Skip to main content

🔧OTTO Setup, Functionality, and Deployment

Everything you need to activate, configure, and verify OTTO's performance on your sites.

Updated today

OTTO and Search Atlas work best when integrated with your existing tools and team workflows. This section guides you through connecting to GSC/GBP, managing domains, user access, and transitioning projects between accounts.

How do I install the OTTO Pixel correctly?

The OTTO Pixel enables Search Atlas to apply SEO fixes to your live site dynamically. To install it, choose only one method depending on your platform:

✅ WordPress

  1. Go to Plugins → Add New

  2. Search "Search Atlas – OTTO SEO"

  3. Click Install → Activate

  4. The pixel will auto-activate — no code needed

✅ Shopify, Webflow, Framer, GoHighLevel, Others

  1. Go to your Search Atlas dashboard → OTTO & Audit → All Sites

  2. Copy your OTTO Pixel script

  3. Paste it before the </body> tag in your site’s global HTML template

  4. OR use Google Tag Manager → Custom HTML Tag → Paste the script

⚠️ Do not use multiple methods (plugin + script + GTM)

Doing so may cause duplicate rendering issues or prevent the pixel from firing correctly.

🔎 How to validate that the OTTO Pixel is working:

  • Open your site → Right-click → Inspect → Console

  • Look for “OTTO Pixel Detected” message

  • Use Google Tag Assistant or check pixel status in the Search Atlas dashboard

Note: Install OTTO using the WordPress plugin or by placing the script before </body> on non-WordPress platforms. Avoid duplicate methods.

What does it mean when OTTO is "enabled"?

The OTTO toggle switch controls whether your already deployed fixes are rendered live on your website — it’s not the same as deploying new fixes.

🟢 When OTTO is turned ON:

  • All fixes you’ve previously deployed (technical, content, schema, links) will begin rendering on the site

  • The OTTO Pixel becomes active, and client-side rendering resumes

🔴 When OTTO is turned OFF:

  • Fixes remain saved in your dashboard

  • But nothing renders live — your site reverts to its pre-fix state (visually and structurally)

  • This can be useful for testing, staging, or temporary pauses

⚠️ Important clarification:

  • The toggle does not deploy fixes

  • It simply activates or deactivates the rendering of fixes you've already deployed

🧠 Pro Tip: Always use “Deploy” to apply changes, then toggle ON to make them live.

How can I verify if OTTO fixes are deployed?

You can easily verify whether OTTO fixes are live on your site using built-in tools or browser inspection.

🧪 Three ways to check deployments:

  1. Search Atlas Chrome Extension

    • Use the extension to scan the page and see which fixes are active

    • View deployed schema, content blocks, and technical optimizations

  2. Browser Inspection (Chrome DevTools):

    • Open the Elements tab

    • Check for injected HTML from OTTO (e.g., schema markup in <head>, updated headings)

    • Verify the OTTO script is loading in the Network tab

  3. Support Team Assistance:

    • If you're unsure, message our team

    • We'll help confirm deployments and troubleshoot any rendering or caching issues

💡 Pro Tip: Changes made via OTTO are client-side rendered, so you won’t see them in your CMS but can always verify on the live site.

How long does deployment take? Do fixes stay live?

  • OTTO offers flexible deployment options — whether you’re fixing one page or your entire site. The time it takes depends on the deployment method you use.

    ⚡ Single Fix Deployment:

    • Instantly pushed to your site

    • Ideal for testing or reviewing changes, page by page

    • Changes are visible as soon as the page is refreshed

    📦 “Deploy All” (bulk deployment):

    • Deploys a batch of selected fixes across multiple pages

    • May take a few minutes to fully propagate, depending on:

      • The number of fixes

      • Your site's pixel load time

      • CDN or browser caching

    📍 Where to find status:

    • Deployment counters update in real time

    • You can track what’s been applied from the Deployment Log in the OTTO dashboard

    💡 Pro Tip: After a bulk deploy, clear your browser cache or use an incognito window to verify live rendering.

Fixes stay live as long as the OTTO Pixel is active and your subscription is valid.

How often does OTTO update with new fixes or issues?

OTTO continuously syncs with your Site Audit crawl schedule to detect and suggest new opportunities — but not all features refresh automatically.

📆 What updates with each crawl:

  • 🛠️ Technical issues (e.g., broken links, redirects, loading errors)

  • 🔗 Internal link suggestions (anchor updates, orphaned pages)

  • 🔍 Missing keywords (from content vs. ranking gaps)

These are refreshed every time your site is re-crawled, based on your configured schedule (daily, weekly, or manual).

