Problem: The client is experiencing soft 404 errors in Google Search Console for translated categories and tags that are not yet used in articles on their German site. Additionally, author names are showing up as soft 404s when they don't publish articles in both languages. Solution: We recommend deleting the translations for the categories and tags that are not in use. This will prevent WordPress from creating archive pages for these items, which results in soft 404s. Before deleting, ensure to back up the website and database. If the categories are automatically translated when translating products, this can also prevent soft 404s.
Alternatively, you can use Rank Math's Advanced Mode to edit the
robots.txt
file and exclude these URLs from search engine indexing. Here are the guides to assist you:
Please note that this solution might not apply to your situation if it's outdated or not relevant to your specific case. If these steps do not resolve your issue, we highly recommend checking the related known issues, verifying the version of the permanent fix, and confirming that you have installed the latest versions of themes and plugins. If you still need assistance, please don't hesitate to open a new support ticket with us.
Problem: The client is unable to update WPML plugins on their staging site and receives an error message indicating that the WPML plugin cannot connect to wpml.org.
Solution: 1. We recommend creating a full website backup. 2. Deactivate and delete the WPML plugin from the staging site. 3. Manually download the latest version of the plugin from our downloads page. 4. Install and activate the plugin on the staging site.
If the issue persists, it might be a false positive due to server caching. To check this: 1. Go to Plugins > Add new > Commercial. 2. Click the "check for updates" button. 3. If the page refreshes and WPML shows as registered, it's likely a false positive.
If the problem continues on the live site, we encourage you to open a new support ticket for further assistance. We also recommend checking related known issues, verifying the version of the permanent fix, and confirming that you have installed the latest versions of themes and plugins. If the solution provided here is outdated or not applicable to your case, please contact our support team.
Problem: The client wants to display language abbreviations (EN / DE) in the navigation bar but spell out the languages (English/Deutsch) in the dropdown menu of the language switcher.
Solution: We informed the client that WPML displays language names as configured in WPML -> Languages, with options to show or hide flags and native language names. To achieve the desired custom display of the language switcher, we recommended checking the following resources for guidance on creating a custom language switcher:
If the client requires additional custom work, we recommended contacting WPML Contractors at https://wpml.org/contractors/.
Please note that the solution provided might be irrelevant due to being outdated or not applicable to your case. If this is the case, 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 you still need assistance, please open a new support ticket with us.
