SEO optimization

@leokid71

We understand you’re getting the following error message while trying to start the Optimization.

Oops, something has gone wrong and we couldn’t complete the optimization of your SEO data. Please click the button again to re-start the process.

To troubleshoot the issue, can you please follow the steps below:

– Install & activate the Yoast Test Helper plugin — https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/yoast-test-helper/
– Go to your WordPress admin dashboard > Tools (sidebar) > Yoast Test
– Locate the Yoast SEO section and select the “Reset indexable tables & migrations” button
– After resetting, go to the WordPress admin dashboard > SEO (sidebar) > Tools section and click the “Start SEO data optimization” button

Does this resolve the issue?

I have done all the steps indicated but unfortunately there is still the error. I also have a site security plugin (Wordfence), can it affect ?

Any other suggestions ?

Hi,

Yes, security plugins can impact how the button runs. We would like some more information.

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

2. If you run the button and then check for JavaScript errors do any appear on that page in the backend? They would appear in red in the console. Can you describe them or take a screenshot? If you are not sure how to look for JavaScript errors please use this guide https://yoast.com/help/how-to-find-javascript-errors-with-your-browsers-console/.

You can use a tool like: https://imgbb.com/ to share the image.

Hi, yes.. i can se an error :

Failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 403 ()

“/wp/wp-json/yoast/v1/indexing/prepare:1”

• This reply was modified 4 years ago by leokid71.
• This reply was modified 4 years ago by leokid71.

Hi @leokid71,

We can see you are getting a 403 error. The SEO Data feature uses the WordPress REST API to scan posts/pages for the right internal links to show. Your server returns a 403 error when accessing the REST API.

Please contact your webhost to review your server setup to determine why the REST API returns the error. There may be a server setting or module that needs to be adjusted such as mod_security. If you are using security plugins they can block access to wp/wp-json/yoast/v1/indexing/prepare:1 file pathway. You may need to contact them or your host provider and whitelist that URL. Once the server no longer returns the error, we would expect the SEO Data feature to load and work correctly.

In addition, if you are using caching on your site (varnish or otherwise) you may need to adjust cache settings to remove wp/wp-json/yoast/v1/indexing/prepare:1 from the caching. If you are not sure how to do that please contact your host provider and/or caching plugin authors. Finally, sometimes security plugins can block this. If you are using a security plugin please contact the author of it for more information.

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