Credit Errors by Product

🔍 Request a Universal Credits Migration Audit

🛠️ SAB Dummy Address Suppression and Credit Reimbursement

⚙️ OTTO Slot Billing and Allocation Changes

💡 Understand OTTO slots and billing OTTO slots represent the number of website allocations included in your plan. Your charge is based on the subscription or billing change applied to your account, while the slot allocation shown in OTTO may update separately. A reduced slot count may not immediately change an invoice that has already been created or a charge that has already processed. For example, lowering an allocation from 16 to 14 may not reverse a $630 charge if the billing event was finalized before the change. 🔄 Change your OTTO allocation 1. Open OTTO SEO from the left sidebar. 2. Locate the slot or allocation control for your account. 3. Set the desired number of slots, such as 13. 4. Save or confirm the change if prompted. 5. Refresh the page and verify that the new allocation is displayed. Changes can depend on your billing cycle, plan terms, and when the update is submitted. The account may continue showing the previous amount until the change synchronizes across billing and OTTO. 🧾 Why a charge may remain after reducing slots - The charge was processed before the reduction took effect. - The change updated future allocation but did not modify a completed billing transaction. - The displayed slider value did not save or synchronize correctly. - Your account has a separate active OTTO add-on or quota allocation that still determines billing. Do not assume that moving the slider alone confirms a completed billing change. Always refresh the page and check the displayed allocation after saving. 🛠️ If the slider or allocation is incorrect 1. Return to OTTO SEO in the left sidebar. 2. Set the allocation to the required value and save it again. 3. Refresh the page, then confirm whether the value remains unchanged. 4. Check your billing or subscription details to see whether the charge is pending, completed, or scheduled for a future cycle. 5. Keep a screenshot of the displayed slot count and the charge details if the values do not match. A completed charge cannot be corrected by changing the slider afterward. If the account still shows the wrong allocation or the billing amount does not match the expected change, the account requires a review of its billing and quota records. ✅ Best practices for avoiding confusion - Make allocation changes before the next billing event whenever possible. - Confirm the saved value after every change. - Check both the OTTO allocation and billing details rather than relying only on the slider. - Avoid making repeated changes while an earlier update is still synchronizing. 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.

🧾 Find Press Release Credit Receipts

📌 What a press release receipt includes Each press release order uses HDC credits during checkout and fulfillment. Your transaction record may include the order, date, credit amount, and any applicable charges, such as the 10-credit editorial review charge. 🔍 How to find your order details 1. Open the Search Atlas platform. 2. Go to the Press Releases or Authority Marketplace area. 3. Open your order history and select the relevant press release. 4. Review the order details, fulfillment status, and HDC credit activity shown for that order. 🧾 Request official proof of purchase Exportable, order-level HDC credit receipts and transaction history are being improved. If a downloadable receipt is not available for your order, request an official order record through in-platform support. Include the press release title or URL, approximate order date, and any other details that help identify the transaction. This information can be used for your internal marketing expense tracking. 💡 Important credit details - HDC credit usage is tied to the specific press release order. - Refunds or credit adjustments may appear separately from the original order. - The editorial review charge may be included as part of the order total. - Displayed credit amounts can vary based on the order and its fulfillment activity. 💬 Need help locating a receipt? 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.

🔄 Update Client Domain With OTTO Integration

🗺️ Overview When a client migrates to a new domain, you need to update their project in Search Atlas and reconnect OTTO SEO to the new domain. This article walks you through the full process so rankings, automations, and optimizations continue without disruption. ⚠️ Before You Begin Keep these points in mind before making any changes: - OTTO is domain-specific. Activations, tasks, and configurations are tied to the domain you originally connected. The domain of an existing OTTO project cannot be changed in place — to move OTTO to a different domain (including www vs non-www), you must create a new OTTO project for the new domain and install its pixel. - Save your OTTO settings first. Note down any active task categories, priorities, or custom configurations so you can reapply them after reconnecting. - Ensure the new domain is live. OTTO needs to crawl the new domain successfully, so confirm it is publicly accessible before starting. 🛠️ Step 1 — Update the Domain in Site Explorer 1. In the left sidebar, click Site Metrics (Site Explorer). 2. Locate the client's project in the list and click the three-dot menu (⋮) next to it. 3. Select Edit Project or Settings. 4. Replace the old domain with the client's new domain in the domain field. 5. Save your changes. Once saved, Search Atlas will associate all future data collection — including rank tracking and site metrics — with the new domain. 🔍 Step 2 — Verify Rank Tracker and Keyword Tools After updating the domain, confirm that your keyword tools are pointing to the correct destination: - Navigate to Keywords → Rank Tracker and confirm the tracked keywords now show the new domain in the ranking data. - Check Keywords → Keyword Magic and Keywords → Keyword Gap to ensure competitor and keyword analysis reflects the updated domain. - If any tool still references the old domain, re-enter the new domain in that tool's settings before proceeding. 🤖 Step 3 — Create a New OTTO Project for the New Domain 1. In the left sidebar, click OTTO SEO, then open SEO Automation (URL: /seo-automation-v3). 2. Because the domain of an existing OTTO project cannot be changed, create a new OTTO project for the new domain. 3. Install the new project's pixel on the new domain and complete the domain verification step. 4. Re-enter your WordPress or CMS credentials if prompted. ⚙️ Step 4 — Reapply Your OTTO Configuration After reconnecting, OTTO will treat the new domain as a fresh setup. Reapply any settings you noted earlier: - Re-enable your preferred task categories (e.g., title tags, meta descriptions, schema markup). - Review the task queue and approve or dismiss any newly generated recommendations. - Set your deployment preferences — automatic or manual — as needed for the client. OTTO will begin crawling the new domain and generating optimizations based on its current content and structure. ✅ Step 5 — Confirm Everything Is Working Run a quick check to make sure all tools are aligned with the new domain: - Site Explorer: Confirm the domain shown in the project list matches the client's new domain. - Rank Tracker: Verify keyword positions are being tracked for the new domain. - OTTO SEO V3 / OTTO: Confirm OTTO status shows as Connected and tasks are being generated for the new domain. 💡 Tips and Common Issues - OTTO still showing old domain tasks? Remember that an existing OTTO project's domain cannot be changed in place — make sure you have created a new OTTO project for the new domain and installed its pixel as described in Step 3. - Rank data not updating? Allow 24–48 hours for fresh crawl data and ranking updates to populate after a domain change. - Keyword Gap or Keyword Magic pulling old data? Re-run an analysis using the new domain URL to refresh results. - Domain verification failing? Confirm the new domain is publicly accessible and that your CMS credentials are correct before retrying. 💬 Need More Help? 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.

🔄 Configuring Projects and OTTO After Domain Migration

🧭 Overview​ Migrating to a new domain raises an important question: should your main site and a subdomain (like a Shopify store) live in one project or two? This guide explains how to structure your projects and configure your OTTO pixels so you capture all of your traffic accurately after a migration. We'll use a common example: a customer who migrated airocidesystems.com to airocide.com and moved their Shopify store to shop.airocide.com. 🏗️ One Project or Two? The general rule is simple: create one project per OTTO pixel installation. Because each project generates a single OTTO pixel, and a pixel lives on one codebase, the answer depends on how your sites are built. - Your main site (airocide.com) and your Shopify store (shop.airocide.com) are almost always on separate platforms with separate codebases. This means each needs its own OTTO pixel, and therefore two projects. - If both addresses were served from the exact same platform and shared one template where a single pixel could fire site-wide, one project could be enough. With a separate Shopify subdomain, this is rarely the case. For the example above, the recommended setup is two projects: one for airocide.com and one for shop.airocide.com. ​ 📁 Setting Up Your Projects​ Follow these steps to create or update your projects after a migration: 1. Open your dashboard and create a new project using your new primary domain, airocide.com. 2. Create a second project for your store subdomain, shop.airocide.com. 3. If you had an existing project for the old domain (airocidesystems.com), keep it for historical reference — the domain of an existing OTTO project cannot be changed in place, so you'll need to create a new OTTO project for the new domain and install its pixel. 4. Confirm each project points to the correct, live URL so crawls and reports reflect your new structure.​ Because an existing OTTO project's domain cannot be edited, moving to a new domain (including www vs non-www) always requires creating a new OTTO project for the new domain and installing its pixel. If your historical OTTO SEO data needs to be moved to a new domain or account (for example, when a migration spans separate accounts), our team can migrate that data for you on request. 🚀 Installing OTTO Pixels Correctly​ Each project provides its own unique OTTO pixel. Install the matching pixel on the matching property: 1. Open the airocide.com project and copy its OTTO pixel script. 2. Add that script to the section of your main site so it loads on every page. 3. Open the shop.airocide.com project and copy its separate OTTO pixel script. 4. Add that script to your Shopify theme so it loads across all store pages. 5. Activate OTTO in each project once the pixel is detected. Installing the correct pixel on each property is what allows OTTO to apply optimizations and capture traffic for both your main site and your store independently. ​ ✅ Verifying Traffic Is Captured​ After installation, confirm that both pixels are firing and traffic is flowing: - Check the pixel status indicator in each project; it should show as connected or active. - Visit a few live pages on each domain and confirm the pixel loads without errors. - Allow some time for data to populate, then review traffic and analytics in each project separately. - If a project shows the pixel or UUID as not detected even though the script is correctly installed, and your site is served through Cloudflare or another CDN, this can be related to how CDN-fronted pixels are detected. A known case of pixels not being detected behind Cloudflare has been resolved; if you still see a not-detected status, start a live chat so we can confirm your setup.​ Because the two properties are tracked in separate projects, you'll review their performance individually rather than as a single combined report. ​ 🔁 Handling Redirects and the Old Domain​ Domain migrations work best when traffic from old addresses is preserved: - Ensure 301 redirects are in place from airocidesystems.com pages to their matching airocide.com pages so link value and visitors transfer smoothly. - You do not need to keep a project or pixel running on the old domain once redirects are live, since visitors will land on your new domain where the new pixel fires. - Monitor your new projects over the following weeks to confirm traffic is consolidating onto the new domain. 💡 Best Practices - Use one project per pixel-bearing property to keep tracking clean and accurate. - To move OTTO to a different domain, create a new OTTO project for the new domain and install its pixel, since an existing OTTO project's domain cannot be changed in place. - Double-check that each pixel is installed on the correct property before activating OTTO. - Confirm redirects are working so no traffic is lost during the transition.​ 💬 Need More Help?​ If you need further assistance, click the chat icon in the bottom-right corner of the platform to start a live chat, then type "Human Teammate" and you'll be connected with a member of our team.

