OTTO relies on a pixel installed in your website's source code to verify installation and begin crawling your site. However, certain homepage redirect configurations can prevent OTTO from detecting that pixel — even when it is genuinely present. This article explains why this happens and walks you through the steps to resolve it.
The OTTO pixel appears in your website's HTML source code, but the installation check reports it as not detected.
Your site scan returns an error indicating the homepage could not be reached — even though your site is live and accessible.
Project creation remains in an incomplete or pending state for more than 24 hours.
OTTO may switch the project domain to a different variation than the one you originally entered (for example, from a root domain to a subdomain).
When OTTO attempts to verify your pixel or scan your homepage, it sends an internal request to your URL. If your server is configured to redirect that URL — for example, from http:// to https://, from non-www to www, or from your root domain to a subdomain — OTTO's crawler follows the redirect chain. During this process, one or more of the following issues can occur:
Query strings that OTTO appends to identify its own requests may get stripped by the redirect, causing the crawler to lose track of the request.
OTTO lands on a different page or subdomain than the one where the pixel is installed, so detection fails.
In some WordPress environments, redirect rules can interfere with OTTO's crawl requests in ways that place additional load on the server.
These issues are rooted in how your server or WordPress configuration handles redirect rules, not in the pixel installation itself.
Follow the steps below to identify and correct the redirect configuration that is blocking OTTO.
Confirm your canonical domain. Decide on the single domain format OTTO should use — for example, https://www.yourdomain.com. This must exactly match the domain entered in your OTTO project settings. Open your OTTO project and verify that the domain shown matches your intended canonical domain precisely.
Check your redirect rules. In your hosting control panel, .htaccess file, or Nginx configuration, review any redirect rules applied to the homepage. Ensure that redirects preserve the full URL including any query strings. If you use a WordPress plugin (such as Redirection or Rank Math), check whether query string stripping is enabled and disable it.
Preserve query strings in redirects. Update your redirect rules so that query parameters are passed through. In Apache .htaccess, use a RewriteRule that appends %{QUERY_STRING} to the destination. In Nginx, ensure your return or rewrite directives include $is_args$args in the target URL.
Update the domain in your OTTO project if needed. If OTTO is scanning a different domain variation than the one your pixel is installed on, update the project to use the exact domain where the pixel lives. This ensures OTTO's verification request goes to the correct destination.
Re-run the installation check. After adjusting your redirect configuration, return to your OTTO project and trigger a new installation check or site scan to confirm the pixel is now detected successfully.
If you have followed the steps above and OTTO still cannot detect your pixel or complete a scan, please have the following information ready when you contact support:
Your project's domain URL as entered in OTTO.
The exact redirect rules currently applied to your homepage (for example, a copy of your .htaccess file or Nginx config block).
A description of any error messages displayed in your OTTO project.
Whether your site runs on WordPress, and if so, which redirect-related plugins are active.
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.