🔍 Overview

OTTO SEO automates on-page optimisations across your site, but there are times when you need to protect specific pages from being edited. This article explains how to exclude pages from OTTO's scope, roll back changes already applied, and ensure those pages remain untouched going forward.

🗺️ How OTTO Page Control Works

OTTO applies SEO changes at the page level. Each page in your project can be either active (OTTO can edit it) or excluded (OTTO will skip it entirely). When you exclude a page, you also have the option to revert any changes OTTO has already made to that page, restoring it to its original state.

⚙️ Step 1 — Open OTTO SEO

1. Log in to Search Atlas.
2. In the left sidebar, click OTTO SEO, then open SEO Automation inside it. This opens the OTTO SEO dashboard at /seo-automation-v3.
3. Make sure you are viewing the correct project. Use the project selector at the top of the page if you need to switch.

🚫 Step 2 — Locate the Page You Want to Exclude

1. Inside the OTTO SEO dashboard, navigate to Site Audit → Page Explorer (or Page Pruning), depending on your view.
2. Use the search bar or scroll through the page list to find the specific URL you want to exclude.
3. Click on the page row to expand its details and available actions.

↩️ Step 3 — Roll Back Existing Changes

If OTTO has already applied changes to the page, roll them back before excluding it to ensure your content is fully restored.

1. With the page expanded, look for the Revert or Undo Changes option.
2. Click it. OTTO will restore the page to the state it was in before any automated edits were applied.
3. Wait for the confirmation message before moving to the next step. Reverting may take a few moments depending on the number of changes.

🛑 Step 4 — Exclude the Page from Future OTTO Activity

1. Once the rollback is confirmed, find the Exclude Page toggle or button on the same page row.
2. Enable the exclusion. The page status will update to show it is now excluded.
3. OTTO will no longer apply any new changes to this page, even during future automation runs.

Tip: You can exclude multiple pages at once by selecting the checkboxes next to each URL and using the bulk action menu at the top of the page list.

✅ Step 5 — Confirm the Exclusion Is Active

1. Refresh the OTTO SEO dashboard.
2. Locate the excluded page in the list. It should display an Excluded status badge.
3. Review the page on your site to confirm the content reflects the rolled-back version.

💡 Things to Keep in Mind

• Exclusions persist across sessions. Once a page is excluded, it stays excluded until you manually re-enable it.
• Rollback only affects OTTO changes. Any edits you made manually outside of OTTO are not affected.
• Re-including a page. To allow OTTO to edit an excluded page again, return to the OTTO SEO dashboard, find the page, and disable the exclusion toggle.
• Newly added pages. Pages added to your site after exclusion is set are not automatically excluded. Review new pages regularly if you have specific content you want to protect.

🆘 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.