🔍 Overview
OTTO can automatically optimise page titles, H1 tags, and meta fields on your WordPress site. While this saves time, some workflows require that client-approved blog titles and headings remain untouched. This article explains how to prevent unwanted overwrites and how to troubleshoot duplicate H1 or HTML rendering issues without deactivating OTTO entirely.
⚙️ How OTTO Controls Titles and H1 Tags
When OTTO is connected to a WordPress site, it can deploy changes to on-page elements including SEO titles (meta titles) and H1 tags. Because the exact behaviour depends on your site's configuration, SEO plugin, and page builder setup, the specific controls available to you may vary. Contact our support team to confirm exactly which elements OTTO is managing on your site before making changes.
🚫 How to Prevent OTTO from Overwriting Approved Titles
If a client has approved specific blog titles or H1 text and you want to protect them while keeping OTTO active for other optimisations, the right approach depends on your site's specific OTTO configuration. Because the available controls vary by account setup, we recommend reaching out to our support team so they can identify the correct settings for your site and guide you through protecting specific fields — such as the SEO title or H1 — without disabling OTTO globally.
When you contact support, please have the following ready:
- The name of the project or site in Search Atlas
- The specific pages or post types whose titles or H1s you want to protect
- The SEO plugin installed on the WordPress site (e.g. Yoast, Rank Math, AIOSEO)
- Whether you are using a page builder such as Elementor
- A description of any changes OTTO has already made that need to be reviewed
🔁 Fixing Duplicate H1 Tags
A duplicate H1 occurs when both the theme or page builder and OTTO independently render an H1 element on the same page. This can cause frontend display issues and may flag as an SEO error.
To begin troubleshooting a duplicate H1, check the following in WordPress:
- Open the affected page in your WordPress editor or page builder and inspect the page structure to confirm how many H1 elements exist.
- If you are using a page builder, check whether the post title widget is set to output an H1 tag — if so, look for any additional H1 that may have been injected in the content area and remove it.
- After saving, use a browser inspector or an SEO crawler to verify that only one H1 is rendered on the page.
If the duplicate H1 persists after checking your page structure, contact our support team with the project name, the URL of the affected page, and a description of the issue so they can investigate the OTTO configuration on your account.
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.