Problem with canonical

Hi,

We apologize for the difficulties the plugin is causing for you. We are happy to help. We would like some more information as this can help us troubleshoot and rule out or in possible issues.

1. We had another recent release. Can you confirm you are using the most recent Yoast SEO, v14.9? If you update, does the issue resolve?

2. Can you confirm you are using WordPress 5.5.1? You can check by clicking on the W in the top left and selecting About. If you need to update, please check with your host provider.?Please know that if you are using an older version of WordPress Core you may experience unexpected behavior with Yoast.?This guide explains more:?https://yoast.com/why-we-dont-support-old-wordpress-versions/.

3. Are all your non-Yoast plugins and themes also updated?

If all are updated please install the Yoast Helper plugin here https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/yoast-test-helper/. Then go to Tools-Yoast Test and find the button to reset the indexables tables and migrations. Then go to SEO-Tools and re-run the indexables. We say this as we have had some reports of canonicals not working correctly and resetting and re-running the indexbales is a solution.

Hi,

1 – I’ve tried with the last version and previous version too (14.8). The error is still there.

2 – Yes. I’m using the last version of wordpress but I’ve tested it in 5.4.2 too. Error continues.

3- Yes. I’ve deactivated all the plugins except Yoast Seo and tried other themes without positive results.

I would try the tool but the problem is that canonical error occurs with new posts too. I mean, if I run the tool and regenerate the tables, in 15 days it will be again with problems?

Thanks!

@nacubo

We recommend using the Yoast Helper plugin tool to reset and re-run the indexables. We say this as we have had reports of canonicals not working correctly. We can’t say if it will resolve your particular issue but the general issue you are having matches previous reports.

IF the re-running the indexables fails to output the right Yoast canonical tag we would ask for a conflict check.

Please then check Check for conflicts. Install the Healthcheck plugin and enable troubleshooting. Then switch to a standard theme like 2020. Does the issue resolve? NOTE: This will not affect how users see your site.

If there is a conflict with a plugin or a theme, you can create a new GitHub issue?for our developers. Please report the issue to a third party developer as well.

Thanks,

I Will try the tool and contact again with news.

Hi,

I’ve installed and run the plugin for check conflicts but all is ok.

Also I’ve reset the indexables with good results but new posts have the same error again.

I’ve seen that an user has the same problem in this post. It’s exactly the same behaviour.

@nacubo Thanks for your reply.

Can you please let us know what the workflow for publishing the site is? For example, are you using a staging/development area and then pushing that content to the live site?

Hi Carl,

We write content directly on wordpress backend. We don’t use apps or third party platforms.

Best regards,

Hi @nacubo,

Thanks for the information. You mentioned that the canonical URL shows the post ID. Is that correct?

Can you describe more about what appears that you didn’t expect to see? It might help to send us an example URL that we can check or links to screenshots that show the problem.

Hi Priscilla,

Correct. The canonical URL shows the post ID.

You can see an example URL with this problem here

Hi @nacubo,

Thank you for the link.

That is odd that this appears only on a few posts and on new ones.

In any case, if the test helper plugin helped for existing posts, but the same happens for new ones, there must be something going on your site regarding the permalinks. Is there any custom plugin or code active on your site that does anything with permalinks?

Hi,

With Screaming Frog I’ve detected that this error appears in some random post since 15/06/2020 and new posts have the same error in some cases too.

No changes from our side, no plugins for custom permalinks and we are using yoast since a lot of years without problem. Is something weird.

Hi @nacubo,

Yeah, it is weird, indeed. Especially when you say it is ‘in some cases’ and not for every new post. Does the publishing method differ? Do you schedule posts for example? It might be related to how posts are saved in the block editor and that not all metadata is directly available.

You might want to check if the same thing happens when Yoast SEO is the only active plugin on a staging site, where you can test things out independently of your live site to troubleshoot this further. That way you can publish posts to check when it happens, how it happens, and with what plugins are active.

Hi,

I’ll give you more information:

1. We use classic editor only, no Gutemberg at this moment
2. We publish directly or programming but the error occurs in both cases

I would like do the test but is impossible detect despite the error is random and I can’t reproduce it ??

Yoast has changed something related to canonical url near the 15th of June?

Thanks for your efforts

Hi again,

I will do the test in a copy of a problematic site under development mode.

Give me few days for prepare it.

Thanks!

Hi @nacubo,

Thank you for that, we’ll be happy to hear if you can find any details on when/how this happens so we can see if we can reproduce it.

Thank you in advance.