Re-Index Search Results to Remove Stories

Hi @chilesandsmoke,

Thanks for following up. If you’re using the default WordPress search, these results should have been removed when you updated the Web Stories plugin. Can you please share your Site Health information privately via this form? If you’re using another plugin to manage or modify search, you may need to make adjustments there.

OK I just posted the information!

I don’t have a lot of other plugins, but I assume it could be something like Jetpack or Yoast. I couldn’t find any settings there. We’ll see what the team finds.

Thank you!

Thanks! I don’t see any search-related plugins but I do see that you’re using NitroPack, which includes caching features. Can you please try clearing NitroPack’s cache?

I purged the cache in my plugin when I first noticed these issues, and I manually purged the cache through their dashboard over the weekend.

I also purged the cache through BigScoots (host) when I first had the issues.

Still no success.

@chilesandsmoke Thanks for giving that a try. Let me check with our team on next steps here and I’ll get back to you. Thank you for your patience!

@chilesandsmoke Thanks again for your patience. Can you please try installing this mini-plugin and see if it removes Web Stories from your search results? Just click Download Zip in the upper right corner and then go to Plugins > Add New in the WP admin and upload the ZIP file.

Thank you.

I installed and flushed out the cache on BigScoots and NitroPack. It still shows up:

https://www.chilesandsmoke.com/?s=hatch

Thanks for trying that, @chilesandsmoke!

It appears that there’s some conflict between Web Stories and something else on your site, like a theme or plugin, which is forcing Web Stories to display within search.

Unfortunately, we’ve reached the limits of our troubleshooting specific to the Web Stories plugin. At this point, the best next step would be to contact a developer to help you identify and fix the issue. I’m sorry we can’t be of more help.

Appreciate you trying, that’s unfortunate news. I’ll see what I can do.

Bethany,

Just letting you know that once I added that plugin, now my Web Stories are showing URL marked as ‘noindex’. None of them are working, they all fail the AMP page test.

I just disabled the plugin you provided and they are still down.

Please help.

> I added that plugin, now my Web Stories are showing URL marked as ‘noindex’.

That’s really not what that plugin is doing / telling WordPress to do. This noindex really must be coming from some other plugin on your site.

I recommend temporarily disabling all other plugins and switching your theme to something like Twenty Twenty to see if this issue still occurs.

If that still doesn’t help, as per above’s message, contacting a developer for some in-depth help is advisable.

> None of them are working, they all fail the AMP page test.

FWIW, all your stories currently validate fine.

Pascal,

I figured out what part of the problem was. It was Yoast SEO. My settings for “Show Stories in search results” was turned Off, giving it the noindex coding. I didn’t manually change this, so I’m not sure what happened.

I ended up having another issue – which your forums said is a new, common issue with Yoast. I also had to add that code into my functions.php. Eventually… now they pass the AMP test.

They are still showing up in my “Search” results on the website, which is beyond frustrating. I can’t figure out how to disable that.

@chilesandsmoke Hello, thanks for the update. There may be a conflict between Web Stories and a theme/plugin on your site which is forcing Web Stories to display within search.

To determine what could be causing a conflict, please temporarily disabling all other plugins and switching your theme (e.g. Twenty Twenty) to see if this issue still occurs.

If that still doesn’t help, please contact a developer that may be able to provide you with further technical support.