🔄 OTTO Domain Migration Cutover Sequence Guide

Overview If your website is moving to a new domain — for example, from one domain extension to another — your OTTO project may be able to follow the migration without losing your Knowledge Graph or settings. This article explains what is typically preserved, what requires attention, and the recommended approach during a domain cutover. Key Constraints to Understand First Before you begin, review these important limitations: - One domain per OTTO project: Each OTTO project is tied to a single root domain. You cannot run one project across two domains simultaneously. - Resolved optimizations are domain-scoped: OTTO tracks resolved items against specific URLs. When the domain changes, those URLs change, which means resolved statuses may not automatically transfer to the new domain's URL set. - Knowledge Graph is project-level: Your Knowledge Graph (entity data, business information, topical authority settings) lives at the project level and is preserved as long as you do not delete the project. - Domain cannot be changed in place: The website is set when an OTTO project is created and cannot be edited in the project settings. To move OTTO to a different domain (including www vs non-www), create a new OTTO project for the new domain and install its pixel. - A full re-crawl is required: After cutover, OTTO must crawl the new domain to surface its pages, errors, and opportunities before it can apply or verify optimizations. What Is Preserved vs. What Needs Attention - Preserved automatically: Knowledge Graph data, OTTO configuration settings, custom rules, and your connected integrations. - Requires re-verification: Previously resolved optimizations — OTTO will re-audit the new domain's URLs and previously resolved items may appear as open until OTTO confirms they are still applied on the new domain. - Requires a new project: The domain of an existing OTTO project cannot be changed. You must create a new OTTO project for the new domain and install its pixel before OTTO can crawl and index the new site. Recommended Approach Because the domain of an existing OTTO project cannot be changed in place, migrating to a new domain requires creating a new OTTO project for the new domain and installing its pixel. If you'd like guidance through this process, contact our support team before making any changes — a teammate can walk you through the correct steps for your account and help you avoid losing resolved optimization progress. When you reach out, please have the following ready: - The name of your OTTO project - Your current (old) domain and the new domain you are migrating to - The status of your DNS/server-side migration (whether 301 redirects are already in place) - Any relevant Google Search Console property changes you have made - A note of how many resolved optimizations you currently have, so progress can be cross-checked after migration 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.

🏪 Purchasing Local SEO Credits in Search Atlas

🔍 What Are Local SEO Credits? Local SEO credits power your local ranking features inside Search Atlas. You use credits to track keywords across specific geographic locations, helping you monitor how your business appears in local search results. Each keyword you add to a local project consumes credits from your account balance. 🛒 How to Purchase Local SEO Credits 1. Log in to your Search Atlas account. 2. Click on your Avatar in the top-right corner of the platform. 3. Navigate to Billing → Plans & Top-ups. 4. Locate the Local section (with Local SERP Heatmaps and Automated Postings quotas). 5. Select the credit package that fits your needs and complete the purchase. Your credits will be available immediately after the transaction is confirmed. 📍 How to Add Keywords Using Local SEO Credits Once you have credits, you can assign keywords to a local project. Follow these steps: 1. In the left sidebar, click Local (lands on GBP Projects) to see your existing projects, or create a new one. 2. Open the project you want to add keywords to. 3. Look for the Add Keywords button inside the project dashboard. 4. Enter the keywords you want to track. For each keyword, set the target location (city, region, or ZIP code) to define the local area you want to monitor. 5. Confirm your selection. Each keyword added will deduct the corresponding credits from your balance. After adding keywords, Search Atlas will begin tracking your local rankings for those terms in the specified locations. 💡 Tips for Getting the Most from Your Credits - Prioritise high-value keywords: Focus on terms your customers are most likely to search for in your service area. - Group keywords by location: If you serve multiple cities, organise keywords by location to keep reporting clear. - Check your credit balance regularly: Monitor remaining credits in your billing or account settings before adding large keyword batches. - Use Keyword Magic for ideas: Go to Left sidebar → Keywords → Keyword Magic to discover relevant local keywords before adding them to your project. - Monitor performance in Rank Tracker: After adding keywords, track their progress at Left sidebar → Keywords → Rank Tracker. ⚙️ Understanding Credit Usage Credits are consumed on a per keyword, per location basis. For example, tracking the same keyword across three different cities will use three credits. Keep this in mind when planning your local SEO strategy to avoid running out of credits unexpectedly. 🛠️ Troubleshooting Common Issues - Keywords not saving: Check that you have enough credits in your balance before adding new keywords. The platform will alert you if your balance is insufficient. - Credits not appearing after purchase: Refresh the page and check your billing section. If the issue persists, contact support using the chat widget. - Unsure how many credits you need: Calculate based on the number of keywords multiplied by the number of target locations you plan to track. 💬 Need More Help? 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.

🛠️ Add a Domain to OTTO SEO via Agent Chat

Most websites can be added to OTTO SEO in just a few clicks. Occasionally, though, a domain returns a persistent Invalid URL error that does not clear after the usual fixes. When this happens, our agent chat workaround lets our team add the domain manually so you can keep moving. This guide walks you through the standard setup, quick troubleshooting, and how to request the workaround. ​ 🚀 Standard Way to Add a Domain​ Before using the workaround, try the normal flow first, as it resolves the majority of cases. 1. Open OTTO SEO → All Sites (SEO Automation) from the left-hand menu. 2. Click Add Project or Add Domain. 3. Enter your full website URL. 4. Select your platform (for example, WordPress) and follow the prompts. 5. Click Create Project to create the project.​ ⚠️ Why the Invalid URL Error Appears​ The Invalid URL error usually means the address you entered does not match the format OTTO SEO expects, or the domain cannot be verified during setup. Common causes include: - Extra characters, spaces, or trailing slashes in the URL. - Including a path or parameters instead of just the domain. - Mixing up http and https, or adding (or omitting) www incorrectly. - A redirect chain that confuses verification. - Temporary connectivity or DNS issues on the site.​ 🔍 Quick Troubleshooting Steps​ Work through these steps in order. Most Invalid URL errors clear after one of them. 1. Enter the cleanest version of your address, such as https://yourdomain.com, with no trailing slash and no extra path. 2. Try the alternate format if the first fails, for example switch between www and the non-www version. 3. Confirm your site loads normally in a browser and is not down for maintenance. 4. Check that your site does not force an unexpected redirect to another domain. 5. Refresh the page, clear your browser cache, or try a different browser, then attempt the setup again.​ 💬 Using the Agent Chat Workaround​ If the error continues after all the steps above, our team can add the domain for you manually through live chat. This is the recommended workaround for stubborn Invalid URL errors, such as the one some WordPress sites experience even after every standard troubleshooting step has been tried. 1. Click the chat icon in the bottom-right corner of the platform to start a live chat with a member of our team. 2. Let the agent know you are seeing a persistent Invalid URL error when adding a domain to OTTO SEO. 3. Provide the exact domain you want to add, written out in full. 4. Confirm the platform your site runs on, such as WordPress. 5. Share the troubleshooting steps you have already tried so the agent can skip them.​ The agent will add the domain to your OTTO SEO account on your behalf. Once it has been added, you will see the new project appear in your OTTO SEO dashboard. ✅ After Your Domain Is Added​ Once the domain is in place, you can continue your setup as normal: - Install or confirm the OTTO SEO connection on your site. - Enable the dynamic optimizations you want to run. - Review your recommendations and deploy changes from the dashboard.​ The manual workaround only affects how the domain is added. After that, every OTTO SEO feature works exactly the same as a domain added through the standard flow. In rare cases, a project added this way may at first appear incomplete or not begin processing right away — a known issue that has since been resolved. If your new project does not start processing, refresh your dashboard, and if it still does not begin, reach out via live chat so our team can confirm it is set up correctly. 📌 Helpful Tips to Avoid Future Errors​ - Always enter the root domain unless instructed otherwise. - Keep your URL free of spaces, quotes, and trailing characters. - Make sure your site is live and reachable before adding it. - If you manage multiple sites, add them one at a time to confirm each is verified.​

