🧭 Overview
If your OTTO pixel shows as Connected inside the WordPress plugin but the Search Atlas dashboard cannot communicate with it — and you see an Authentication credentials were not provided error — this is a known authentication sync failure between the OTTO WordPress plugin and Search Atlas. Cache clearing and reinstalling the plugin alone will not resolve this type of error. Because the exact steps to fix this depend on your specific account and site configuration, the most reliable path is to contact our support team directly so an agent can investigate and resolve it on your account.
⚠️ What This Error Typically Indicates
- The API credentials stored in the plugin are missing, expired, or out of sync with Search Atlas.
- The plugin installation itself is generally not the root cause.
- A mismatch between the site URL registered in Search Atlas and the live WordPress site URL may contribute to the failure.
- Security plugins, firewalls, or caching layers on the WordPress side can sometimes interfere with authentication requests.
📋 Before You Contact Support — What to Have Ready
To help our team resolve this as quickly as possible, please have the following information available when you reach out:
- The exact error message you are seeing (e.g., Authentication credentials were not provided).
- The domain/URL of the affected WordPress site.
- The name of the Search Atlas project or site the OTTO pixel is connected to.
- The date and approximate time the error first appeared.
- Whether any recent changes were made — such as regenerating an API key, switching from HTTP to HTTPS, installing a new security or caching plugin, or migrating the site.
- Any other active WordPress plugins that handle security, firewalls, or HTTP authentication.
🛠️ While You Wait
You can take the following general steps to rule out common environmental causes before an agent reviews your account:
- Confirm that the site URL registered in Search Atlas exactly matches your live WordPress site URL — including the same protocol (https://) and the same trailing slash convention.
- Temporarily deactivate any security or firewall plugins on your WordPress site to test whether they are stripping authentication headers from outgoing requests.
- Clear any server-side or CDN cache layers so that requests are not being served stale or blocked responses.
- Do not reinstall the plugin or regenerate your API key until an agent confirms this is the correct next step — doing so without guidance can complicate diagnosis.
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.