## **🧩 Why This Happens**

When Search Atlas crawls your website, it stores a snapshot of your page content in its cache. If you remove text, deactivate a plugin, or make other changes to your site, Search Atlas may still display the **old cached version** of that page until a fresh crawl is completed and the cache is cleared.

This is a common reason customers see removed content — such as phrases like "24/7" — still appearing in Search Atlas reports even after the content has been deleted from the live page.

## **⚠️ Common Triggers**

- **Plugin deactivation:** Deactivating OTTO SEO or another plugin does not immediately force a recrawl. The previous crawl data remains until refreshed.
- **Page edits without recrawl:** Saving changes in your CMS updates your live site but does not automatically notify Search Atlas to recrawl that URL.
- **Conflicting SEO plugins:** Tools like Rank Math can override meta deployments. Search Atlas may show "Deployed" while the live page still renders the original meta from a competing plugin.
- **Server-side or CDN caching:** Your hosting provider or CDN may be serving a cached version of your page to Search Atlas crawlers, making it appear as if old content is still live.

## **✅ How to Fix Stale Crawl Data**

1. **Confirm the live page is updated:** Open the URL in an incognito/private browser window to verify the content you removed is no longer visible on the actual page.
2. **Clear your site cache:** If you use a caching plugin (e.g., WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache) or a CDN (e.g., Cloudflare), purge the cache for the affected page so Search Atlas crawlers receive the latest version.
3. **Trigger a manual recrawl in Search Atlas:** Navigate to the relevant project in Search Atlas, locate the affected URL, and use the **Recrawl** or **Refresh** option to queue a fresh crawl of that page.
4. **Wait for the crawl to complete:** Depending on your site size and crawl queue, this may take a few minutes. Once finished, the updated content will replace the stale snapshot.
5. **Verify the result:** After the recrawl, reopen the page report in Search Atlas to confirm the outdated content is no longer displayed.

## **🛠️ If You Use OTTO SEO**

OTTO SEO includes a **Cache Self-Verification** system that monitors the health of deployed changes and checks whether your server is accessible to Search Atlas crawlers. If connectivity issues prevent OTTO from verifying a deployment, it will flag this in the platform so you can take action.

To check the status of your OTTO deployments:

- Go to **OTTO SEO → All Sites (SEO Automation)** in your Search Atlas dashboard.
- Review the deployment status for affected pages. A status of **"Deployed"** confirms Search Atlas successfully applied the change — but if a conflicting plugin is active, it may override the output on the live page.
- If you suspect a conflict, **deactivate competing SEO plugins** (such as Rank Math or Yoast) and trigger a recrawl to let OTTO's settings take full effect.

## **🚫 Avoid These Mistakes**

- Do not assume deactivating a plugin instantly updates Search Atlas data — a manual recrawl is always needed.
- Do not run multiple SEO plugins simultaneously. Conflicting plugins can silently override each other's meta settings, causing discrepancies between what Search Atlas reports and what actually renders on your page.
- Do not skip clearing your server or CDN cache before triggering a recrawl, as crawlers may still receive the old cached page.

## **💬 Still Seeing Outdated Content?**

If you have completed all the steps above and Search Atlas is still displaying stale content, there may be a deeper crawl or connectivity issue that requires investigation. 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.