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[Resolved] posts are not indexed because the status on the back is that they are not translated

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This topic contains 6 replies, has 3 voices.

Last updated by margrietR 1 year, 9 months ago.

Assisted by: Dražen.

Author Posts
April 17, 2023 at 7:16 am

margrietR

posts are not indexed because the status on the back is that they are not translated
April 17, 2023 at 7:23 am
April 17, 2023 at 7:29 am #13484505

Bruno Kos
Supporter

Languages: English (English ) German (Deutsch ) French (Français )

Timezone: Europe/Zagreb (GMT+01:00)

Hi,

Can you send us login details and send us an example of the post/page that are not indexed?

Perhaps these are only using fallback https://wpml.org/documentation/translating-your-contents/displaying-untranslated-content-on-pages-in-secondary-languages/#what-about-seo

Regards,
Bruno Kos
April 17, 2023 at 7:49 am #13484765

margrietR

Hi Bruno,

I did already add the login details. I think even twice 😉

One of the pages is hidden link but if you go to the back end you'll see that many blog posts are indicated as translation not finished.

The setting (see image) is as in the link you did send. But something did catch my eye (2nd image), it seems that the status of the document is set to draft version... not sure if this has some influence on the issue at hand.

Margriet

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April 18, 2023 at 6:46 am #13492859

Dražen
Supporter

Languages: English (English )

Timezone: Europe/Zagreb (GMT+01:00)

Hello Margriet,

if one of the pages that you have issues is the one you shared: hidden link

then it looks all good from our side, I see the page is accessible from the front and in the page code it is indexable.

This page can and will be indexed by Google, maybe it just takes time. I would suggest using Yoast SEO and WPML and submitting your sitemap to Google webmaster tools, so you can easily follow which URLs are indexed and when.

Maybe you had an issue since this page was not published before, but Draft.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Drazen
April 18, 2023 at 7:46 am #13493423

margrietR

Hi Drazen,

I am really sorry but this page was not and could not be indexed by Google. Search console indicated that this page and many other pages cannot be indexed because of a redirect. And yes, the page is visible and indexable but Google will not index it because of the above mentioned reason (redirect and WPML showing blank translated field while blog is translated and online).

The page has been online for over 2 years and sitemap has been submitted several times. Google Search keeps indicating there is a redirect issue. But I did open the translation dialog yesterday and although I did change nothing and did not even safe the dialog, the page can now be indexed by Search Console.

When trying to do the same; opening the translation dialog of other not indexed blogs, the dialog does not even open any more(see image). An issue that really worries me!

99 pages cannot be indexed! And when searching on something in Google that is for sure on the website but not indexed never the page shows up, only the English version of that page, probably because of the redirect.

But looking in more detail into Search Console I did notice that there is a User-defined canonical URL which is in English. Using Google I found this post on your website https://wpml.org/forums/topic/wrong-canonical-urls/ and I think I have the same issue. I therefore have now deactivated the automatic browser redirect feature. I just wonder if this in itself will solve the issue (in other words are the cannonical urls automatically deleted), or will I need to do something additional to reset this?

Many thanks for your answer on that question. I have the feeling I am getting there 🙂

Kind regards,
Margriet

ScreenHunter 2730.jpg
April 18, 2023 at 9:13 am #13494027

Dražen
Supporter

Languages: English (English )

Timezone: Europe/Zagreb (GMT+01:00)

Hello Margriet,

thanks for getting back.

You disabling redirect in the meantime is probably the reason why I couldn't see the redirect and it seemed all good to me.

Yes, definitely that is the reason for your issue and Google reporting redirect. As we mention in our docs for browser redirect, it can cause issues and redirect Google bots, thus some pages not to be indexed.

- https://wpml.org/documentation/getting-started-guide/language-setup/automatic-redirect-based-on-browser-language/how-browser-language-redirect-affects-google-indexing/

I would advise keeping it disabled if it causes an issue for you, and re-submit the sitemap, after a while Google will re-index your pages and those which were redirected in the first place also. Just note it will take some time.

Regards,
Drazen