Overview
When OTTO applies meta title or meta description edits to your website, you may notice that the changes do not appear when you use your browser's View Page Source option. This is expected behaviour — not a bug. Understanding the difference between View Source and Browser Inspect will help you confirm your edits are live and visible to Google.
How OTTO Delivers Meta Edits
OTTO applies meta tag changes at the rendering stage, which means the edits may not be reflected in the raw static HTML returned by your server. There are two ways a browser can show you a page's code:
- View Page Source: Displays the raw, static HTML that the server sends before rendering. OTTO's changes may not appear here.
- Browser Inspect / DevTools: Displays the fully rendered version of the page after the browser has processed it. OTTO's meta edits will appear here.
How to Verify Your OTTO Meta Edits Are Live
To confirm your OTTO meta edits are rendering correctly, use your browser's Inspect or DevTools feature (typically accessed by right-clicking the page and selecting Inspect). In the Elements panel, search for the meta title or meta description tag and confirm it displays the updated text that OTTO generated. If the updated value appears there, your edit is rendering correctly in the browser.
How Google Crawls OTTO-Generated Edits
Google's crawler reads the rendered version of a page, similar to what you see in Browser Inspect rather than View Source. This means Google can index meta tags that are applied dynamically by OTTO. After OTTO applies edits, allow some time for Google to recrawl and re-render the page before expecting the changes to be reflected in search results.
How to Confirm Google Has Indexed Your Updated Meta Title
To check whether Google has picked up your updated meta title, open Google Search Console and use the URL Inspection tool for the page you edited. This will show you the version of the page Google last crawled and whether it reflects OTTO's changes. If it does not yet reflect the update, you can request a recrawl directly from that tool.
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.