💡 Purchasing and Topping Up AI Credits in Content Genius

🔍 What Are AI Credits? AI credits are the currency used inside Content Genius to generate content such as blog posts, meta descriptions, and other AI-assisted outputs. Each generation task consumes a set number of credits. When your credits run low or run out, you will need to purchase a top-up to continue creating content. 📍 Where to Find the AI Credits Top-Up Feature You can access the AI credits purchase option from your account's billing area in Search Atlas. Follow these steps: 1. Log in to your Search Atlas account. 2. Click your avatar in the top-right corner. 3. Select Billing. 4. Open Plans & Top-ups to view your current credit balance. 5. Click the Top Up button on the Plans & Top-ups page. 6. Choose the credit package that suits your needs and complete the purchase using your preferred payment method. Your new credits will be added to your account immediately after a successful payment, and you can resume generating content right away. 📊 How Credits Are Used Across Content Tools AI credits are shared across all Content Genius tools available under the Content section of Search Atlas, including: - Content Genius — generate full blog posts, outlines, and structured content. - Content Planner — plan and create content strategies with AI assistance. - Meta Generator — produce optimised meta titles and descriptions at scale. - Scholar — research and generate evidence-backed content. - Topical Maps — build topic clusters and content hierarchies. - On-Page Audit — some AI-assisted recommendations may also draw on your credits. Because credits are shared across these tools, it is a good idea to monitor your balance regularly, especially during high-volume content production periods. 💡 Tips for Managing Your AI Credits - Check your balance before large projects. Before generating a batch of blog posts or running multiple audits, confirm you have enough credits to cover the work. - Top up proactively. Purchasing credits before they reach zero prevents any interruption to your workflow. - Review credit consumption per task. Different content types may consume different amounts of credits. Larger or more complex outputs generally use more credits than shorter ones. 🛠️ Troubleshooting Common Issues If you experience any of the following issues, the steps below may help resolve them: - Credits not appearing after purchase: Refresh your browser and check your balance again. Credits are usually applied instantly, but occasionally a refresh is needed. - Top Up button not visible: Make sure you are navigating to the top-right avatar → Billing → Plans & Top-ups page and that you are fully logged in to your account. - Payment not going through: Double-check that your payment details are correct and that your card is authorised for online transactions. Try a different browser if the issue persists. 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.

🔍 OTTO Suggested Fixes Blank After Audit

🧐 Why Suggested Fixes Appear Blank After a recrawl, OTTO does not populate all suggested fixes at once — it analyses pages progressively as the crawl processes your site. If you open the audit results while the crawl is still running, or immediately after it finishes, you will typically see a small number of populated fixes alongside a large number of blank rows. This is expected behaviour, not a bug. Additional causes for blank suggested fixes include: - Crawl still in progress: Fixes are generated as each page is processed. Blank rows simply mean those pages have not been analysed yet. - Crawl interrupted or incomplete: A timeout, crawl-credit limit, or connectivity issue can stop the crawl early, leaving unvisited pages without recommendations. - Pages excluded from the crawl: Pages that are noindexed, blocked by robots.txt, or manually excluded will not receive suggested fixes. - Stale audit view: The results panel sometimes does not refresh automatically after a crawl completes, causing the display to appear out of sync. 🛠️ Step-by-Step: Get Your Fixes to Populate 1. Verify the crawl has fully completed. Go to Left sidebar → OTTO SEO → Site Audit → Crawl Monitoring. A spinning indicator or a Crawling status means analysis is still running — wait until the status changes to Completed before reviewing results. 2. Refresh the overview page. Once the crawl shows Completed, navigate to Left sidebar → OTTO SEO → All Sites, open your project card, then go to Left sidebar → OTTO SEO → Overview. Press Ctrl + R (Windows) or Cmd + R (Mac) to force the latest fix data to load. 3. Review pending tasks. Visit Left sidebar → OTTO SEO → All Sites (SEO Automation) → select your site → Overview (OTTO Grader) and check the Pending Optimizations section for any queued or stuck OTTO action items. Resolving or dismissing stale tasks can unblock the fix generation process. 4. Inspect individual pages. Go to Left sidebar → OTTO SEO → Site Audit → Page Explorer and click a page that shows a blank fix. If the page status reads Not Crawled or Excluded, that page was skipped during the audit and will not receive suggestions until it is included in a future crawl. Check your crawl settings to ensure the page is not inadvertently excluded. 5. Trigger a fresh recrawl. If fixes remain blank after completing the steps above, start a new crawl from Left sidebar → OTTO SEO → All Sites by opening your project card and selecting the recrawl option. Allow the crawl to finish completely before reviewing suggested fixes. ⏳ How Long Should You Wait? OTTO populates fixes progressively throughout the crawl. For small sites (under 100 pages), recommendations typically appear within a few minutes of the crawl completing. Larger sites with hundreds or thousands of pages may take noticeably longer. Always confirm the Completed status in Left sidebar → OTTO SEO → Site Audit → Crawl Monitoring before concluding that fixes are missing. Important: Avoid launching a second recrawl while one is already in progress. Overlapping crawls can produce incomplete or inconsistent fix data. ✅ Quick Checklist Before Contacting Support - Crawl status shows Completed in Left sidebar → OTTO SEO → Site Audit → Crawl Monitoring - Browser has been refreshed after the crawl finished - No pending or stuck tasks in the Pending Optimizations section under Left sidebar → OTTO SEO → All Sites (SEO Automation) → select your site → Overview (OTTO Grader) - Affected pages are not marked Excluded or Not Crawled in Left sidebar → OTTO SEO → Site Audit → Page Explorer - Sufficient time has passed for OTTO to process all crawled pages 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.

⚙️ Disable OTTO Automated Changes Without Losing Progress

🔍 Overview OTTO is Search Atlas's AI-powered SEO automation engine. It applies on-page optimizations to your site automatically once activated. If you want to stop OTTO from making further changes — without undoing the work it has already completed — this article explains what to expect and how to proceed safely. 💡 What Happens When You Disable OTTO? Before making any changes, it's important to understand the difference between pausing OTTO and rolling back changes: - Disabling or deactivating OTTO stops the OTTO pixel from serving OTTO's changes to your site. Changes written directly into your site's CMS are not served by the pixel, but your project's settings, recommendations, and history are preserved for later reactivation. - Rolling back changes is a separate action that reverses specific optimizations. This article does NOT cover rollbacks — only how to stop future automation. In short: turning off OTTO preserves your project's settings, recommendations, and history for later reactivation, though the OTTO pixel will stop serving OTTO's changes while disengaged. 🛠️ How to Disable OTTO Automated Changes 1. Log in to your Search Atlas account. 2. Navigate to the OTTO SEO section of the platform. 3. Locate the OTTO session connected to the site you want to manage. 4. Click into the OTTO session to open its settings. 5. Find the option to disable or deactivate automation for that session. 6. Turn off automation for the session. 7. Confirm the action if a confirmation prompt appears. Once automation is turned off, OTTO will stop processing new changes, and the OTTO pixel will stop serving OTTO's changes to your site. Changes written directly into your site's CMS are not served by the pixel. ✅ Confirming OTTO Is No Longer Active After disabling automation, verify the status by checking the session settings to confirm that automation has been turned off. If you still see new changes being applied after disabling automation, wait a few minutes for any in-progress tasks to complete, then refresh the page to confirm the updated status. 🔄 Re-Enabling OTTO in the Future You can turn OTTO back on at any time by returning to your OTTO session and switching automation back on. OTTO will resume analyzing and deploying optimizations, and the pixel will resume serving OTTO's changes. Your project's settings, recommendations, and history are preserved during the pause period. ⚠️ Important Considerations - Deactivating does not remove your OTTO project. Settings, recommendations, and history remain visible and accessible for later reactivation. - The OTTO pixel stops serving OTTO's changes while the project is disengaged. Changes written directly into your site's CMS are not served by the pixel. - You remain in full control. You can re-enable automation whenever you are ready to continue. 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.

✍️ Content Genius AI Credits and Article Generation

📋 Overview Content Genius uses AI credits to generate articles. If your account does not have sufficient AI credits, article generation will fail — even if other users on the same account (such as admins) can generate content without issue. This article explains how AI credits work, why you may see an error, and how to fix it. ⚠️ Understanding the 'Article Generation Could Not Be Started' Error If you see the message "Article generation could not be started" when trying to generate an article in Content Genius, this typically means one of the following: - Your user account does not have enough AI credits assigned to it. - The workspace or sub-account you are working in has run out of AI credits. - Your user role has a credit limit that differs from the admin's limit. Admins often have access to the full pool of AI credits and may not encounter this error, while other users — such as editors or contributors — may have a separate, lower credit allocation. This is why admins can generate articles without issue while other users cannot. 🔍 How to Check Your AI Credit Balance Before attempting to generate an article, confirm that your account has available AI credits: 1. Log in to Search Atlas. 2. Click your avatar (usually in the top-right corner) and go to Billing → Plans & Top-ups. 3. Look for the Your Plan and Credits section to see your current balance. 4. If your balance is at zero or below the required threshold, you will need to top up or have an admin allocate credits to your user profile. ✍️ How to Generate an Article in Content Genius Once you have confirmed you have sufficient AI credits, follow these steps to generate an article: 1. In the left sidebar, go to Content → Content Genius. 2. Click Generate or Write with AI in Bulk depending on your needs. 3. Enter your target keyword or topic, configure your settings, and click Generate. 4. The platform will consume AI credits and begin producing your article. If you prefer to write without AI assistance, select Write it yourself — this option does not consume AI credits. 🛠️ How to Resolve the Error If you are still seeing the error after checking your credit balance, try the following: - Contact your workspace admin: Ask them to review AI credit allocations for your user role. Admins can adjust how credits are distributed across team members. - Upgrade your plan: If the entire workspace is out of AI credits, the account owner may need to purchase additional credits or upgrade the subscription plan. - Check your user role permissions: Some roles may have restrictions on AI feature usage. An admin can update your permissions if needed. - Refresh and retry: Occasionally a temporary system issue can trigger this error. Wait a moment, refresh the page, and try again. 💡 Tips for Managing AI Credits Efficiently - Use Write with AI in Bulk only when you need to generate multiple articles at once, as this consumes more credits per session. - For shorter or less complex content, consider using Write it yourself and supplementing with targeted AI suggestions to save credits. - Admins should regularly review credit usage under account settings to avoid unexpected shortfalls for team members. 🙋 Need More Help? If you have followed the steps above and are still experiencing the error, or if you are unsure how to adjust credit allocations for your team, we are here to help. 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.

