# **🔍 What Is Happening?**

If you have installed the OTTO pixel through Google Tag Manager (GTM) and confirmed it fires correctly in GTM preview mode, but Search Atlas still shows the pixel as **not installed**, this is expected behaviour. OTTO pixel verification is tied directly to your **site audit**. Search Atlas can only confirm the pixel is present after the audit crawl has finished scanning your website.

# **⚙️ Why Verification Depends on the Site Audit**

OTTO verifies pixel installation by detecting the tracking script during a crawl of your site's pages. Until that crawl completes, the platform has no data to confirm whether the pixel exists in your page source. This means:

- A **pending or in-progress site audit** will leave the pixel status showing as unverified, even if the pixel is correctly installed.
- GTM preview mode confirms the tag fires in your browser session, but it does not update Search Atlas verification — these are two separate systems.
- Once the site audit finishes, Search Atlas re-evaluates the crawled page data and updates the pixel status automatically.

# **🚀 How to Check Your Site Audit Status**

1. In the left sidebar, click **OTTO SEO**, then open **All Sites** (SEO Automation) (URL: **/seo-automation-v3**).
2. Locate your OTTO project and look for the site audit progress indicator on the project card.
3. If the audit is still running, wait for it to complete — crawl time varies depending on site size.
4. Once the audit status shows **complete**, return to the OTTO pixel section and refresh the page to see the updated verification status.

# **✅ Confirming Your Pixel Is Installed Correctly**

While waiting for the site audit to finish, you can double-check your GTM setup to make sure the pixel will be detected correctly during the crawl:

- Confirm the OTTO pixel tag is set to fire on **All Pages** (or at minimum your homepage), not just specific triggers.
- In GTM preview mode, load your homepage and verify the OTTO tag appears under **Tags Fired**.
- Publish your GTM container if you have made any recent changes — unpublished changes are not visible to the Search Atlas crawler.
- Ensure no consent management or cookie banner is blocking the tag from firing for non-consented visitors, as this can prevent crawl-time detection.

# **⏱️ How Long Does the Site Audit Take?**

Audit duration depends on the number of pages on your website. Small sites (under 500 pages) typically complete within a few minutes. Larger sites can take significantly longer. You do not need to keep the platform open — Search Atlas runs the audit in the background and updates your project automatically when it finishes.

# **🛠️ What to Do If Verification Still Fails After the Audit**

If your site audit has completed and the pixel is still showing as unverified, work through the following checks:

- Confirm your GTM container is **published**, not just saved in draft.
- Check that the OTTO pixel snippet is the correct one for your project — copying the snippet from another OTTO project will not verify correctly.
- Temporarily disable any script-blocking plugins or performance optimisations (such as script delay or lazy loading) that may prevent the tag from appearing in the page source at crawl time.
- Trigger a **new site audit** from your OTTO project to force a fresh crawl with your latest GTM configuration.

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.

# **Additional Notes**

Manual recrawl: If you trigger a manual recrawl after installing the pixel, allow up to 24 hours for the crawl to finish and for the pixel status to refresh. Scheduled crawl: verification will update automatically once that scheduled crawl completes. The unverified status is a display limitation tied to crawl availability, not a signal that the pixel has stopped working.