Background of the issue:
I am trying to translate a blog post, and I noticed an issue with the SEO title. In the original language, the SEO title is formatted as %%title%%%page%%. However, after translation, it appears as %%title%%%page%%% with an extra percentage sign. This issue is visible when you search for the article on Google. The problem can be seen on this page: hidden link.
Symptoms:
An extra percentage sign appears in the SEO title after translation, which is not visible in the slug but appears when googling the article.
Questions:
Why does an extra percentage sign appear in the SEO title after translation?
How can I fix the SEO title to remove the extra percentage sign?
Thanks for the quick reply. The issue is for every blog we (automatic) translate from Dutch to English. We have already resolved this for several blogs (manually) but it appears after every automatic translation. I've created an admin account for WPML to check?
Please find attached several screenshots where this % is appearing.
I would like to request temporary access (wp-admin and FTP) to your site to test the issue.
(preferably to a test site where the problem has been replicated if possible)
**Before we proceed It is necessary to take FULL BACKUP of your database and your website. Providing us with access, you agree that a backup has been taken **
I often use the Duplicator plugin for this purpose: http://wordpress.org/plugins/duplicator/
You will find the needed fields for this below the comment area when you log in to leave your next reply. The information you enter is private which means only you and I have access to it.
NOTE: If access to the live site is not possible and the staging site does not exist please provide me with a duplicator package created with the duplicator plugin.
I was able to see the issue under the 10 trips to Cambodia blog post, however, when I create a new one it does not reproduce.
Please review the "this is a test" post and let me know your results with the staging site, am I missing a step, or is the issue not happening on the staging site anymore?
In your test case, this problem hasn’t appeared yet. However, just before I created this staging environment, we launched a blog in Dutch that was automatically translated into English and is still pending review before publication (can also be found in the staging)
The blog, titled Self-driving in the Dominican Republic: Everything You Need to Know (English version), might help you identify the cause of the issue. I’ve attached a screenshot of the English posts page for your reference. Notably, when I manually removed the % sign, the problem was resolved (for example Australia trip).
The main challenge is that we previously corrected this issue directly in the WordPress post editor. However, the automatic translation tool later overwrote our manual changes. To prevent this, I’d like to resolve the issue within the automatic translation tool itself. Perhaps this involves updating a string translation, but I haven’t been able to identify the relevant one.
For that, I also have some related questions:
1. Can we restore our manually edited and optimized blog posts to prevent them from being overwritten again?
As mentioned, I made manual modifications to the automatic translations in the WordPress editor, rather than through the translation tool. However, these edits were overwritten by the tool. Is there a way to restore the modified versions and ensure they are not automatically overwritten in the future?
For future posts, I will use the translation tool directly, but I’m currently facing some additional challenges:
2. Changing the slug before publishing:
From a previous ticket, I enabled the following in WPML settings:
Settings -> Translated documents options -> Page URL -> Translate (this will include the slug in the translation and not create it automatically from the title).
However, I cannot see where to modify the slug. Could you clarify?
3. Editing the meta description:
Where and how can I change the meta description using the translation tool?
4. Previewing edits before publishing:
Is there a way to preview an edited blog post in the translation tool before it’s published?
5. Preserving modifications after updates:
If I modify an automatically translated blog post and later make changes to the original language version, will the modified translation be preserved? Or is there a risk that the tool will overwrite these changes again?
The Yoast title since it's only %%title%% %%page%% does not need to be in the ATE editor, and we can safely remove it by setting it to "duplicate once"
This will allow it to be copied over and not overwritten or changed by the automatic translation which I believe would avoid this issue.
To do this I went to WPML->Settings->Custom Fields Translation
click on "show system fields" and then set _yoast_wpseo_title to "Copy once" (click on the lock icon to unlock edit options)
The meta description should still get pulled in to allow to edit it/translate it into the ATE editor.
To preview updates before publishing you can go to WPML->Settings->Automatic Tranlsation and set it to Let me review it before it gets published
Regarding the changes -- if you have a translation and a change is made to the default language, if you ar using the automatic translation - translate everything mode then yes this will trigger a re translation which could potential overwrite manual edits outside of the automatic translation.
Thanks for the clarifications. I'll check it out later this week. However, one concern about your latest remark.
How can we ensure that our manually corrected translation will not be overwritten?
We follow these steps:
1. A blog is written and published in the default language.
2. The blog is automatically translated into English.
3. The translated English version is modified with some SEO optimizations, adjustments, and refinements.
4. The updated English blog is published.
5. After some time, it might be necessary to make minor updates to the default language blog (e.g., replacing a recommended restaurant that no longer exists). These changes typically affect only one or two paragraphs.
--> How can we ensure that when changes are made in step 5, the tool does not overwrite the entire English blog, so that our manual modifications to other paragraphs remain intact?
Try these steps first then do a test on your site where the issue is reproduced and if that does not work proceed to my second suggestion.
#1.
Go to WPML->Settings-> Custom Fields Translation-> Click on "show system fields"
Search for '_yoast_wpseo_title'
Set it to 'Copy once' and update (this will allow you to edit it if you ever need to adjust it manually to be different from the default language)
--- When you create a new page or post this kicks in automatically
-- For existing content it will take effect the moment a page or post is updated.
For example, the post '10 Best Things to Do in South Bohemia, Czech Republic (4-Day Travel Guide)' was showing it before in the editor and once i edited the default language and clicked on update the change kicked in and now it no longer shows.
As another option you might want to consider switching that specific page to using the manual translation option instead.
So basically, I can do the following for my translated blogs.
1. A blog is written and published in the default language.
2. The blog is automatically translated into English.
3. The translated English version is modified with some SEO optimizations, adjustments, and refinements.
4. The updated English blog is published.
5. Change from wpml translation to wordpress translation
6. After some time, it might be necessary to make minor updates to the default language blog (e.g., replacing a recommended restaurant that no longer exists). These changes typically affect only one or two paragraphs. This means I have to edit it manually on the translated blogs?
After step #5, the changes will now not automatically change the translation, you will see that you are prompted to update the translation (loading circle icon) manually but it's not necessary.
Also, after this change I made for the SEO Title you should not longer have an issue where the automatic translation is adding the extra %
