Mysterious cookie messing up sitemap and feed

  • Resolved Peter Ditzel

    (@wordo3)


    5 years, 3 months ago

    I have a problem with a cookie that is loading throughout my site. It is not just loading on pages and posts, but also on my sitemap and feed pages. The script for the cookie breaks the sitemap and RSS. Google Search Console says the sitemap has unsupported file format. RSS validator says the feed is invalid because of the script. The sitemap address is https://www.wordofhisgrace.org/wp/sitemap_index.xml. The feed is https://www.wordofhisgrace.org/wp/feed.

    The script does not show when looking at the page source. It shows up in validators. Also, Chrome shows the cookie YJ207Z3CNK when showing site info. This is the cookie the script loads. Here is the script that I have gathered from the validators:

    <script type=”text/javascript”>setCookie_sb(“YJ207Z3CNK”,6,365);function setCookie_sb(c_name,value,expiredays){var exdate=new Date();exdate.setDate(exdate.getDate()+expiredays);document.cookie=c_name+ “=” +escape(value)+((expiredays==null) ? “” : “;expires=”+exdate.toGMTString());}</script>

    I have tried turning off all of my plugins and clearing my cache from the site and in my browser. The cookie still shows up. I have tried searching for the cookie on my (shared) browser and can’t find it. I don’t know where the cookie script is or how to get rid of it. Can anyone help?

    The page I need help with: [log in to see the link]

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

  • I see the cookie in console, weird.

    First thing, see if there aren’t any suspicious files in your /wp/ folder on the server.

    If not, what I would do next, is rule out the theme as a culprit (since you wrote the plugins are all checked already). So I would make a full backup of the site files+database, and then try to switch on the default theme, like Twenty Nineteen. Then see if the cookie still shows up.

    If it still does, the next thing I would look into is a database. After that, if the cookie still shows up, I would reinstall the WP itself.

    Hope that helps.

    Thread Starter Peter Ditzel

    (@wordo3)

    Thank you, Justina. I did as you suggested. I really thought that would solve the problem, but the cookie still showed up. I am at a loss. Perhaps tomorrow, I will reinstall WP. Thanks again.

    Thread Starter Peter Ditzel

    (@wordo3)

    I just want to report that reinstalling WP solved this. The cookie and the script loading the cookie disappeared. The sitemap now validates. I expect Google will crawl it again soon, and everything will be okay. Thank you again, Justina!

    I’ve marked this as resolved.

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