🔍 Overview
When you use OTTO to deploy on-page SEO changes, one of the most common questions is: will those changes disappear if I cancel my subscription? The short answer is no — your deployed changes are not automatically reverted. This article explains what happens to your OTTO deployments after cancellation and how the Deep Freeze feature plays a role in protecting your site.
⚙️ What OTTO Does When It Deploys Changes
OTTO (found in the left sidebar under OTTO SEO → All Sites (SEO Automation)) pushes optimisations directly to your website — things like title tags, meta descriptions, heading structures, schema markup, and more. Once OTTO deploys a change, it is live on your site just like any manual edit you would make yourself.
- Changes are written directly to your website's content or code.
- OTTO does not act as a proxy or intermediary layer sitting between your site and visitors.
- Deployments are persistent by default — they do not rely on an active subscription to remain live.
🚫 What Happens If You Cancel Your Plan
If you cancel your Search Atlas subscription, your OTTO-deployed changes remain on your website. There is no automatic rollback or reversion of the SEO improvements OTTO has made. Your site keeps all the optimisations that were successfully deployed before cancellation.
However, there are important limitations to be aware of once your plan is cancelled:
- No new deployments: OTTO will no longer push new changes or optimisations to your site.
- No monitoring: OTTO will stop monitoring your site for new issues or opportunities.
- Platform access is restricted: You will lose access to the OTTO dashboard and reporting features inside Search Atlas.
- Deep Freeze mode activates: Your project enters a read-only "Deep Freeze" state (see below).
🧊 What Is Deep Freeze?
Deep Freeze is a special project state that you can turn on (and Unfreeze) yourself from the OTTO project's menu, and it also activates when a Search Atlas account is cancelled or a plan lapses. It is designed to preserve the record of everything OTTO has done on your behalf, without allowing new actions to be taken.
Here is what Deep Freeze means in practice:
- Your deployment history is preserved: A record of all changes OTTO made is retained, so nothing is lost from a data perspective.
- No new changes can be made: OTTO cannot deploy, edit, or roll back anything while a project is in Deep Freeze.
- Your live site is unaffected: Changes already deployed remain live on your website — Deep Freeze does not touch your site.
- Reactivation restores full access: If you resubscribe, your project exits Deep Freeze and you regain full OTTO functionality, including your history and previous configurations.
✅ Key Things to Remember
- OTTO changes are not reverted when you cancel — they stay live on your site.
- Deep Freeze is a data-preservation mode, not a rollback mechanism.
- Your deployment history is safe and retrievable if you reactivate your plan.
- To make new SEO deployments or access OTTO reporting, an active subscription is required.
🔄 How to Reactivate and Exit Deep Freeze
If you want to resume using OTTO after a cancellation, simply reactivate your Search Atlas subscription. Once your plan is active again:
- Your project automatically exits Deep Freeze.
- All previous deployment history and project settings are restored.
- OTTO can begin monitoring and deploying new optimisations immediately.
To reactivate, log in to your Search Atlas account and navigate to your billing or plan settings.
💬 Need More Help?
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
When the main subscription is cancelled, 24 hours after the account becomes unsubscribed all of its OTTO projects are automatically put into Deep Freeze (autopilot off, read-only). Projects are not deleted and stay engaged, so the OTTO pixel keeps serving the fixes that were already deployed. Deployed changes stop being served only if the pixel is removed, the project is disengaged, or the project is deleted. Only currently deployed changes are retained; undeployed suggestions are not preserved.