTO v3 dashboard. 4. Open the Company Details or Business Information panel. 5. Locate the Location fields, including country, region, city, and address. 6. Update all fields to reflect your correct business location. 7. Click Save to confirm your changes before leaving the page. ✅ How to Confirm Your Settings Are Saved After saving, take these steps to verify that your location details are persisting correctly: - Refresh the page and reopen the Domain Knowledge Network panel to confirm the new values are displayed. - Check that the correct domain is selected in the domain switcher — settings are stored per domain, so switching domains will show different profiles. - Run a short OTTO content generation task and review the output to confirm it reflects your correct location, not UK defaults. ⚠️ Common Reasons Settings Keep Reverting If your location continues to reset after saving, check for these common causes: - Wrong domain selected: OTTO v3 stores DKN profiles per domain. If you have multiple domains, ensure you are editing and saving under the correct one. - Incomplete save: Navigating away before clicking Save will discard your changes. Always confirm the save action before leaving the panel. - Domain reset or reconnection: Reconnecting or resetting a domain can clear previously saved DKN data. After any domain reset, re-enter your company details. - Multiple users overwriting settings: If your account has multiple users, another team member may be resetting the profile. Coordinate with your team to avoid conflicting edits. 💡 Best Practices to Prevent This Issue - Complete all Company Details fields in the DKN as soon as you connect a new domain — do not leave any fields blank. - After any domain-level change (reset, reconnect, or plan change), immediately revisit the DKN and re-confirm your company location. - Designate one team member as responsible for maintaining DKN settings to avoid accidental overwrites. - Periodically spot-check your DKN profile, especially if you notice OTTO-generated content referencing unexpected locations or generic business descriptions. 🆘 Still Need Help? If you have followed all the steps above and your location settings continue to revert, or if you cannot locate the DKN company details panel, our team is ready to help. If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

🛠️ Fix OTTO AI Not Following Custom Prompt Instructions

🔍 Overview When using OTTO AI to generate content, you can provide custom prompt instructions to control tone, style, and specific rules — such as avoiding your company name or keeping output within a certain length. If OTTO appears to ignore these instructions, a few common causes are usually responsible. This article explains what to check and how to fix it. ⚠️ Common Symptoms - The AI includes your company name even after you instructed it not to. - Generated content is cut off or truncated unexpectedly. - Output does not reflect the tone, format, or restrictions you specified. - Instructions seem to apply inconsistently across different generations. 💡 Why This Happens OTTO AI processes your custom instructions alongside its built-in SEO logic. In some cases, conflicts between these two sets of rules can cause certain instructions to be deprioritised or missed entirely. The most frequent causes are: - Instruction placement: Instructions buried in long paragraphs are harder for the model to parse reliably. - Conflicting directives: Asking the AI to both maximise content length and avoid repeating certain words can create tension that leads to unpredictable output. - Vague phrasing: Ambiguous instructions such as "keep it short" leave room for interpretation. Specific word or character limits work better. - Token limits: Very long custom prompts combined with large content requests can push the total input near its processing limit, causing instructions near the end to be dropped or content to be cut off. ✅ How to Write Effective Custom Prompts Follow these best practices to ensure OTTO AI respects your instructions every time. 1. Put critical rules first. Place your most important instructions at the very beginning of the custom prompt field, before any stylistic guidance. 2. Be explicit and specific. Instead of "don't mention the company name," write: "Do not use the word [Company Name] anywhere in the output." 3. Set a clear length target. Specify an exact word count range, for example: "Write between 400 and 500 words." Avoid open-ended instructions like "keep it brief." 4. Use a list format for rules. Numbered or bulleted rules inside your prompt are easier for the model to follow than rules written as flowing prose. 5. Avoid contradictory instructions. Review your prompt for conflicting requirements before generating. For example, do not ask for comprehensive detail and a strict 200-word limit at the same time. 6. Keep the prompt concise. Aim for under 200 words in your custom instructions. Longer prompts increase the risk of critical rules being deprioritised. 🚀 Step-by-Step: Updating Your Custom Prompt in OTTO AI 1. Go to Left sidebar → OTTO SEO → SEO Automation (URL: /seo-automation-v3). 2. Open the OTTO AI generation settings for the relevant page or task. 3. Locate the Custom Instructions or Custom Prompt field. 4. Clear the existing instructions and rewrite them using the best practices above. 5. Place your exclusion rules (e.g., "Do not use [Company Name]") on the first line. 6. Add a specific word count target on the second line. 7. Save your settings and run the generation again. 8. Review the output to confirm your instructions are being followed before applying it to additional pages. 📊 Additional Tips for Consistent Results - Test with a single page first. Validate that your revised prompt works correctly before applying it in bulk. - Use the AI Content Templates tool for recurring content types. Navigate to Left sidebar → Content → AI Content Templates to save standardised prompts so you do not need to re-enter rules each time. - Check output length settings. If content is being cut off, verify that no conflicting length cap is set inside the generation options panel, separate from your custom prompt. - Regenerate if needed. If a single generation still does not comply, regenerate once more. Occasional variation is normal; persistent non-compliance points to a prompt issue. 🙋 Still Need Help? If you have followed all the steps above and OTTO AI is still not following your custom instructions, If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