⚡ Managing OTTO Credits and Client Installation Validation

Overview When working with clients, it is important to understand exactly when OTTO credits are used and what happens if a client never installs the OTTO code. This article explains what our support team has confirmed about credit consumption timing and the recommended workflow to protect your credits before committing them to a new project. When Are OTTO Credits Consumed? Based on confirmed support guidance, OTTO credits are deducted when a new OTTO project is created, not when OTTO is activated or deployed on the site. This means: - Creating a project for a client uses one credit right away. - If the client never installs the OTTO code, the credit is still consumed. - Simply leaving a project inactive does not protect or return your credit. Understanding this timing is critical before you create any new project on behalf of a client. Recovering Credits If you need to recover an OTTO credit, options may be available depending on your situation — such as removing the website from the project or deleting the project entirely. The availability, timing, and conditions of credit recovery (including any waiting periods or data loss implications) can vary. To understand exactly what recovery options apply to your account and project, please contact our support team directly for guidance before taking any action. Recommended Workflow: Validate Installation Before Creating a Project To avoid losing credits when a client is undecided or has not yet installed the OTTO code, follow this workflow before creating the project in Search Atlas: 1. Share the OTTO installation instructions with your client first. Send them the installation documentation and ask them to add the OTTO script to their website before you proceed. 2. Ask the client to confirm installation in writing. Get a clear confirmation via email, message, or your preferred communication channel before taking any action in the platform. 3. Only create the OTTO project once installation is confirmed. This ensures that when you use a credit, the client is ready to proceed and the project will be actively used. 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.

⚡ Consolidate Keyword Tracker Credit Charges

📋 Overview If you have an existing recurring charge for keyword tracker credits and want to add more credits, you may wonder whether those charges can be merged into one. This article explains how keyword tracker credit billing works and what steps to take to consolidate your charges. 🔍 How Keyword Tracker Credits Work Keyword tracker credits are purchased as recurring add-ons on top of your base plan. Each time you add a new credit bundle, it may appear as a separate recurring line item on your billing cycle, rather than being automatically combined with your existing charge. 🛠️ Can These Charges Be Consolidated? Yes, in most cases keyword tracker credit charges can be consolidated into a single recurring payment. However, this requires manual adjustment by our support team, as the billing system does not automatically merge separate add-on subscriptions. Consolidation means your total credit amounts will be billed as one unified recurring charge going forward, rather than as multiple separate line items. 🚀 How to Request Consolidation 1. Log in to your Search Atlas account. 2. Note the credit amounts you currently have under each recurring charge and the credits you want to merge. 3. Contact our support team (see below) with the following details: - Your account email address. - Your current recurring credit amounts for each separate charge. - Your request to consolidate these into a single recurring charge. Our team will review your account and update your billing so everything appears as one consolidated recurring charge. 💡 What to Expect After Consolidation - Your combined credit total will be active after the adjustment is made by our team. - You will see a single recurring charge on your next billing cycle reflecting the full credit amount. 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.

💡 Universal Credits Migration: Audit and Recommendation Guide

💡 What Are Universal Credits? Search Atlas offers two credit systems: legacy tool-specific credits and universal credits. Universal credits work across multiple tools in the platform, giving you more flexibility in how you allocate your usage. However, as noted at recent Search Atlas summits, switching to universal credits is not automatically the best choice for every account — it depends on your specific usage patterns and plan. 🔍 Should You Switch to Universal Credits? The honest answer is: it depends. Some accounts benefit significantly from the flexibility of universal credits, while others are better served by their current tool-specific credit allocations. Factors that influence this include: - How many different tools you use regularly — accounts that rely heavily on just one or two tools may not benefit from pooled credits. - Your monthly usage volume — high-volume users of specific tools may find their existing credit allocations more efficient. - Your current plan tier — certain plans include generous tool-specific allocations that universal credits would not improve upon. - Growth plans and workflow changes — if you plan to expand into new Search Atlas tools, universal credits may offer better long-term value. Because the right answer varies by account, Search Atlas recommends requesting a personalised audit before making any changes. 📊 What Is a Credits Migration Audit? A credits migration audit is a review conducted by the Search Atlas team to analyse your account's current credit usage and determine whether migrating to universal credits would benefit you. During the audit, the team will: 1. Review which tools you use most frequently and at what volume. 2. Compare your current credit consumption against how universal credits would be applied. 3. Identify whether you would gain or lose efficiency by switching. 4. Provide a clear, personalised recommendation — switch, stay, or consider a plan adjustment. This audit is the safest way to make an informed decision and avoid unintended disruption to your workflow. ⚙️ How to Request a Migration Audit There is no self-service migration audit tool at this time. To request your audit, follow these steps: 1. Log in to your Search Atlas account. 2. Open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform. 3. Type human teammate to be connected with a member of the team. 4. Let them know you would like a universal credits migration audit for your account. 5. The team will review your usage data and follow up with a personalised recommendation. There is no cost or commitment associated with requesting an audit — it is simply a consultation to help you make the best decision for your account. ⚠️ Important Considerations Before Switching If you are considering making the switch before completing an audit, keep the following in mind: - Migrations may not be reversible — confirm reversibility with the support team before proceeding. - Credit balances may be recalculated — your existing tool-specific credit balances could be converted, which may affect current allocations. - Timing matters — switching mid-billing cycle may affect how credits are counted for that period. These are all topics the support team can clarify during your audit consultation. 🙋 Still Have Questions? 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.

🗂️ Remove or Freeze an OTTO SEO Project

🔍 Overview When an OTTO SEO project is no longer active, you have two main options: Deep Freeze the project to pause it temporarily, or permanently delete it. This article explains the practical difference between those options and answers common questions about the OTTO code or plugin. ❄️ What Is Deep Freeze? Deep Freeze pauses an OTTO SEO project without removing it from your account. The project record, settings, and history are preserved so you can reactivate it later. When to use Deep Freeze: - The site is temporarily inactive but you may return to it in the future. - You want to stop OTTO activity without losing your project data and configuration. - You need to free up an active project slot on your plan without permanently removing the project. How Deep Freeze affects your quota: Freezing a project is intended to release its active slot so that slot becomes available for another project on your plan. The frozen project remains visible in your account and can be reactivated when you need it again. For confirmation of how slot release works on your specific plan, please reach out to our team. 🗑️ When Should You Delete a Project Instead? Permanent deletion removes the project and all its data from your account. This action cannot be undone — project history, settings, and optimizations are not recoverable after deletion. When to use deletion: - The site no longer exists or will never be used again. - You want to fully remove the project and permanently free up the slot. - You have no need to retain any historical data or settings for that site. If there is any chance you will return to the site, use Deep Freeze instead — it frees up the active slot while keeping your data intact. 📋 Archiving and Plan Limits Your plan includes a limit on the number of active OTTO SEO projects at one time. Deep Freezing a project counts it as inactive, releasing the active slot for use by another project. Deleted projects are removed entirely and permanently free the slot. Frozen projects still appear in your account list but do not consume an active slot. 🔌 Do You Need to Remove the OTTO Code or Plugin? In most cases, you do not need to remove the OTTO tracking code or plugin from your site when you Deep Freeze or delete a project. However, if you are fully decommissioning the site or handing it off to another party, removing the code or plugin is good practice to keep the site clean. If you are unsure whether the code or plugin should be removed for your specific situation, our support team can advise you. 📋 How to Deep Freeze or Delete a Project The exact steps to Deep Freeze or permanently delete an OTTO SEO project depend on your account setup. Because the workflow may vary, we recommend contacting our support team to walk you through the correct steps for your account and plan. When reaching out, please have the following ready: - The name of the OTTO SEO project you want to freeze or delete. - Your account email or workspace name. - Whether you want to Deep Freeze (pause) or permanently delete the project. - Any specific questions about quota or slot release on your plan. 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.

