francisC-12

Problem:
The client is trying to ensure that only one page is referenced for each language in hreflang annotations on their homepage. Additionally, the translated (en-ca) homepage is not appearing in the page-sitemap. Unexpectedly, there is an additional 301 redirect hreflang tag to the full en-ca homepage URL, and the en-ca homepage is not visible in the page-sitemap.

Solution:
To address the hreflang annotations, we recommend modifying the code in the WPML SEO plugin. Open the file at

...\wp-content\plugins\wp-seo-multilingual\classes\Shared\Sitemap\BaseAlternateLangHooks.php

. On line 61, replace:

$link[ self::KEY ][ $lang ] = apply_filters( 'wpml_permalink', $link['loc'], $lang );

with:

$link[ self::KEY ][ $lang ] = apply_filters( 'wpml_permalink', $link['loc'], $lang, true );

Apply the same change on line 89.

For the sitemap issue with Rank Math, navigate to "Rank Math > Sitemaps settings" and alter the "Links per sitemap" number then save. This action will rebuild the sitemaps. You can revert to the original number after this change.

If these steps do not resolve your issue or if the solution becomes outdated, we highly recommend checking related known issues at https://wpml.org/known-issues/, verifying the version of the permanent fix, and confirming that you have installed the latest versions of themes and plugins. If the problem persists, please open a new support ticket.