🔍 Why OTTO Scans Get Stuck on SiteGround

SiteGround uses aggressive server-side caching and security rules that can interrupt the crawling requests OTTO sends during a Site Audit scan. When OTTO is installed on a WordPress site hosted on SiteGround, its automated scan requests may be rate-limited, blocked, or silently dropped by SiteGround's Dynamic Cache or security firewall — causing the scan to appear stuck at a processing state indefinitely, sometimes for 3 hours or more.

This is one of the most common reasons an OTTO scan stalls shortly after the initial WordPress installation. The good news is that a few targeted configuration changes on SiteGround will resolve the issue quickly.

✅ Before You Begin

• Make sure OTTO is installed and activated on your WordPress site.
• You should have access to your SiteGround Site Tools dashboard.
• You will also need to be logged into Search Atlas and able to navigate to OTTO SEO → All Sites (SEO Automation) in the left sidebar (URL: /seo-automation-v3).

⚙️ Step 1 — Disable SiteGround Dynamic Cache for Your Site

1. Log in to your SiteGround Site Tools.
2. Go to Speed → Caching.
3. Under Dynamic Cache, toggle the setting to Off.
4. Click Confirm to save the change.

Dynamic Cache caches PHP-generated responses and can cause OTTO's crawl requests to receive stale or incomplete page data, stalling the audit queue.

🛡️ Step 2 — Whitelist OTTO's Crawl User-Agent in SiteGround Security

1. In SiteGround Site Tools, navigate to Security → IP Manager.
2. Check whether any IP block rules or rate-limit rules could affect automated crawlers.
3. If your site uses the SiteGround Security plugin in WordPress, open it and go to Activity Log → Blocked Requests to check if OTTO's requests are being blocked.
4. If OTTO's user-agent or IP addresses appear in blocked requests, add them to the Whitelist within the plugin settings.

If you are unsure which IP addresses OTTO uses, reach out via the chat widget (details at the end of this article) and a teammate can provide the current list.

🔌 Step 3 — Deactivate Conflicting WordPress Cache Plugins

SiteGround sites often have additional WordPress caching plugins installed, such as SG Optimizer. These can layer additional caching on top of server-level caching and further interfere with OTTO's scan requests.

1. Log in to your WordPress Admin Dashboard.
2. Go to Plugins → Installed Plugins.
3. Temporarily Deactivate any active cache plugins (e.g., SG Optimizer, W3 Total Cache, WP Super Cache).
4. Once the OTTO scan completes successfully, you can reactivate these plugins.

🔄 Step 4 — Restart the OTTO Scan

1. Log in to Search Atlas and navigate to OTTO SEO → All Sites (SEO Automation) in the left sidebar (URL: /seo-automation-v3).
2. Locate your website in the OTTO dashboard.
3. If the scan shows a stuck or processing state, click the Restart Scan option (or disconnect and reconnect OTTO to trigger a fresh scan).
4. Monitor the scan progress — it should now advance through the audit stages without stalling.

💡 Additional Tips for SiteGround Users

• Use a staging environment first: If you are testing OTTO on a new WordPress install, run your initial scan on a SiteGround staging site where caching is typically less aggressive.
• Re-enable caching after scanning: Dynamic Cache and other caching tools improve your site's performance — only disable them temporarily to unblock the scan, then re-enable them once the audit finishes.
• Keep OTTO updated: Always use the latest version of the OTTO WordPress plugin to ensure compatibility with SiteGround's latest server configurations.

🆘 Still Stuck?

If you have followed all the steps above and your OTTO scan is still not progressing, there may be a server-level firewall rule or a hosting configuration specific to your SiteGround plan that requires deeper investigation. 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.