## **🌐 Overview**

If your website is managed by an external marketing company or agency, you may wonder whether using Search Atlas could interfere with their work or trigger automatic changes to your site. This article explains exactly how Search Atlas interacts with third-party managed websites so you can use the platform with confidence.

## **📊 Does Search Atlas Automatically Change My Website?**

No. Search Atlas is a **read-and-recommend** platform by default. Simply connecting your website or running reports does not automatically publish, edit, or delete any content on your site. You remain in full control of what changes — if any — are applied.

The only exception is **OTTO SEO**, Search Atlas's automated on-page optimisation feature. OTTO SEO can deploy changes directly to your website, but **only when you explicitly activate it and approve the relevant actions**. No changes are pushed without your deliberate input.

## **🛠️ What You Can Do Safely on a Managed Website**

The following Search Atlas tools are completely safe to use alongside any third-party managed website. They gather and analyse data only — nothing is written back to your site:

- **Site Explorer** — Analyse your domain's authority, backlink profile, and organic traffic data. Navigate via **Left sidebar → Site Metrics (Site Explorer)**.
- **Keyword Magic** — Research keyword opportunities without touching your site. Navigate via **Left sidebar → Keywords → Keyword Magic**.
- **Rank Tracker** — Monitor your keyword rankings over time. Navigate via **Left sidebar → Keywords → Rank Tracker**.
- **Keyword Gap** — Compare your keyword coverage against competitors. Navigate via **Left sidebar → Keywords → Keyword Gap**.
- **GBP Projects tools** — Manage Google Business Profile content, reviews, posts, and citations. Navigate via **Left sidebar → GBP Projects** and its sub-pages.

Using any of these tools will not conflict with your marketing agency's ongoing work on your website.

## **⚙️ If You Use OTTO SEO on a Managed Website**

If you want to take advantage of OTTO SEO's automated optimisations on a website managed by a third party, we recommend the following steps before activating it:

1. **Notify your marketing company** — Let them know you are enabling automated on-page SEO changes so they can coordinate their own work accordingly.
2. **Review OTTO SEO recommendations before deploying** — OTTO SEO presents suggested changes for your approval. Take time to review each recommendation to ensure it aligns with your agency's existing content strategy.
3. **Establish a change log process** — Ask your agency to share a record of recent edits so that OTTO SEO deployments do not overwrite or conflict with their updates.
4. **Start with a limited scope** — Consider activating OTTO SEO on a small section of the site first to confirm compatibility before rolling it out site-wide.

## **💡 Best Practices for Agency-Managed Sites**

- Share Search Atlas reports and insights directly with your marketing company — the data can inform their strategy without requiring any platform access.
- If your agency also needs access to Search Atlas, you can invite them as a user under your account so everyone works from the same data set.
- Always confirm with your agency before enabling any feature that writes data to your website, including OTTO SEO or Local posting tools that publish content to your Google Business Profile.

## **🆘 Need Further 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.