Seeing WordPress marked as connected in your Brand Vault and OTTO, yet still unable to publish a blog post directly to your client's site? This is usually caused by a missing or incomplete sync between your Search Atlas project and the WordPress destination. This guide walks you through checking the connection and publishing successfully.
🧩 Why the Connection Shows But Publishing Fails
A WordPress site can appear connected in your Brand Vault and in OTTO while the Content tab still lacks an active publishing link. The Brand Vault and OTTO connections handle site-level integrations, but publishing a blog post requires the WordPress destination to be selected and synced within the Content tab itself. If this final step is missing, the publish button will not push your post to the live site.
✅ Confirm Your WordPress Prerequisites
Before publishing, make sure the following are in place:
- Plugin installed: The Search Atlas (or OTTO) WordPress plugin must be installed and activated on the client's site.
- Correct site URL: The connected domain must match the exact URL of the site you want to publish to, including the correct www or non-www version.
- User permissions: The connected WordPress account must have Administrator rights so it can create and publish posts.
- Active API key: Confirm the API key or connection token has not expired or been regenerated on the WordPress side.
🔄 Sync WordPress in the Content Tab
Follow these steps to link and sync your site for publishing:
- Open your project and go to the Content tab.
- Select the article or blog post you want to publish.
- Click the Publish or Publishing Settings option.
- Under the destination or integration menu, choose WordPress.
- Select the correct WordPress site from the dropdown. If it is not listed, click Refresh or Reconnect to pull the latest connections.
- Once the site appears, confirm it shows a Connected or Synced status inside the Content tab.
- Click Publish to send the post directly to WordPress.
🛠️ Troubleshooting a Failed Publish
If publishing still does not work after syncing, try these steps in order:
- Reconnect the site: Go back to the Brand Vault, disconnect WordPress, then reconnect it and repeat the sync in the Content tab.
- Update the plugin: An outdated plugin can block publishing. Ask the client to update it to the latest version.
- Check the post status: Ensure the post is not stuck in draft or missing a required field such as a title or slug.
- Clear the destination cache: Refresh the destination dropdown so it loads current site data instead of a cached entry.
- Verify a single connection: Duplicate WordPress connections can cause conflicts. Remove any extra or outdated links so only the correct site remains.
🚀 Confirm the Post Went Live
After publishing, verify success by doing the following:
- Return to the Content tab and check that the post status changed to Published.
- Open the client's WordPress dashboard and confirm the post appears under Posts.
- Visit the live URL to make sure the content displays correctly.
If the status remains stuck or shows an error, note the exact message displayed, as this helps identify the cause quickly.
💬 Still Need Help?
If you have completed these steps and still cannot publish to your client's WordPress site, we are happy to 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.