🗺️ Fix Google Maps Embeds in Otto Site Setup

🔍 Overview When setting up a new Otto site with a Google Business Profile (GBP) link, you may encounter a Google Embedded Map error. This happens because Otto requires a specific iframe embed code — not a standard Google Maps URL. This article walks you through generating the correct embed code and configuring it properly in your Otto site setup. ⚠️ Why the Error Occurs Otto's site builder expects a Google Maps iframe embed code to display your location map. Common causes of the error include: - Pasting a regular Google Maps URL (e.g., https://maps.google.com/...) instead of an iframe code - Using a Google Business Profile link directly - Copying a shortened or redirect URL from the browser address bar None of the above formats are compatible with the embedded map field. You must use the iframe code generated directly from Google Maps. 🛠️ How to Get Your Google Maps Iframe Embed Code 1. Go to Google Maps at maps.google.com in your browser. 2. Search for your business name or address until your location pin appears. 3. Click on your business listing to open the location panel on the left side of the screen. 4. Click the Share button (the icon with an arrow pointing outward) in the location panel. 5. In the Share dialog, select the Embed a map tab. 6. Choose your preferred map size from the dropdown menu (Medium is recommended for most Otto layouts). 7. Click Copy HTML to copy the full iframe code to your clipboard. The copied code will look similar to this: <iframe src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=..." width="600" height="450" style="border:0;" allowfullscreen="" loading="lazy"></iframe> This is the correct format Otto expects. ⚙️ How to Add the Embed Code in Otto Site Setup 1. Navigate to OTTO SEO → All Sites (SEO Automation) using the left sidebar, or go directly to /seo-automation-v3. 2. Open your Otto site setup and locate the Google Embedded Map field. 3. Paste the full iframe code you copied from Google Maps into this field. 4. Do not modify or shorten the code — paste it exactly as copied. 5. Save your changes and preview your site to confirm the map loads correctly. ✅ Quick Checklist Before You Save - The code starts with <iframe and ends with </iframe> - The URL inside the src attribute contains maps/embed — not a redirect or short link - You have not manually edited any part of the code - You are not pasting a GBP profile URL or a browser address bar URL 💡 Tips and Common Mistakes - GBP links are not embed codes. Your Google Business Profile URL is separate from the embeddable map iframe. Always generate the embed code directly from Google Maps using the steps above. - Avoid browser URL copying. The URL in your browser's address bar when viewing a location on Google Maps is not compatible with the embed field. - Check for extra spaces. Occasionally, copying from certain browsers may add a leading space before the iframe tag. Remove any whitespace before the opening < character. - Map not showing after save? Clear your browser cache and reload the site preview. Embedded maps can sometimes take a moment to render on first load. 🆘 Need More Help? If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

🔗 How to Add Google Business Profile to Knowledge Graph

📋 Overview This article covers how to add a Google Business Profile to the Knowledge Graph in Search Atlas. Our support team can walk you through exactly where to find the relevant field for your account. 🚀 How to Get This Set Up Because the exact location of the Google Business Profile field may vary depending on your account configuration, we recommend reaching out to our team directly so we can guide you to the right place without any confusion. When you contact support, please have the following ready so we can help you as quickly as possible: - Your brand entity name (if applicable) - The full public Google Business Profile URL you want to add - A brief description of where in the platform you have already looked If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be instantly connected with a member of our team.