🏢 Managing OTTO SEO for Multi-Location Same-Domain Businesses

🗺️ Overview If your business operates multiple physical locations under a single website and domain, you can create a separate OTTO SEO project for each location. This allows you to target location-specific optimizations — including distinct Google Business Profiles — while sharing the same domain, Google Search Console (GSC) property, and social accounts. This guide walks you through the setup process and explains how OTTO handles shared resources across projects. 📋 Before You Begin Make sure you have the following ready for each location: - A verified Google Business Profile (GBP) for each location - Access to your Google Search Console property (shared across locations is fine) - Your shared domain URL - Location-specific details such as address, phone number, and service area 🚀 Step 1: Create the First OTTO SEO Project 1. In the left sidebar, navigate to OTTO SEO → All Sites (SEO Automation). 2. Click Create New Project (or open an existing project if you have already set one up for your first location). 3. Enter your domain URL in the website field. 4. Connect your Google Search Console property when prompted. 5. Under the Google Business Profile section, select or connect the GBP that corresponds to Location 1. 6. Complete the remaining setup steps and save the project. 🏗️ Step 2: Create a Second OTTO SEO Project for Location 2 1. From OTTO SEO → All Sites (SEO Automation), click Create New Project again. 2. Enter the same domain URL as your first project — this is expected and fully supported. 3. Connect the same Google Search Console property you used for Location 1. 4. Under the Google Business Profile section, select or connect the GBP that corresponds to Location 2. This must be a different GBP than the one used in your first project. 5. Complete the remaining setup steps and save the project. ⚙️ How Shared Resources Are Handled OTTO SEO is designed to support this multi-project setup. Here is how shared and unique elements work across projects: - Domain: The same domain can be used across multiple OTTO projects without conflict. - Google Search Console: The same GSC property can be connected to more than one project. GSC data will reflect the full domain, not individual locations. - Facebook Page: If both locations share a Facebook page, you can connect the same page to both projects. - Google Business Profile: Each project must connect to a unique GBP. This is the key differentiator that allows OTTO to deliver location-specific optimizations, such as GBP post scheduling, review management, and local SEO recommendations. 💡 Tips for Managing Multi-Location Projects - Name your projects clearly: Use descriptive project names that include the location (e.g., "Brand Name – New York" and "Brand Name – Los Angeles") so you can easily switch between them. - Review OTTO suggestions per project: Each project will generate optimization tasks tailored to its connected GBP and local context. Review and apply these separately for each location. - Track performance individually: Although GSC data is shared, OTTO will contextualize recommendations based on each location's GBP signals and local keywords. - Keep GBP listings up to date: OTTO relies on accurate GBP data to generate relevant local SEO tasks. Ensure each location's GBP has correct hours, address, and categories. ❓ Frequently Asked Questions Can I use the same domain for more than two locations? Yes. You can create as many OTTO projects as you have unique Google Business Profiles, all sharing the same domain. Will having multiple projects for the same domain cause duplicate optimizations? No. Each project operates independently based on its connected GBP. OTTO tailors its recommendations to that specific location's local signals. What if my locations share the same GBP? Each OTTO project requires a distinct GBP. If your locations share a single GBP listing, we recommend creating separate GBP listings for each physical location in Google Business before setting up additional OTTO projects. 🆘 Need Help? 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.

🤖 OTTO AI Credits: Quality, Accuracy, and Value

Why This Matters to You It is a fair question: if an AI suggestion might be inaccurate, why should it cost a credit? This article explains how OTTO AI credit consumption works, what drives suggestion quality, when errors are most likely to occur, and how to get value from OTTO's on-page optimization diagnostics including title tag and meta description suggestions. How OTTO AI Credits Work OTTO AI credits are associated with the generation of suggestions for on-page elements such as meta descriptions, title tags, and H1 tags. If you have questions about how credits are counted for a specific action or project, our support team can review your account and provide clarification. Accuracy and When to Apply Extra Review OTTO AI suggestions are useful in most scenarios, but it is important to understand where human review adds the most value. When suggestions tend to perform well: - Pages with substantial, well-structured on-page content for the model to reference - Target keywords that are clearly defined in your OTTO project settings - Standard page types such as product pages, service pages, and blog posts When to apply extra scrutiny: - Thin pages with limited body content — the model has less source material and may produce generic phrasing - Highly technical or niche topics where factual precision is critical (medical, legal, financial) - Brand-specific claims, pricing details, or proprietary product names that the model cannot verify In these higher-risk cases, treat the generated output as a first draft, not a final answer. Your editorial review supplies the accuracy guarantee. Title Tag Explanations and On-Page Optimization Diagnostics When OTTO flags a title tag, meta description, or H1 tag for optimization, each recommendation is tied to a specific SEO diagnostic reason. To understand why a particular element was flagged and what OTTO is recommending, locate the flagged element within your OTTO project and review the context provided alongside the suggestion. Use the suggestion as a starting point and edit as needed to ensure accuracy before applying it to your page. If you are unsure why a specific element was flagged, or if the explanation provided does not seem to match your page, our team can walk you through the diagnostic in detail. When reaching out, please have your project name and the specific page URL or element in question ready so we can assist you efficiently. 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.

PR Releases: Pricing, Credits, and Ranking Impact

Overview PR releases are a tool for building your site's authority and improving ranking priority. This article covers how PR release pricing and credits work, what the Implementer service plan includes, and how PR releases connect to ranking impact inside Search Atlas. How PR Release Pricing Works PR releases in Search Atlas are distributed through press wire and media distribution channels. Credits are used when a release is submitted for distribution. - Credits are consumed at submission. A credit cost applies when you submit a release for distribution. Review your available credit balance before submitting to ensure you have enough credits for the release. - Distribution scope affects cost. Selecting wider or more premium distribution channels increases the credit cost for a release. You can adjust your distribution selections during setup to find a configuration that fits your available credits. - Adding more credits. To increase your credit allocation, you can upgrade your plan or purchase additional credits through your billing settings. What the Implementer Plan Includes The Implementer service is a done-for-you plan where Search Atlas specialists carry out SEO tasks on your behalf each billing cycle. The following is a general overview of what this plan covers. - Managed SEO work: The Implementer team handles SEO tasks such as content creation, link building, and PR distribution for websites in your account. You do not need to manually submit these tasks — the team executes them on your behalf. - Coverage scope: The number of websites covered and the volume of tasks completed per cycle depends on your specific Implementer plan tier. Contact the team to confirm which websites are included in your coverage. - Trial onboarding: If you are in a trial period, Implementer deliverables typically begin after onboarding is confirmed by the team. Check your welcome email for the expected start date. If you have completed onboarding and have not seen deliverables begin within the timeframe stated in your welcome email, reach out to the support team for clarification. How PR Releases Affect Your Ranking PR releases contribute to your site's authority and ranking performance within Search Atlas. Each published PR release supports authority building through media distribution, which can improve your site's ranking priority over time. The impact of individual releases will vary based on distribution scope and the competitiveness of your target keywords. 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.

OTTO Slots Stuck Due to Frozen Sites

What Is This Issue? Some users find that their OTTO slots show as fully used even though no active projects are visible. Deleted or deep-frozen sites may reappear in the OTTO section, and any attempt to create a new project or unfreeze an existing one results in a quota error. This is a known bug currently being resolved by the engineering team. Why This Happens When a site enters a deep freeze state, it continues to hold an OTTO slot for a set period — typically 14 days from the freeze date — before that slot is automatically released. If a site appears deleted but is still in a deep freeze cycle, it can silently occupy your quota, making it impossible to use your slots normally. A fix to allow deleting deep-frozen projects to immediately free a slot has already been completed by engineering, and additional improvements to show a clear countdown for when frozen slots will be released are currently in development. What You Should Do First 1. Open OTTO SEO → All Sites (SEO Automation) in your account and review all projects listed, including any that appear frozen or inactive. 2. Check whether any frozen sites are still occupying your slots. Even if you previously deleted a site, it may still be holding a slot during the deep freeze period. 3. If you can unfreeze a project, do so and then delete it to free that slot manually. 4. If the unfreeze or delete actions are blocked by a quota error, proceed to the steps below — our support team can add a temporary slot so you can complete the action yourself. The Workaround (Applied by Support) In confirmed cases of this bug, the support team applies a temporary workaround: one extra OTTO site slot is added to your account. This gives you the headroom needed to either unfreeze and delete a stuck project, or create a new OTTO project right away. The temporary slot is removed, and your original quota is restored, once the deep freeze period ends and the frozen slots are automatically released — typically 14 days after the last deep freeze event. Because this workaround requires a manual adjustment to your account, it cannot be completed as a self-serve step. To get unblocked as quickly as possible, contact our support team using the chat option inside Search Atlas — an agent can apply the slot addition in the same session. How to Request the Fix 1. Before reaching out, note the following so the agent can act quickly: the number of slots shown as used, the names or URLs of any frozen or reappearing sites, and the approximate date those sites were frozen or deleted. 2. Open the in-platform chat inside Search Atlas by clicking the chat widget in the bottom-right corner and typing human teammate to be connected with a member of our team. 3. Share the details above and request a temporary slot addition to unblock your OTTO quota. Agents can apply this adjustment in the same session, so have your site details ready to speed up the process. 4. Once the slot is added, return to your OTTO projects, unfreeze and delete the stuck site, or create your new project. Your quota will return to normal automatically after the deep freeze period ends — no further action is needed on your end. What Happens Next After the support agent adds the temporary slot, you will have immediate access to complete the action that was previously blocked. The frozen site will continue its deep freeze cycle and the slot it holds will be released automatically at the end of that period. You do not need to follow up with support once you have completed your unfreeze or project creation — the quota correction happens automatically. If you are still seeing quota errors after the temporary slot has been added, reply in the same chat thread and the agent will investigate further.

