## **🧠 Understanding How OTTO Deploys Changes**

OTTO does not modify your website's back-end code, database, or CMS files. Instead, it uses a **front-end overlay** method to inject SEO changes — including schema markup, meta titles, and meta descriptions — directly into your pages at the browser level.

This means:

- Your CMS (WordPress, Shopify, Webflow, etc.) will **not** show any changes in its editor or post settings.
- The changes are **not written into your HTML source files** on the server.
- Changes are applied in real time when a page is loaded in a browser, via the OTTO script installed on your site.

This is expected behaviour, not a bug. The overlay approach allows OTTO to deploy and update SEO elements instantly, without requiring developer access or CMS edits.

## **✅ What You Need for Deployment to Work**

Before OTTO can deliver any changes to your site's visitors and to search engines, two conditions must be met:

1. **The OTTO script must be installed on your website.** Without this script, the overlay cannot load and no changes will appear.
2. **OTTO must be activated for the relevant pages or site.** Optimisations are only deployed to pages where OTTO has been switched on.

To check or complete your script installation, navigate to the OTTO SEO section of the platform and follow the installation instructions provided for your platform.

## **🔍 How to Verify Your Changes Are Live**

Because OTTO's changes are not visible inside your CMS, you need to verify them directly in the browser. Use one of the following methods:

**Method 1: Browser Developer Tools (Recommended)**

1. Open the published page on your website in a browser (Chrome or Firefox recommended).
2. Right-click anywhere on the page and select **Inspect** (or press **F12**).
3. Click the **Elements** tab.
4. Use **Ctrl+F** (or **Cmd+F** on Mac) to search for your meta title, meta description, or schema markup text.
5. If OTTO is active and the script is installed, your deployed values will appear inside the `<head>` section of the rendered page — even though they are absent from your CMS.

**Method 2: Google's Rich Results Test**

1. Go to <https://search.google.com/test/rich-results>.
2. Enter the full URL of the page you want to check.
3. Run the test. Google's tool renders the page the same way a browser does and will detect OTTO-injected schema markup.

**Method 3: View Rendered Page Source**

1. Open the page in Chrome.
2. In the address bar, type **view-source:** before the URL and press Enter.
3. Note: this shows the **raw server HTML** and will **not** include OTTO's overlay changes — use Method 1 or Method 2 to confirm live deployment instead.

If your changes are not appearing after confirming the script is installed and OTTO is activated, please have the following ready when you reach out: your project name, the specific URLs affected, and a description of which elements (schema, meta title, meta description) are not showing as expected.

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.