# **🔍 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.