🧠 What does not auto-refresh:

  • 🗺️ Topical Maps and semantic models

    • Generated using a snapshot of GSC + NLP data

    • Do not auto-update with new queries or rankings

    • To update, you must rebuild the Topical Map manually

📍 Where to manage crawl settings:

  • Go to Site Audit > Settings > Crawl Frequency

  • Choose how often OTTO checks for new technical or keyword insights

💡 Pro Tip: Set crawls weekly for dynamic sites, or monthly for stable ones.

What is the difference between OTTO fixes and AI-generated content?

Search Atlas separates SEO automation into two core functions — OTTO Fixes and AI Content Creation, each serving a distinct purpose in your content strategy.

⚙️ What are OTTO Fixes?

  • Purpose: Improve existing site elements for SEO

  • What it does:

    • Optimizes titles, meta descriptions, H1s, and canonicals

    • Adds schema markup, alt text, internal links, and keywords

  • How it's applied:

    • Injected into your live site via the OTTO Pixel or plugin

    • Visible to both Google and users instantly

  • Example: Fixes 90 title tags across your site in seconds without changing your CMS

✍️ What is AI-Generated Content?

  • Purpose: Create new SEO-optimized content at scale

  • What it does:

    • Generates blog posts, product pages, landing pages, press releases

    • Writes using AI models guided by SEO context, keywords, and tone

  • Where it's stored:

    • Accessible in the Content Assistant

    • Can be published to WordPress, exported, or scheduled

  • Scalable Tools:

    • Use Topical Maps, Hyperdrive, or Bulk Writers for mass content output

🧠 Summary:

  • OTTO = real-time technical SEO improvements to existing pages

  • AI Content = new, long-form content creation based on strategy and prompts

They are complementary. OTTO strengthens on-page elements, while Content Genius expands your site’s footprint with valuable new content.

Note: OTTO handles technical SEO fixes on live pages. Content Genius creates new articles, blogs, and SEO-driven pages using AI.

What backup or safety measures are in place?

All changes made via OTTO are automatically saved and recoverable, even if the pixel temporarily goes offline.

🧠 How backup works:

  • Every fix you deploy (technical, content, schema, etc.) is stored in the OTTO dashboard

  • This includes both project-level and page-specific deployments

⚙️ Pixel technology & stability:

  • OTTO uses statically precalculated and cached data

  • Even if the pixel is briefly disconnected or blocked by a browser/plugin, your changes won’t be erased or lost

  • Once the pixel reconnects, changes are re-rendered instantly

💡 What if I uninstall the pixel?

  • If removed entirely, active fixes are also removed from the live site

  • Consider using Deep Freeze to preserve all deployed fixes without needing the live pixel

✅ You always maintain full control and can redeploy any fix from your history.

How does reporting in OTTO work?

OTTO allows you to track and export a summary of all deployed work for reporting, transparency, or client review.

📤 Current export option:

  • From your OTTO dashboard, you can export a summary to Google Sheets

  • This includes:

    • Fix type and category

    • Deployment status

    • Pages affected

    • Timestamps

📊 Coming soon:

  • Full integration with Report Builder, allowing you to:

    • Combine OTTO activity with Site Audit, GBP, and Content reports

    • Add branding and structure

    • Automate recurring reports for clients or stakeholders

🔎 Where to find it:

  • Go to your project dashboard > Deployment Summary

  • Click “Export to Google Sheets”

💡 Great for agencies needing transparent reporting or internal QA workflows.

How does OTTO interact with other Search Atlas tools?

OTTO is tightly integrated into the Search Atlas ecosystem, enabling a seamless, unified workflow across SEO content, fixes, reporting, and local optimization.

📝 Content Assistant

  • Syncs articles generated in OTTO automatically

  • Lets you refine, export, or publish directly from one central workspace

🛠️ Site Audit

  • Feeds real-time technical issues into OTTO

  • Triggers smart fix suggestions (e.g. broken links, schema, meta tags)

  • You can deploy fixes directly from OTTO’s dashboard

📊 Report Builder

  • Includes OTTO task data in client reports

  • Supports filtering by fix type, timeframe, and module

  • Export as branded PDFs or dynamic share links

📍 Local SEO (GBP Integration)

  • Shares Google Business Profile connections with OTTO

  • Manage posts, reviews, and Q&A actions directly from the OTTO interface

🚫 Not currently integrated:

  • Site Explorer (competitor research)

  • GSC Performance (query/rank tracking)

  • Keyword Research tools

These exclusions are intentional to prevent data duplication and maintain a modular focus.

Site Explorer, GSC Performance, and Keywords are not integrated.

Why don’t I see changes in my CMS or page source?

