Primary Category not shown in Post Title Tags

Hi @mdotk

Can you confirm you are using the latest version of Yoast SEO for WordPress 15.1.2? Could you provide us with a sample URL where this issue is occurring?

We do see you’ve added the ‘primary category’ snippet template variable in the Search Appearance menu. When you edit a specific post or page, do check if the SEO title is also using the template variables. It’s possible you could have defined a different SEO title specific for that post or page.

Do check as well if you’ve set the primary category for that post. It should be located in the Categories section of the Document when editing a post — https://pasteboard.co/JwtGgvj.png

Hello, yes the latest versions of WP and the plugin.

I have not changed the post template variables.

https://pasteboard.co/JwtGgvj.png Is this from WP block editor? I use the classic editor. I do not believe it is relevant anyway, because the posts have only one category.

Thanks for your reply @mikes41720

Hi @mdotk

You should still be able to set the primary category even with the Classic Editor. We used v1.6 of the Classic Editor plugin. You mentioned that you only have one category. If you try and add a new category when editing that post, you should then be able to find the option to set a category as ‘primary’. It should look something like this — https://pasteboard.co/JwuFSQl.png

Are you then able to define the primary category and does the primary category snippet variable then output in the SEO title and/or meta description?

Thanks @mikes41720. As a test, if I add another category, then yes I can make one category the primary and that will show up in the meta title tags as expected. However other existing posts in a single category suffer from my original problem.

Hi @mdotk ,

To make sure we have the same setup, can you share a screenshot of your post’s settings/setup having the issue? We could not reproduce the problem on our end as the category is still being outputted on the source code.

We look forward to your response.

Hi @jerparx, before I do that, please test where the only category of the post is a sub-category/child of another category.

Eg

A category
– AA category

The post is only in AA category (and not A category). When I do a post like that, this issue occurs. I just updated the post to be in both the A and AA categories, and the issue is resolved.

Hi @mdotk ,

So we created a new post and set it under Sub Category (see here) and found the Sub Category outputted in the Title (see here).

If both categories (main and sub) are checked like this, whatever is set as the Primary category is being outputted.

Does this match your expectation?

Hi @jerparx yes that is how it should work.

But as per my initial issue, in this scenario:

So we created a new post and set it under Sub Category (see here)

The sub category is NOT outputted in the title on my site.

In this scenario:

If both categories (main and sub) are checked like this

It works as expected (whatever is set as the Primary category is being outputted) on my site.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 4 months ago by mdotk.

We are sorry to hear that you are still having this difficulty with our plugin and it’s must be frustrating for you. Unfortunately, we think the issue is specific to your site. We’d need to investigate further but are unable to do so on these forums. You can purchase Yoast SEO Premium and receive our Premium email support and we can help you further.

We also understand that you want us to resolve the issue for you before you may decide to take the premium. However, since we’ll need to take a look at the issue directly on your setup, it is mandatory that you have the premium support that comes with the premium subscription where we can privately investigate the issue further for you.

We are going ahead and marking this issue as resolved due to inactivity. If you require any further assistance please create a new issue.