🛠️ Reset and Clean Up DKN Nodes

🔍 What Is the DKN and Why Might It Need a Reset? Your Domain Knowledge Network (DKN) is the foundation Search Atlas uses to understand your website's topical structure. It maps your content into interconnected nodes — one per page or topic — to power recommendations across Content Genius and OTTO SEO. Over time, your DKN may develop issues such as: - Duplicate or overlapping nodes — the same page is recognised as multiple distinct nodes. - Stale or poisoned keywords — node keywords carry over incorrect or mismatched data from earlier builds. - Corrupted titles — node titles contain disambiguation code that was not cleaned up automatically. - Mismatched data after a project switch — data from a previous project appears in a new project's DKN. If your DKN contains any of these problems, resetting it and rebuilding from scratch is usually the fastest way to restore accurate topical mapping. ⚠️ Before You Reset: What to Know Please read the following carefully before proceeding: - A full DKN reset is irreversible. All existing nodes, keyword assignments, and topical connections for the project will be permanently deleted. - After a reset, the DKN must be fully rebuilt. Rebuilding time depends on the size of your domain and the number of pages crawled. - Any Content Strategy work tied to existing nodes — such as briefs or cluster assignments — may be affected. Review your active content work before resetting. - Do not use the Sync with Brand Vault button on the Content Strategy page as a workaround for DKN issues. A known issue means this action can wipe DKN nodes without triggering a proper rebuild, leaving your network in an incomplete state. 🛠️ How to Request a Full DKN Reset At this time, a full DKN reset must be performed by the Search Atlas support team. There is no self-serve reset button in the platform. Follow these steps to get it done quickly: 1. Confirm which project needs the reset. Note the exact project name as it appears in Search Atlas. 2. Decide whether you need a full reset (wipe everything and rebuild from scratch) or bulk deletion of specific duplicate nodes (partial cleanup). Both options are supported. 3. Open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to connect with the support team. 4. Provide the following information: - Project name and URL - Whether you want a full reset or targeted node deletion - A brief description of the issue you are seeing (e.g., duplicate nodes, corrupted titles, stale data) 5. The team will confirm the action with you before making any changes. 🔄 How to Rebuild Your DKN After a Reset Once the reset is complete, follow these steps to rebuild a clean DKN: 1. Go to your Project Settings and verify that the correct domain and crawl settings are configured. 2. Trigger a new site crawl from the dashboard. This allows Search Atlas to rediscover your pages with fresh data. 3. Navigate to the Content Strategy section and allow the DKN to regenerate automatically as the crawl completes. 4. Once the DKN is rebuilt, review the new nodes to confirm they map correctly to your pages — look for any remaining duplicates or mismatched titles before resuming content work. ❓ Why Are Duplicate Nodes Being Created? Duplicate nodes can appear when the system has difficulty determining whether a page already exists in the network. This can happen in several scenarios: - URL variations — the same page is accessible via multiple URLs (e.g., with and without a trailing slash, or HTTP vs HTTPS), causing the crawler to treat them as separate pages. - Crawl interruptions — a previous crawl did not complete cleanly, leaving partial node data that conflicts with a new crawl. - Disambiguation code leaks — a known bug caused internal code used to differentiate similar topics to appear in node titles and keywords. This issue has been patched, and a backfill was run to clean affected data. If you still see symbols or codes in your node titles, contact support for a targeted cleanup. If you notice duplicates appearing shortly after a rebuild, check your canonical tags and redirect settings in your CMS before running another crawl. Fixing URL consistency at the source prevents the same issue from recurring. ✅ Quick Checklist Before and After a Reset - Note all active briefs and cluster assignments linked to existing nodes. - Confirm the correct project is selected before requesting a reset. - Do not use Sync with Brand Vault as a cleanup workaround. - After the reset, trigger a fresh crawl before reviewing new nodes. - Check canonical tags and redirects in your CMS to prevent duplicate nodes from reappearing. 💬 Still Need Help? If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.