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Noah
Noah
Jan 19, 2025, 11:18 AM
Forwarded from another channel:
Forwarded thread from another channel:
Chris Marshall
Chris Marshall
Dec 12, 2024, 9:36 AM
Hi everyone! (first post, sorry if this is the wrong channel)
A website I'm working on (wordpress) is somehow adding an alphanumeric appendage to every URL and I'm getting thousands of 404s. I'm thinking that this is a permalinks issue? Any help or insight is appreciated. Thank you in advance.
Kyle Faber
Kyle Faber
Dec 12, 2024, 9:37 AM
Likely not a permalinks issue given the fact it’s on feed URLs.
What is the “first found at” or “referring URLs” for those?
Joe Pawlikowski
Joe Pawlikowski
Dec 12, 2024, 9:39 AM
perhaps a relative link issue? if it's not set up properly it can append characters inappropriately
Chris Marshall
Chris Marshall
Dec 12, 2024, 9:40 AM
Yeah, AHrefs isn't giving me any information in the First Found column.
Kyle Faber
Kyle Faber
Dec 12, 2024, 9:41 AM
@Joe Pawlikowskis idea is a good one to look into
Joe Pawlikowski
Joe Pawlikowski
Dec 12, 2024, 9:41 AM
was the big issue I found on my very first SEO audit
Michael Kupfer
Michael Kupfer
Dec 12, 2024, 9:50 AM
How do you know it's the website/wordpress adding the strings and not just a bad link coming from somewhere else? Are you seeing these URLs in wordpress or on a sitemap or in internal links?
Chris Marshall
Chris Marshall
Dec 12, 2024, 9:53 AM
@Michael Kupfer These "bad" URLs are present in the XML sitemap.
Kyle Faber
Kyle Faber
Dec 12, 2024, 9:55 AM
It looks like the post sitemap these are in is not from Yoast, whereas the other ones are.
Mika Lepistö
Mika Lepistö
Dec 12, 2024, 9:55 AM
What are you using for the sitemap generation?
That makes me think this could be:
• exploit
• Plugin conflict
Kyle Faber
Kyle Faber
Dec 12, 2024, 9:56 AM
@Mika Lepistö they’re using Yoast.
Kyle Faber
Kyle Faber
Dec 12, 2024, 9:56 AM
All sitemaps are served by Yoast, except for the post-sitemap.xml sitemap.
Mika Lepistö
Mika Lepistö
Dec 12, 2024, 9:57 AM
Posted simultaneously. Saw yours right after send. Seems isolated to the one creating the post sitemap per your previous - what's creating that one?
Kyle Faber
Kyle Faber
Dec 12, 2024, 9:58 AM
So @Chris Marshall is suggest following what @Mika Lepistö was alluding to, in backwards order, and add custom code review (typically functions.php) to your investigation.
Plugins
Custom code
Exploit
Chris Marshall
Chris Marshall
Dec 12, 2024, 9:58 AM
yep Yoast. I'll poke around the plugins . I bet that's the issue.
Richard Gargan
Richard Gargan
Dec 12, 2024, 9:58 AM
When you add a new page does the page get the string added to it?
Could also be the you’re using, does clearing it work
Kyle Faber
Kyle Faber
Dec 12, 2024, 10:00 AM
I haven’t found the strings in any files or code, just the sitemap as Chris said.
Chris Marshall
Chris Marshall
Dec 12, 2024, 10:03 AM
@Richard Gargan yes the site is using Fastest Cache.
Richard Gargan
Richard Gargan
Dec 12, 2024, 10:04 AM
Thinking its not a cache thing now because they’re in the sitemap, and more likely a Yoast sitemap issue as Kyle and Mika have said
Chris Marshall
Chris Marshall
Dec 12, 2024, 10:07 AM
There's over 40 plugins and just about all of them need to be either updated or tossed out if not in use.
I just got on this client so I'm seeing it for the first time today.
Mika Lepistö
Mika Lepistö
Dec 12, 2024, 10:08 AM
Is there a staging site you can start disabling things on?
Chris Marshall
Chris Marshall
Dec 12, 2024, 10:09 AM
No I don't think so. But I'll check.
This agency I work at recommends All-In-One over Yoast. I'm wondering if I should make that switch for this particular client.
Kyle Faber
Kyle Faber
Dec 12, 2024, 10:09 AM
Before that even, are any of the plugins in possible feature conflict with Yoast (eg other sitemap plugins)
Kyle Faber
Kyle Faber
Dec 12, 2024, 10:10 AM
Not a fan of all in one. But everyone has their flavor of what they prefer and why!
Chris Marshall
Chris Marshall
Dec 12, 2024, 10:15 AM
Yeah I'll look into all the plugins. Thanks for all the help. I'll post an update when I get a resolution. What a great community! Have a wonderful day/night!
Mika Lepistö
Mika Lepistö
Dec 12, 2024, 10:22 AM
Work the problem before introducing another variable.
I'd get a copy of the site somewhere and debug this or tell their dev team to.

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