🔓 How to Unfreeze OTTO Sites and Reconnect WordPress

🔍 Overview

If you froze OTTO sites months ago and have just signed back up, those sites may not appear as active in your dashboard. This guide explains why that happens, how to bring the sites back, and how to reconnect the WordPress plugin so OTTO can resume optimizing your pages.

Menu names can vary slightly as the platform is updated, so use the steps below as a guide.

❄️ What Does a Frozen Site Mean?

When you freeze a site, OTTO stops applying optimizations to it and the site stops counting toward your active plan. A site that has been frozen for a long time, often called deep-frozen, may also have lost its connection to your website. That is why you may need to reconnect it after you resubscribe.

• Frozen: OTTO is paused for the site, but the project is still saved in your account.
• Deep-frozen: The site has been frozen for an extended period, and its connection to your website may no longer be valid.
• Disconnected plugin: The WordPress plugin is no longer linked to the project, so changes cannot be applied to your site.

✅ Before You Begin

Check these items first. They prevent most problems.

• Your subscription is active and your plan includes enough site slots for the sites you want to unfreeze.
• You are signed in with the same account you used when you first set up the sites.
• You have admin access to each WordPress site.
• The domains are still live and reachable in a browser.

🔓 Step 1: Unfreeze Your Sites

1. Sign in to your Search Atlas account.
2. Open OTTO SEO from the main menu.
3. Find the site in your project list. Frozen sites are usually labeled with a frozen or paused status.
4. Open the site's settings or the options menu next to the project name.
5. Select the option to unfreeze or reactivate the site.
6. Confirm the action and wait a few minutes for the status to update to active.

If you do not see your old sites in the list, check whether a filter or archive view is hiding them. Also confirm that you are signed in to the correct account.

If a site has no unfreeze option, or the status does not change after a few minutes, it may be deep-frozen and need help from our team. See the last section of this article.

🔌 Step 2: Reconnect the WordPress Plugin

Once the site is active, make sure the plugin on your website is linked to the project again.

1. Log in to your WordPress admin area.
2. Go to Plugins and look for the Search Atlas or OTTO plugin.
3. If it is installed, update it to the latest version and make sure it is activated. If it is missing, reinstall it from the setup instructions in your OTTO project.
4. Return to your OTTO project in Search Atlas and follow the connection steps shown for WordPress.
5. Enter the connection details, such as the API key or authorization shown in your project, in the plugin settings.
6. Save your changes and return to the dashboard to check the connection status.

If the plugin was deactivated or removed while the site was frozen, reinstalling it and reconnecting is normal and does not affect your content.

🧪 Step 3: Confirm Everything Works

• The site shows an active status in your OTTO project list.
• The plugin shows as connected in WordPress and in the dashboard.
• Your pages are visible in the project and OTTO can detect them.
• Clear any caching plugin or CDN cache on your site so new optimizations appear when pages load.

Optimizations may take a little time to show on your live pages after reconnecting, especially on large sites.

🛠️ Common Issues and Fixes

• The site does not appear in my dashboard: Confirm you are using the original account, check any filters, and make sure your plan has available site slots.
• The unfreeze option is unavailable: Your plan may have reached its site limit. Upgrade your plan or free up a slot by freezing another site.
• The plugin will not connect: Update the plugin, confirm that the connection details were copied without extra spaces, and make sure no security plugin or firewall is blocking the connection.
• The site shows as connected but nothing changes: Clear your site cache and your CDN cache, then reload the page.
• I changed my domain or website setup since freezing: The old connection may no longer match. Reconnect the site using the current domain or set it up as a new project.

💡 Tips to Avoid Problems in the Future

• Keep the WordPress plugin installed while a site is frozen, so you only need to reactivate it later.
• Note which sites you froze and why, so you can reactivate them quickly when you return.
• Check your plan's site limit before unfreezing several sites at once.
• Keep your plugin and WordPress version up to date.

💬 Still Need Help?

Deep-frozen sites sometimes need to be restored by our team, especially if a site has been inactive for many months or the connection cannot be re-established from your dashboard. When you reach out, mention the domain names of the sites you want restored so we can help faster.

If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be instantly connected with a member of our team.