💳 Requesting Credits for Long-Outstanding OTTO SEO Issues

🔍 Overview If you have open OTTO SEO issues that have remained unresolved for an extended period — particularly 30 days or more — you may be eligible to request a credit adjustment for the impact those issues have had on your account. This article explains what qualifies, how to document your case, and how to submit a credit request effectively. ⚠️ What Counts as a Long-Outstanding Issue A long-outstanding issue is one that has been actively affecting your OTTO SEO deployment or credit usage for a significant period without a confirmed resolution. Common examples that may qualify include: - Unresolved deployment errors that prevent OTTO from applying recommendations correctly. - Credit drain caused by known platform behaviour, such as OTTO flagging its own injected elements as audit errors or repeatedly processing image alt tags despite no changes. - Recommendation generation failures where OTTO is unable to produce suggestions even when sufficient credits are available. - Any issue open for 30 days or more that has measurably limited your ability to use the product as intended. 📋 Before You Submit a Credit Request To help our team assess your case quickly, gather the following information before reaching out: 1. Issue description: A brief summary of each problem you experienced, including when it first appeared. 2. Duration: The approximate start date for each issue and whether it is still ongoing. 3. Impact on credits: Estimate how many credits were consumed or wasted as a direct result of the issue. You can review your credit usage history inside the platform by clicking your Avatar (top-right) → Billing → Activity Log. 4. Affected sites or projects: List the domain(s) or OTTO projects impacted. 5. Any previous support interactions: Reference any earlier conversations where the issue was reported so our team can locate the history quickly. 🛠️ Known Issues That Have Affected Accounts The following platform-level issues have been identified and may have impacted your OTTO SEO usage. If any of these apply to your account, mention them specifically in your credit request: - Site Audit flagging OTTO-injected elements as errors: This caused some accounts to see inflated audit error counts. The only available resolution at the time was removing the OTTO pixel. If this affected your workflow or credit usage, note it in your request. - Image alt tag re-processing: Some accounts experienced repeated credit consumption as OTTO continued to process image alt tags. If you observed unusual credit drain related to alt tags, include an estimate of the credits affected. - Recommendation generation failures: A known issue prevented OTTO from generating recommendations for some projects even when credits were available. If this blocked your deployment strategy, document the period it occurred and the projects involved. Our team will cross-reference your account data against these known issues to validate your request. 📊 How Credits Are Evaluated Credit requests are reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Our team considers: - Whether the issue was a confirmed platform bug or limitation. - The length of time the issue was active on your account. - The measurable credit or workflow impact directly tied to the issue. - Whether the issue has since been resolved or a workaround was available. Credits are not automatically applied — you must submit a request through the live chat support channel described below. Submitting a clear, documented case significantly speeds up the review process. ✅ How to Submit Your Credit Request 1. Open the Search Atlas platform and navigate to any page. 2. Click the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the screen. 3. Type human teammate to be connected with a support team member. 4. Provide your prepared information: the issues experienced, their duration, the domains affected, and your credit impact estimate. 5. Our team will review your account history and respond with a decision or follow-up questions. If you have multiple issues to report, list all of them in your initial message so they can be reviewed together in a single case. 💡 Tips for a Faster Resolution - Be specific about dates and credit amounts — vague requests take longer to process. - If you have screenshots of error messages or unusual audit results, be ready to share them during the chat session. - Reference this article when you open the chat so the agent has immediate context for your request type. 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.

🔧 Why OTTO Suggested Fixes Appear Blank

🧭 Overview When OTTO surfaces issues under Onpage Optimizations, it is showing you a list of identified problems on your site — not a list of ready-made fixes. Suggested fixes are a separate step that must be triggered deliberately. Recrawling your site will not populate blank suggested fixes, and there is no automatic background process that generates them after a crawl completes. If you see hundreds of blank fix entries alongside only a handful of populated ones (for example, 4–6 populated out of hundreds), this means fixes have not yet been generated for those items — not that something went wrong with the crawl. 🗺️ How the Two-Step Model Works Understanding the distinction between these two steps is the key to resolving blank suggested fixes: 1. Step 1 — Issue Discovery (Site Audit / Onpage Optimizations): When OTTO crawls your site, it identifies SEO issues and opportunities — missing meta descriptions, thin content, broken links, and so on. This step populates the issue list under Left sidebar → OTTO SEO → Overview and related views. It does not generate the actual fix content. 2. Step 2 — Fix Generation (Manual or Atlas Agent): Suggested fixes must be explicitly created. You choose how: write them yourself, or use Atlas Agent to generate them automatically at scale. Until this step is completed for a given issue, its suggested fix field remains blank. ✅ How to Populate Blank Suggested Fixes Choose the method that best fits your workflow: - Manually write a fix: Navigate to Left sidebar → OTTO SEO → Overview, open an issue with a blank fix, and enter your fix content directly in the suggested fix field. - Use Atlas Agent for bulk generation: Atlas Agent can generate suggested fixes across multiple issues automatically. Navigate to Left sidebar → OTTO SEO → Tasks and use Atlas Agent to trigger fix generation for the issues you want to address. This is the recommended approach when you have a large number of blank fixes. - Work through Page Explorer: Navigate to Left sidebar → OTTO SEO → Site Audit → Page Explorer to review issues on a page-by-page basis and generate or enter fixes for each page individually. 🔄 What Recrawling Actually Does Recrawling your site from Left sidebar → OTTO SEO → Site Audit → Crawl Monitoring refreshes the issue discovery layer only. It updates which problems exist on your site based on its current state. It does not: - Auto-generate suggested fix content for new or existing issues - Restore or recover previously blank fix entries - Trigger any background reprocessing of fix data After a recrawl, you may see updated issue counts or new issues appear — but any fix entries that were blank before will remain blank until you generate them using the steps above. ​ 💡 Tips for Large Sites - If you have hundreds of blank fixes (as is common after an initial audit of a large site like a roofing company with many service pages), use Atlas Agent in bulk rather than filling fixes one by one. - Prioritise high-impact issue types first — for example, missing title tags or meta descriptions — before moving to lower-priority items. - Check Left sidebar → OTTO SEO → Tasks to monitor the status of any Atlas Agent fix-generation jobs you have submitted. 🚫 A Note on Support Guidance There is no feature called a manual project reprocess in the platform, and no internal team action that can bulk-generate suggested fixes on your behalf. If you have been advised to wait for a reprocess, please disregard that guidance and follow the steps in this article instead to generate your fixes directly. ​ 💬 Still Need Help? 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.

🔄 Free an OTTO Slot After Deep Freeze

🧊 What Happens When You Deep Freeze an OTTO Site When you Deep Freeze an OTTO site — for example, after offboarding a client — the quota slot that site occupied is not released immediately. There is a 14-day holding period before the slot becomes available again. During this window, your total OTTO site count remains unchanged, which can prevent you from activating a new site. 💡 If You Cannot Wait — Request a Temporary OTTO Site If the 14-day freeze window conflicts with your billing cycle or a live project deadline, our specialized team can grant a free temporary OTTO site to cover the gap. This is the same resolution our support agents have applied for customers in this situation. Because this requires manual review by a higher-tier team, it cannot be self-served at this time. To request it as quickly as possible: 1. 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. 2. Explain that you have a Deep Frozen site holding a slot and that the 14-day wait conflicts with your billing cycle or active work. 3. Have your project name and the approximate date the Deep Freeze was applied ready to share, so the team can review your case efficiently. 4. The team will escalate your case and, where eligible, provision a temporary OTTO site for the duration of the freeze window. 🚫 How to Avoid This Issue in the Future - Plan freezes around your billing date. If you know a client project is ending, try to Deep Freeze it shortly after your billing cycle renews so the 14-day window expires before your next cycle begins. - Track your frozen sites. Keep a note of when each site was Deep Frozen so you can anticipate when slots will become available again. 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.

🔄 Changing Your OTTO Project Domain Correctly

🔍 Overview When you create an OTTO project in Search Atlas, the domain you enter is permanent. There is no option to change the domain after the project has been created. If you started with a temporary or development domain and are now ready to move to your live domain, you will need to delete the existing project and create a new one for the correct domain. This article explains the platform constraint and walks you through the general migration process for switching from a development domain to a live domain. ⚠️ Why You Cannot Edit the Domain After Creation OTTO ties its configuration directly to the domain entered at setup. Because of this, Search Atlas does not provide a domain-edit option inside an existing OTTO project. If you attempt to locate an option to change the domain field inside your project settings, you will not find one — this is expected behaviour, not a bug. 🗺️ How to Migrate from a Development Domain to a Live Domain Follow these general steps to move your OTTO setup to your live domain. 1. Delete the existing OTTO project. In the Search Atlas platform, delete the project associated with your development or temporary domain. 2. Create a new OTTO project for your live domain. Create a new project and enter your live production domain. Make sure the domain matches exactly what visitors use, including whether it uses www or not. 3. Complete any setup steps for the new project. Once the new project is created, follow any on-screen instructions within the platform to connect it to your live site. 4. Allow OTTO to begin working on the new project. After the new project is active, OTTO can start generating recommendations and applying SEO automation for your live site. 💡 Best Practice: Start with Your Live Domain To avoid repeating this process in future projects, always create your OTTO project using your final live domain from the start. Avoid using staging, development, or temporary domains when setting up a new OTTO project, as migrating later requires deleting and recreating the project from scratch. 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.

