Sitemap and WPML

Hi @robertveit,

Thank you for leaving this question, it’s valuable to increase compatibility ??

I have three questions:
1. Which version of WPML are you using?
2. Is this “problem” also persisting on the og:url and canonical URL?
3. Are there duplicated URL’s in the sitemap?

I’ll take a look at it to see if I can implement it :). I need a way of acquiring a copy of WPML, however. So it might take some time.

Thanks and have a great day!

Sybre –

(1) I am using the latest WPML version 3.3.

(2) I don”t know – I am using canonical URLs and WPML is set to use “different languages in directories” (https://www.url.com/ for Portuguese, https://www.url.com/en/ for English).

(3) No, there is no duplicated content in the sitemap – just the /en/ is not displayed at all.

Thanks a lot,

Robert

Hi Robert,

Thanks for the info!

I’ll add this to the to-do list for version 2.4.0, it will be released at the end of November or the beginning of December ??

I hope you enjoy your day ??

Hi Robert,

I’ve uploaded an alpha version of The SEO Framework 2.4.0, found here:
https://theseoframework.com/share/plugins/autodescription240alpha2.zip

As always, use at own risk. It’s not recommended to use this version on any production website. Features might change in the upcoming version, they’re not final, etc. You get the drift.

This version adds no new options, so you can easily upgrade or downgrade when needed without any problems.

Changelog:

* Added: Sitemap WPML compatibility.
* Added: bbPress title support.
* Added: Removal of the WordPress core shortlink tag for when themes choose to include it, it’s replaced with the SEO framework version if active (faster and more reliable).
* Fixed: Bug where pages are output in the sitemap when the Blog Page was the last page added.
* Optimized: The Sitemap generation has once again been optimized for speed. This is not noticable unless there are many pages which are set to noindex.
* Optimized: URL generation, it now fetches options directly instead of re-parsing a WordPress core function.
* Removed: AutoDescription_Load class and file. It has been replaced by The_SEO_Framework_Load since 2.2.5.

If you’re willing to take the risk, please let me know if this alpha version solves your sitemap problem ??

Thanks and have a great day!

Sybre –

I tested your alpha version and the sitemap is working great with WPML. The fastest support I have experienced so far! Thanks for that,

Robert

Hi Robert!

Anytime ??

I have discovered a few things incomplete with the alpha, listed below.
They don’t affect SEO value on your website, nor do they cause any other noticeable problems. It’s merely informative for who wish to use it:

About: Alexa ID meta tag on front page
Please note that the alpha provided outputs an Alexa ID meta tag on the front page, which I was testing for another user :3

It doesn’t harm your site in any way, as it’s ignored and only used for verification with Alexa.

If you wish to remove it, please remove the following filter within autodescription.php:
add_filter( 'the_seo_framework_pro', 'my_alexa_code_output' );

You can remove all the code thereafter as well. If you’re inexperienced or feel insecure with editing PHP files, you can leave it be :).

About: WPML, another bug
I have discovered another bug with WPML in the meantime, but I can’t provide a patch at the moment since the code is a mess (reworking the Title).
This bug is regarded to The SEO Bar, which thinks the Title and Description are from the Home Page when WPML is active. This also holds true for the Inpost SEO Settings metabox, which show the HomePage title and description placeholders.
These bugs don’t affect the front end, only the back-end. So there’s no need to worry ??

About: Title cache
The alpha version provided doesn’t cache the title, this has a minor performance impact (less than 0.1s load time).

When I have a stable beta ready, I’ll provide it on this topic, it will make everything so much more streamlined.

Until then, I hope you enjoy your day ^^

If you’re still looking to acquire a copy of WPML for development puposes, I highly recommend to contact the WPML compatibility team. They can set you up with an environment as it is also in their best interest that your plugin is compatible with WPML.

https://wpml.org/documentation/theme-compatibility/go-global-program/ for more information.

Hi Piet,

This has already been taken care of, as I have set up the development environment already on one of their test sites.
However, I still require their developer feedback, but it was mentioned they’re quite overwhelmed with the amount of plugin authors whom wish to go global. So time will tell when I can go one to one on these issues.

Until then, if incompatibilities are (still) present on your multilingual website regarding the sitemap and WPML, I recommend using a dedicated sitemap plugin to take care of these issues which is rated WPML compatible or one that’s deemed to be a great standalone e.g. this one (I have no experience with it, but 4.9/5.0 stars with 1M+ users must tell you something :D).

Please do inform me of the issues found, if any :).

P.S. I found a little non-default canonical URL language bug regarding WPML when using external domains for translations. Luckily this option is not all that common (or even used at all?) and is to be fixed in the upcoming update.

I was thinking that for some of the options the plugin might need a wpml-config.xml file. I can help you with that if you want. Shoot me an email at wpml [at] so-wp [dot] com if you’re interested.