Yoast Meta Descriptions Still Being Shown

#587289
  • Resolved Anonymous

    2 years, 4 months ago

    Rank Math free

    I switched from Yoast to Rank Math months ago but my Yoast meta descriptions are still being shown all across my site, including in the source code. I’ve tried everything here and it hasn’t worked: https://rankmath.com/kb/different-meta-title-and-description/ The Yoast plugin is deactivated and yet WordPress still pulls the Yoast values (_yoast_wpseo_metadesc)

    Meta descriptions on my posts are set to %seo_description, not %excerpt%, which means they should pull Rank Math-specific values, not Yoast values. This is the case both in the schema settings and in Titles & Meta → Posts.

    There are now many posts on my site that now show as having no meta description set, despite me having explicitly set one using Rank Math.

    In my single.php, the meta description is set to be pulled from the_excerpt in the WordPress codex, which is normal.

    Please let me know why this is happening and what I can do to solve the problem. I don’t believe cleaning the Yoast database will solve it, since even the posts with no _yoast_wpseo_metadesc set have a proper description from Rank Math.

    Thank you very much.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • Jaideep Asrani

    2 years, 4 months ago

    Hello,

    Thanks for contacting us and sorry for the inconvenience caused.

    The %seo_description% variable fetches the value from the SEO description field and that’s why it can’t be used for the SEO description. Please use %excerpt% or some other relevant variable to set the SEO description. Here is a list of all the variables: https://rankmath.com/kb/variables-in-seo-title-description/

    Once done, clear the cache of your site and the correct description should be applied. If you still see the description set in Yoast then we might need to take a closer look at the settings. Please edit the first post on this ticket and include your WordPress logins and the URL of an affected post in the designated Sensitive Data section.
    
    Please do take a complete backup of your website before sharing the information with us.
    Sensitive Data Section
    
    It is completely secure and only our support staff has access to that section. If you want, you can use the below plugin to generate a temporary login URL to your website and share that with us instead:
    
    https://wordpress.org/plugins/temporary-login-without-password/
    
    You can use the above plugin in conjunction with the WP Security Audit Log to monitor what changes our staff might make on your website (if any):
    
    https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-security-audit-log/
    
    We really look forward to helping you.

    Anonymous

    2 years, 4 months ago

    Rank Math free

    Hi Jaideep, thank you very much for the thoughtful reply.

    I was using %excerpt% before but that wasn’t working either, so I switched from %excerpt% to %seo_description% based on a suggestion in some documentation that I believe was on the RankMath website. I’ve tried switching it back now but it still isn’t working. I have RankMath activated on the site and Yoast is deactivated but still installed (as has been the case for several months now).

    Anyway, I’ve tried what you suggested, so now both the Single Post Description and the Description (under Titles & Meta → Posts) are set to %excerpt%. They both show the correct meta description inside the Rank Math plugin, but that’s not what shows up in my source code and on my site. That’s still the _yoast_wpseo_metadesc.

    I’ve tried clearing the site cache but the issue persists. I’m leaving login credentials in the Sensitive Data section so one of your team members can take a look. Thank you very much.

    Jaideep Asrani

    2 years, 4 months ago

    Hello,

    I can check that the issue is coming from your theme. If you switch to a default theme or any other theme then the correct description is added to the site. However, with your theme, our plugin’s meta tags (including Schema) are not being applied.

    Please get in touch with the support of your theme and inform them about the issue. They should be able to help you fix this.

    Let us know how that goes. Looking forward to your update.

    RankBot

    2 years, 3 months ago

    Hello,

    Since we did not hear back from you for 15 days, we are assuming that you found the solution. We are closing this support ticket.

    If you still need assistance or any other help, please feel free to open a new support ticket, and we will be more than happy to assist.

    Thank you.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

The ticket ‘Yoast Meta Descriptions Still Being Shown’ is closed to new replies.