Background of the issue:
I am trying to create and publish a page in Spanish at hidden link without any /en/ prefix, while using WPML’s 'different languages in directories' setting and Rank Math as my SEO plugin. I’ve disabled browser-language redirects, set Spanish as the default language, and enabled 'Use directory for default language.'
Symptoms:
WPML automatically prefixes /en/ on all new Spanish pages—even though the site language is set to Spanish and browser redirects are disabled. Rank Math shows the canonical and preview URL as hidden link, which doesn’t exist and redirects to /en. Google Search Console reports 'redirect error' and refuses to index the correct Spanish URL.
Questions:
How can I prevent WPML from adding the /en/ prefix to Spanish pages?
Why is Rank Math showing the wrong canonical URL?
How can I resolve the redirect error in Google Search Console?
What you saw is the result of a manual redirection we had to create to prevent the /en/ version from being indexed by Google, since the real issue is that WPML is forcing all new pages into the /en/ folder, even when we clearly set them to be in Spanish.
For example, this was the original slug generated when we created a new page meant to be in Spanish: hidden link
We had no way to change that default.
That’s why we manually redirected it to: hidden link
…which is what you saw and assumed was working as expected.
But again, the core problem is not redirection.
We are asking for help to understand why WPML is defaulting to /en/ for every new page, even though we’ve configured the language and URL structure correctly — as shown in the screenshots previously attached.
This is currently hurting our indexation in Google. A consultant even suggested ditching WPML altogether, but we’d rather solve this with your help before considering such a drastic step.
Please help us identify what’s causing WPML to assign the wrong language folder by default.
I would like to request temporary access to your site to take a better look at the issue.
It would be better to a testing site where the issue is replicated.
The information you will enter is private which means only you and I can see and have access to it.
Maybe I'll need to replicate your site locally. For this, I'll need to temporarily install a plugin called “Duplicator” or "All in One WP Migration" on your site.
This will allow me to create a copy of your site and your content.
Once the problem is resolved I will delete the local site.
**IMPORTANT**
- Please make a backup of site files and database before providing us access.
- If you do not see the wp-admin/FTP fields this means your post & website login details will be made PUBLIC. DO NOT post your website details unless you see the required wp-admin/FTP fields.
I’d like to show you how the issue appears on our side, step by step:
Create a new page in Spanish.
Click “Edit with Elementor.”
Once inside Elementor, open the “SEO” settings tab (from Rank Math).
In the “slug” field, type any custom slug.
👉 As soon as you do this, you’ll see that WPML automatically adds the /en/ prefix to the URL — even if the page is meant to be in Spanish.
Problem Summary:
Because of this behavior, all our translated Spanish pages are getting the /en/ prefix, which causes major SEO issues. None of these Spanish pages are being indexed by Google, since Google expects a canonical version without redirections. But we’ve been forced to manually redirect them one by one after publication — as shown in the initial ticket evidence.
For example:
We manually created the page hidden link
But the slug generated in the backend was hidden link
Also, the English version of our homepage is not being indexed, likely for the same reason:
Our English home page is meant to be at hidden link
But WPML assigns the slug as hidden link
We've tried several different WPML settings and configurations to avoid this behavior but haven’t found a solution.
Please let me know if you need access again or if you’d like me to record a video walking you through the issue live.
Thanks for the detailed explanation, but I still have doubts about how to reproduce it. So I accept your offer of recording a video :). Truly appreciate it.
Thank you so much for your time and for setting up the test page.
It turns out the issue was actually related to how canonical slugs were being interpreted — specifically, whether or not there was a trailing slash at the end of the URL. Once we inspected the canonical version indexed by Google (with the trailing slash), everything worked perfectly.
Regarding the /en/ path shown when creating new pages: it seems that Rank Math is simply using it as an example format. Those new pages are not actually being created under the /en/ directory, as we originally assumed.
So there’s no action required on your end. Thanks again for your support and patience — it’s very much appreciated!