OTTO uses dynamic client-side rendering, which means all optimizations are applied in your users’ browsers — not directly in your CMS or static HTML.

🧠 How it works:

  • Once deployed, OTTO injects fixes via the client-side pixel, handling metadata, schema, headings, internal links, and more.

  • These changes are not visible in your CMS backend or source definitions — they live in the user view after loading.

📎 Why this matters:

  • It enables seamless compatibility across all hosting platforms.

  • You maintain full control of your CMS and hosting setup.

  • When OTTO is disabled or the pixel is removed, the changes are automatically removed.

💡 Pro Tip: To verify live changes, inspect the page in the browser’s Developer Tools (Elements tab) or use the Search Atlas Chrome Extension.

How do I view and manage all fixes applied by OTTO?

📜 Where to find it:

  • Go to OTTO > Fix History

🧾 What you’ll see:

  • A timestamped log of every deployed fix

  • The team member who triggered it

  • The page and category (e.g., technical, content, schema)

  • Options to redeploy, undo, or modify each fix

What’s the difference between project-wide and page-specific fixes in OTTO?

OTTO gives you flexible control over how fixes are applied — site-wide or per page.

🌐 Project-wide fixes
Apply across the entire domain and include:

  • Metadata templates

  • Schema markup

  • Speed enhancements

  • Backlink automation

📄 Page-specific fixes
Target individual issues like:

  • H1 duplication

  • Broken links

  • Missing keywords

  • Readability or UX suggestions

🛠️ How to apply fixes:

  • Deploy all fixes from a category

  • Fix only flagged pages

  • Apply manual tweaks page by page

How does Geo SEO work with OTTO?

🗺️ What is Geo SEO?

Geo SEO targets searchers by city, neighborhood, or region — without needing dozens of duplicate pages.

Search Atlas makes this scalable through dynamic optimization:

  • 📍 Injects location modifiers like "Tax Lawyer in Atlanta" into H1s, meta, and body

  • 🧭 Uses GBP data to align local signals with page content

  • 🔁 Runs bulk updates across services or blog pages from OTTO

  • 🧠 Leverages AI to make geo-modified content sound natural and rank-ready

🛠️ Where it works best:

  • City pages

  • Local services with national coverage

  • Franchise or multi-location businesses

  • GBP-optimized content (reviews, posts, Q&A)

🔒 Avoid duplicate content:

Every OTTO deployment utilizes semantic variation and entity mapping to prevent location keyword stuffing or boilerplate issues.

What happens if I remove the plugin or the pixel?

That's a great question — let me walk you through what happens and why OTTO is built this way.

1. First, the plugin is completely free. There’s no cost to install or keep the OTTO plugin on your site. You’re welcome to leave it active even if you're not currently using all its features.

2. If you’re using WordPress, the plugin works server-side, not through JavaScript injection. Unlike some platforms that rely on script-based SEO rendering, the OTTO WordPress plugin embeds optimizations directly into the HTML on your server. This ensures your changes appear even without pixel-based scripts.

3. The WordPress ecosystem is highly fragmented. There are many page builders (Elementor, Divi, WPBakery, SeedProd, Kadence, Beaver Builder) and SEO plugins (Yoast, RankMath, AIOSEO, SEOPress, The SEO Framework). Because each handles content differently, OTTO can’t push every SEO update (like alt text or content injections) directly into the CMS in every case. That’s why we’re building a native sync to transfer SEO titles and meta descriptions into supported plugins automatically.

4. Many of OTTO’s changes are permanent and independent. Updates to your Google Business Profile, backlinks, Cloud Stacks, and press releases remain live and unaffected. Content published to your CMS (blogs, landing pages) also stays intact.

5. If you want to uninstall the plugin or pixel but keep your SEO updates, you have two clean options:

- Activate Deep Freeze to retain the changes on-site permanently.

- Export your optimizations (meta tags, schema, etc.) to your CMS manually.

If neither is done, your on-site changes will stop rendering, similar to how other SEO plugins behave.

🚀 What’s Coming

We’re building a Cloudflare-based OTTO that won’t require a plugin or pixel — changes will be deployed at the network level. For WordPress, we’re adding support to sync SEO titles and metas into major SEO plugins like Yoast, RankMath, and more.

Keep this section handy to monitor performance, validate changes, and troubleshoot any interruptions in functionality.

Related Articles
🔧 How Changes Are Deployed
How to install OTTO Pixel
🔎 Where’s My OTTO SEO Pixel?
📍 How Do I Install the OTTO Pixel on My Website?
🎯 What Happens If I Uninstall or Disable the OTTO Pixel?
Did this answer your question?