💡 Universal Credits Migration & OTTO Overage Guide

🗺️ Overview Search Atlas offers two quota systems: the legacy per-product quota system and the newer Universal Credits (UC) system. This article explains the key differences, helps you decide whether to migrate, and shows you how to get OTTO site overage issues resolved. Because both migration evaluation and overage resolution are handled by our support team on the backend, this article will help you understand what to expect and how to escalate effectively. 🔄 Legacy Quotas vs. Universal Credits Understanding both systems makes the migration decision straightforward. - Legacy per-product quotas: Each tool (Site Auditor, Backlink Research, etc.) has its own separate monthly allowance. Credits from one tool cannot be used in another. - Universal Credits: A single shared credit pool that works across all eligible Search Atlas tools. Unused credits from one feature can be applied anywhere else in the platform. Universal Credits give you more flexibility — if you rarely use one feature in a given month, those credits are not wasted and can fund heavier use of another tool instead. ✅ Should You Migrate to Universal Credits? Migration is worth considering if any of the following apply to you: - You use multiple Search Atlas tools unevenly month to month. - You regularly hit limits in one tool while leaving credits unused in another. - You want simpler credit tracking from a single balance rather than multiple product buckets. Migration may be less urgent if your usage is consistent across tools and you are already near a billing cycle renewal, since your legacy quotas will reset at renewal anyway. Key timing tip: If your billing cycle renews within the next few days, consider waiting until after renewal before migrating so you do not leave partially used legacy credits on the table. If you have several weeks left in your cycle, migrating sooner lets you benefit from the shared pool right away. 🛠️ How Migration and Overage Resolution Are Handled Both Universal Credits migration evaluation and OTTO site overage resolution are backend processes carried out by the Search Atlas support team. A human agent will review your account, assess your current quota usage across tools, and apply the appropriate changes on your behalf. This means there is no self-serve migration flow you need to complete on your own. Once you contact support, the team will evaluate your account and walk you through the outcome. 📋 What to Have Ready When You Escalate To help the support team resolve your issue as quickly as possible, please have the following information ready before reaching out: - Your project or workspace name as it appears in Search Atlas. - The specific tools or features where you are experiencing quota limits or overage (e.g., OTTO SEO, Site Auditor). - The OTTO site(s) affected by any overage, including the site domain if possible. - Your billing cycle renewal date, which you can find under the top-right avatar → Billing (Billing page). - Whether you prefer to migrate to Universal Credits or keep legacy quotas, so the agent can act on your preference immediately. - Any error messages or overage warnings you have seen, including approximate timestamps. Having these details ready will allow the agent to assess your quota usage, evaluate the migration, and resolve any OTTO site overage in a single interaction. 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.

🗂️ Free Up Site Auditor Project Slots Fast

🔍 Understanding the Site Auditor and OTTO Project Link Every Site Auditor project in Search Atlas is connected to an OTTO project. When you activate OTTO for a website, a Site Auditor project is automatically created alongside it. This means your Site Auditor Projects quota and your OTTO Sites quota share the same underlying slots — they are not independent limits. If your plan allows 5 Site Auditor Projects, you can have a maximum of 5 active or frozen OTTO-linked projects at any one time. Once you reach that cap, you cannot add a new site until you free at least one slot. ❄️ Why You Cannot Delete a Frozen Project A frozen OTTO project is one that has been paused but not fully removed. Search Atlas prevents you from deleting a Site Auditor project while it is still linked to an active or frozen OTTO client. This is a safeguard to protect your OTTO configuration and historical audit data from accidental loss. To delete the Site Auditor project and reclaim the slot, you must first unfreeze the linked OTTO project, and then delete it. Attempting to delete the Site Auditor project directly while the OTTO link exists will always fail. ✅ How to Free a Site Auditor Slot Step by Step 1. Go to OTTO SEO → All Sites (SEO Automation) using the left sidebar (or navigate to /seo-automation-v3). 2. Find the frozen OTTO project you want to remove. Frozen projects are visually marked and listed alongside your active projects. 3. Open the project and select Unfreeze to restore it to an active state. You do not need to re-run any tasks — this simply removes the frozen status so the project becomes editable. 4. Once the project is active again, select Delete (or the equivalent remove option shown in the project menu) to permanently remove the OTTO project. 5. Confirm the deletion when prompted. Search Atlas will automatically remove the linked Site Auditor project at the same time, releasing one slot from your quota. 6. Return to OTTO SEO → All Sites (SEO Automation) and confirm your Site Auditor Projects count has decreased before adding your new site. Repeat these steps for each frozen project you want to remove until you have enough free slots for your new OTTO site. 📊 How to Check Your Current Quota You can view how many Site Auditor slots you have used and how many remain at any time: - Click Home in the left sidebar (or go to /home). - Select Quotas from the available actions on the Home page. - Look for Site Auditor Projects in the quota list to see your current usage against your plan limit. If your quota shows the correct number after deleting a frozen project but you still cannot add a new site, try refreshing the page before attempting to create the new OTTO project. ⚠️ Important Things to Know Before Deleting - Deletion is permanent. Once you delete an OTTO project and its linked Site Auditor project, all associated audit history, crawl data, and OTTO recommendations for that site are removed and cannot be recovered. - Unfreezing is temporary. Unfreezing a project only changes its status so you can delete it — it does not restart any OTTO tasks or consume additional credits. - Plan upgrades are an alternative. If you need to keep all your existing projects and still add new sites, consider upgrading your plan to increase your Site Auditor Projects limit. You can review available plans from the platform. 💬 Still Need Help? 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.

🚀 Adding a Third OTTO Site Slot on Growth Plan

🔍 Overview The Growth plan includes two OTTO site slots by default. If you want to activate OTTO on a third website, you will need to purchase an additional OTTO site slot as a billing add-on. This article explains how slots work, how to add one, and what to do if your slot does not appear after purchase. 📊 How OTTO Site Slots Work Each OTTO site slot allows you to connect and activate OTTO SEO automation on one website. The number of slots you have determines how many sites can run OTTO at the same time. - Growth plan default: 2 OTTO site slots included - To activate a third site: you must purchase at least one additional slot - Slots are shared across your account — they are not tied to a specific website - You can reassign a slot by deactivating OTTO on one site and activating it on another 🛠️ How to Purchase an Additional OTTO Site Slot 1. Log in to your Search Atlas account. 2. Navigate to your Billing settings — click the avatar in the top-right corner and select Billing (Plans & Top-ups tab). 3. Look for the OTTO Site Slot add-on option. 4. Select the number of additional slots you need and complete the purchase. 5. Once the purchase is confirmed, your new slot will be available immediately. ⚙️ Activating OTTO on Your Third Website 1. In the left sidebar, click OTTO SEO → All Sites (SEO Automation) to open the OTTO dashboard. 2. Select or add the website you want to connect. 3. Click Activate OTTO for that site. 4. Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the connection. If the activation option is still greyed out or unavailable after purchasing a slot, see the troubleshooting section below. 💡 What to Do If Your Slot Does Not Appear After Purchase Occasionally, there can be a short delay between completing a purchase and your new slot becoming available in the platform. If your third OTTO slot does not appear after a few minutes, try the following steps: - Refresh your browser — a hard refresh (Ctrl + Shift + R on Windows, Cmd + Shift + R on Mac) clears cached data and often resolves display issues. - Log out and log back in — this forces your account quota to reload from the server. - Check your billing confirmation — make sure the add-on purchase completed successfully and is reflected in your billing history. - Wait up to 5 minutes — slot quota updates are usually instant but may occasionally take a moment to sync. If none of these steps resolve the issue and your slot is still not available, our team can investigate your account quota directly. 💬 Need More Help? 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.

🤖 Validate Client OTTO Installation Before Activating Credits

🧭 Overview OTTO credits are a limited monthly resource. Activating OTTO on a client's site before they've installed the required code means you risk spending credits on a project that isn't live. This guide walks you through the recommended workflow: share the installation code with your client, verify it's live on their site, and only then activate OTTO — so every credit counts. 📋 What You'll Need Before You Start - An active Search Atlas account with OTTO credits available - A project already created for your client's website - Your client's cooperation to add a code snippet to their site 🔍 Step 1: Access Your OTTO Project 1. In the left sidebar, click OTTO SEO, then open SEO Automation (URL: /seo-automation-v3). 2. Locate your client's project from the list and open it. 3. Navigate to the OTTO Setup section within the project. 📤 Step 2: Retrieve and Share the Installation Code 1. Inside the OTTO Setup section, find the installation code snippet generated for your client's site. 2. Copy the code snippet in full — do not modify it. 3. Send the code to your client with clear instructions to paste it into the section of every page on their website, or into their tag manager (e.g., Google Tag Manager). 4. Let your client know that installation is required before you can activate their SEO automation, and ask them to confirm once it's done. Tip: Include a short explanation in your message to the client — for example: "Please add this snippet to your site's tag or via Google Tag Manager. Once it's installed, let me know and I'll activate your SEO automation." ✅ Step 3: Verify the Code Is Live on Their Site Before activating OTTO, always confirm the code is correctly installed. You can do this in two ways: - Manual check: Visit your client's website, right-click the page, select View Page Source, and use Ctrl+F (or Cmd+F on Mac) to search for the OTTO snippet. If it appears in the source, installation was successful. - Platform verification: Return to the OTTO Setup section in OTTO SEO. The platform will indicate whether the code has been detected on the client's site. Wait for a green confirmation status before proceeding. Important: Do not activate OTTO until you see a confirmed installation status. Activating before the code is live will consume credits without delivering results. 🚀 Step 4: Activate OTTO After Confirmation 1. Once the platform confirms the code is detected on your client's site, return to their OTTO project. 2. Click the Activate OTTO button to begin using your credits. 3. OTTO will now begin deploying SEO optimizations to the live site. 💡 Best Practices to Protect Your Credits - Never activate before verification: Always wait for the platform's green installation status or manually confirm via page source. - Set expectations with clients upfront: Let clients know installation is a prerequisite so there are no delays on their end. - Use a checklist: Before activation, confirm — code installed ✓, platform status green ✓, client notified ✓. - Check credit availability: Review your available OTTO credits before onboarding a new client to avoid interruptions mid-project. ❓ Frequently Asked Questions What happens if I activate OTTO before the code is installed? Credits will be deducted but OTTO won't be able to deploy optimizations correctly, since the code is required for it to interact with the site. This wastes your monthly allocation. Can I pause or deactivate OTTO to save credits if a client changes their mind? Yes. You can deactivate OTTO from within the project in OTTO SEO. Credits are consumed during active periods, so deactivating promptly helps preserve your balance. How long does it take for the platform to detect the installed code? Detection is typically fast, but can take a few minutes after the client publishes their changes. Refresh the OTTO Setup page if the status hasn't updated after 5–10 minutes. 🛠️ Need Help? 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.

