## **🔍 Overview**

After placing the OTTO Pixel code in the **`<head>`** section of your Shopify store, the Search Atlas dashboard may still display the pixel status as **Not Connected**. This is expected behavior in most cases and does not mean your installation failed.

The most common reason for this is that Search Atlas needs to crawl your site before it can detect and confirm the pixel. Allow some time for the crawl to complete after installation before concluding there is an issue.

## **✅ How OTTO Pixel Detection Works**

When you install the OTTO Pixel, Search Atlas checks for it automatically on a schedule based on your project's age: every 15 minutes for projects under 2 hours old, every hour from 2 to 24 hours old, every 6 hours from 1 to 7 days old, and no automatic checks after 7 days. For a newly created project, a correctly installed pixel is normally detected within about 15 minutes.

Until the next scheduled check runs, the dashboard may continue to show **Not Connected** even if your installation is perfectly correct.

## **🛠️ Step 1 — Confirm Your Installation Is Correct**

Before waiting for the next check, verify that the pixel is installed properly:

1. Open your Shopify store in a browser and navigate to any page.
2. Right-click anywhere on the page and select **Inspect** (or press **F12**).
3. Click the **Elements** tab and expand the **`<head>`** section.
4. Use **Ctrl+F** (or **Cmd+F** on Mac) to search for **otto** or your unique pixel ID.
5. Confirm the full OTTO Pixel script is present inside the **`<head>`** tag.

If the script appears in the code inspection, your installation is correct. The status update is simply waiting on the next automatic pixel check.

## **⏰ Step 2 — Wait for the Next Automatic Check**

If your pixel code is confirmed in the page source, no further action is needed right away. For a new project, expect detection within about 15 minutes; older projects are checked less frequently (hourly between 2–24 hours, every 6 hours between 1–7 days, and not automatically after 7 days).

## **🔄 Step 3 — Still Showing Not Connected?**

If a reasonable amount of time has passed and the status still shows **Not Connected** despite confirming the pixel script is present in your page source, please reach out to our support team. When you do, have the following ready to speed up the investigation:

- Your Shopify store URL
- The project name as it appears in your Search Atlas dashboard
- A screenshot or confirmation that the OTTO Pixel script is visible in your page source
- The approximate date and time you completed the installation

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.