When the OTTO WordPress plugin and Rank Math SEO are both active on the same site, two known conflicts can occur: robots meta tags render in a malformed format, and meta descriptions disappear entirely from the page source. This article explains why these issues happen and what you can do right now to restore correct meta output.
A confirmed conflict exists between the OTTO WordPress plugin and Rank Math SEO when both are active simultaneously. This conflict produces two problems:
Malformed robots tags: The two plugins interfere with each other's robots meta tag output, which can corrupt the combined output.
Missing meta descriptions: A conflict between the two plugins can result in the meta description tag being absent from the rendered HTML.
These issues affect sites where both plugins are active at the same time.
Follow the steps below to stop the conflict and restore correct meta output on your site.
Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard.
Go to Plugins → Installed Plugins.
Locate the OTTO SEO plugin and click Deactivate.
Open a new browser tab and visit your site. Use View Page Source (right-click → View Page Source) to confirm that:
The robots meta tag is well-formed and includes all expected directives.
The meta description tag is present and contains the correct text set in Rank Math.
If deactivating the OTTO plugin alone does not restore the meta description, review your Rank Math meta description settings to ensure a value is set for the affected post type.
After applying the workaround, perform a quick sanity check on at least three representative pages (homepage, a blog post, and a category page):
Right-click the page and choose View Page Source.
Search for robots — you should see a single, well-formed robots meta tag containing all expected directives.
Search for description — you should see one meta description tag with the correct content.
If either tag is still missing or malformed after deactivating OTTO, please escalate by providing your site URL, the exact malformed output from View Page Source, and the versions of both the OTTO plugin and Rank Math you have installed. 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.