💰 Search Atlas Plans, OTTO & GBP Slot Pricing

📋 Overview Choosing the right Search Atlas plan depends on two key resources: OTTO slots (OTTO SEO automation per site) and GBP slots (Google Business Profile posting per location). This article explains how slots work, what each plan tier includes, and how to calculate costs for your agency. 🗂️ What Are OTTO Slots and GBP Slots? OTTO slots determine how many websites or client projects can have OTTO SEO automation actively enabled under your account. Each site you activate OTTO for consumes one OTTO slot. GBP slots cover individual Google Business Profile locations. If a client has multiple locations, each location consumes one GBP slot. Different Search Atlas plans include different base allocations of OTTO and GBP slots, and additional slots can be purchased as add-ons if your base plan does not cover all your clients. 📊 Plan Tiers and Included Slots Search Atlas offers multiple plan tiers with varying included OTTO and GBP slot counts. Because pricing and slot allocations are updated periodically, exact figures are not published here. To get accurate, up-to-date information: - Log in to your Search Atlas account and open your billing or subscription settings to see your current plan's included slot counts and any available add-on options. - If you are not yet a subscriber, visit the Search Atlas website and navigate to the pricing page for the most current plan comparison. When you reach out to our team (see below), a teammate can walk you through the current tier options, slot allocations, and which plan best fits your agency's size and client roster. ➕ Add-On Slots If your base plan does not include enough OTTO or GBP slots for all your clients, additional slots can be purchased on top of your plan. To find current per-slot add-on pricing and available packages, check your account's billing or subscription settings after logging in — add-on options and their rates are listed there. Because add-on pricing is subject to change, always verify current rates in your account before committing to a configuration. 🏢 Calculating Costs for Your Agency To estimate your total monthly cost, follow these general steps: 1. Count the number of client sites that will need OTTO automation enabled — this is your required OTTO slot count. 2. Count the total number of Google Business Profile locations across all clients — this is your required GBP slot count. 3. Compare those counts against the slot allocations included in each plan tier (visible in your account's billing settings or on the Search Atlas pricing page). 4. If your requirements exceed a plan's base allocation, factor in the per-slot add-on cost for each additional slot needed. 5. Add the base plan price and any add-on costs together to arrive at your estimated monthly total. If you would like a team member to run through this calculation with you based on your specific client list, our support team is available to help. 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.

➕ Add Otto Projects to Your Search Atlas Account

🤔 Otto Projects vs. User Seats — What's the Difference? These two things are easy to confuse, so here's a quick distinction before you get started: - Otto projects — The number of websites or domains you can manage and automate with Otto, Search Atlas's OTTO SEO tool. Each project corresponds to one site you want to optimise. - User seats — The number of people (team members or clients) you can invite to access your Search Atlas account. Adding a user seat does not add an Otto project. If you want to run Otto on an additional website, you need to add an Otto project, not a user seat. 📋 Before You Begin - You must be the account owner or have admin permissions to manage billing and subscriptions. - Adding Otto projects may affect your current plan. Have your billing details ready if an upgrade is required. 🚀 How to Add Otto Projects to Your Account Because the exact steps to add an Otto project depend on your current plan and account configuration, the most reliable way to complete this is to contact our support team directly. When you reach out, please have the following ready so we can assist you as quickly as possible: - The domain or website you want to add as a new Otto project. - Your current Search Atlas plan name. - Whether you have reached your plan's project limit or are unsure of your current usage. - Any error messages or on-screen prompts you have encountered while trying to add the project. Our team will confirm whether an upgrade or additional project slot purchase is needed and guide you through the process. ⚠️ Common Mistake: Adding a User Instead of a Project If you searched for how to add "Otto seats" and landed here, you are in the right place. The word seats in the context of Otto refers to project slots — not user invitations. To invite a team member to your account, navigate to your account settings and look for the Team or Users section instead. That process is completely separate from managing Otto projects. 💡 Tips for Managing Otto Projects - Each Otto project is tied to one domain. Subdomains or separate regional sites may each count as individual projects depending on your plan. - You may be able to remove a project to free up a slot for a different domain — confirm this with the support team based on your plan's terms. - Check your Otto dashboard regularly to monitor the status and progress of all active Otto projects. 🆘 Need Help? 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.

Convert LLM Visibility Credits to OTTO Credits

Overview If you purchased LLM Visibility credits but cannot use them — for example, because your current plan does not support LLM Visibility projects — those credits may be able to be converted into OTTO credits by our team. This article explains the difference between credit types, why this issue occurs, and how to get it resolved. Understanding LLM Visibility Credits vs. OTTO Credits Search Atlas uses two distinct credit types that serve different purposes: - LLM Visibility credits are specifically tied to running LLM Visibility projects. The ability to run LLM Visibility projects depends on your subscription plan. If your plan does not support LLM Visibility projects, any LLM Visibility credits purchased cannot be used for their intended purpose. - OTTO credits power AI-driven SEO actions and quota generation within the OTTO feature set. These two credit pools are separate and are not automatically interchangeable. Purchasing LLM Visibility credits does not grant access to LLM Visibility projects if your plan does not include that feature. Why You May Not Be Able to Use LLM Visibility Credits Depending on your subscription plan, you may not be eligible to run LLM Visibility projects regardless of how many LLM Visibility credits are in your account. To use LLM Visibility projects natively, you may need to upgrade to a plan that supports that feature. If upgrading is not your preference, the alternative is to have your unused LLM Visibility credits converted to OTTO credits so they provide value on your current plan. How to Request a Credit Conversion Credit conversions from LLM Visibility credits to OTTO credits require assistance from our support team. To request a conversion, contact our support team and let them know you have LLM Visibility credits you are unable to use and would like converted to OTTO credits. Our team will handle the conversion on your behalf. If you need help with this, please reach out to our support team and we'll be happy to assist you. Tips to Avoid This Issue in the Future - Before purchasing LLM Visibility credits, confirm that your current plan supports LLM Visibility projects. - If your primary need is AI-powered SEO generation and quota, consider purchasing OTTO credits directly rather than LLM Visibility credits. - If you are unsure which credit type is right for your plan, contact our support team before purchasing.

Reduce OTTO's Tracked Page Count Effectively

🔍 Why OTTO Still Tracks Pages After Noindex or Robots.txt Changes A common misconception is that adding noindex tags or robots.txt blocks will reduce the number of pages OTTO tracks. These directives tell search engines to ignore or skip certain pages — but they do not stop OTTO from counting a URL it has already successfully crawled. OTTO tracks every URL it can reach during a crawl, regardless of whether those pages are marked noindex or blocked for search engines. The tracked-page count reflects OTTO's crawl scope, not your site's indexability in Google or Bing. This means you can have a site with 922 tracked pages where hundreds of those pages carry noindex tags — OTTO will still count all 922 because it crawled them successfully. 📋 What Counts as a Tracked Page OTTO adds a URL to its tracked-page count when all of the following are true: - The URL was discovered during a crawl (via internal links, sitemaps, or pagination). - The server returned a successful response (typically a 200 status code). - The URL was not excluded through OTTO's own exclusion settings before the crawl ran. Noindex meta tags, X-Robots-Tag headers, and robots.txt disallow rules are not evaluated by OTTO when deciding whether to count a page. They are signals for search engine crawlers only. ⚙️ How to Reduce Your Tracked Page Count To bring your tracked-page count down, you need to reduce the number of URLs OTTO discovers and counts during its crawl. The key approaches are lowering the crawl limit and excluding specific URL patterns from OTTO's crawl scope — for example, paginated URLs, tag archives, or filtered product pages that do not need to be tracked. These exclusions must be configured within OTTO's own crawl settings before the crawl runs. Applying noindex or robots.txt changes after pages have already been crawled will not retroactively remove them from the tracked count. 🔄 When to Contact Support If you are unsure which crawl settings or exclusion options are available for your account, or if your tracked-page count does not decrease after making changes, please reach out to our support team via the chat icon in your dashboard. We can review your specific configuration and guide you through the correct steps to reach your target page count.