[Rank Math SEO Plugin] Sitemaps for multilingual sites

[nina2]

Hello, I have just switched from Yoast to Rank Math and would like to know how it works on a multilingual site. Especially for submitting and creating sitemaps in both the .com and com/de version of my site. Thank you.

Edited December 5, 2018 by nina2
add sensitive data

[Pratik.d]

Hello,

We are glad you got that working now.

If you need anything else in future, feel free to ask.

Thank you.

[Mili]

Hello,

Thank you for contacting MyThemeShop today.

Our plugin Rank Math is indeed compatible with WPML translation plugin. You will be able to translate each page with WPML and Rank Math options will be available for both language pages.

Looking forward to helping you. Thank you.

[nina2]

Ok, Thank you. Is there any documentation to follow? Do I need to translate all strings from Rank Math? That would be almost 2000!

Sitemap: How will Rank Math create sitemaps for all languages? Will Rank Math also submit them?

Thank you!

[Montgomerie]

Hello,

Upon checking further, it seems like that the translated Sitemaps are not getting auto-generated.

Please allow us a week time and we will release an update where you would simply need to install the WPML plugin and a separate sitemap for different languages will be auto-generated.

We seek your patience and understanding in this matter.

Thank you.

[nina2]

Ok, I will wait! I use WPML already. Is there any documentation how to use Rank Math with WPML?

[Montgomerie]

Hello,

Thank you for your understanding.

There is no special configuration required for the plugin to work with WPML.

However, few tests won't work properly in the backend as we support only English at this time (100%). More languages will be added down the line.

Hope that helps.

[nina2]

 

Hello Support,

as of this evening it seems like Rank Math has been breaking some of my pages. 60% load normally, the others don’t show and I get error “too many redirects”. When I deactivate the plugin everything works fine. Any suggestions? Would love to keep on using Rank Math.

 

[Montgomerie]

Hello,

Please share your WordPress login details & The article links which are not opening in the "Sensitive Data" section by editing your first post on this ticket and follow the instructions shown in the screenshot below:

Please make a reply once you update the details, so we get notified.

Looking forward to helping you. Thank you.

[nina2]

Hello,

I have updated the sensitive data as requested. Can you please check further?

Thank you.

[Montgomerie]

Hello,

I activated the plugin back and the posts are opening fine.

Maybe because I cleared the cache?

Can you please update the sensitive area with the posts which are not opening for you?

Looking forward to helping you. Thank you.

[nina2]

Hello Montgomerie, 

no, I also cleared the cache. The problems are already back. 60-7ß% of the pages open (that's why it's easy to believe all is good!) but for examle

Refer Sensitive Data Section for Pages which are not opening. That was the same problem yesterday. This affects both the German and English version of the pages. In the browser the URL keeps jumping between the 2 languages and then comes up as "failed to open page". If I deactivate your plugin the pages load fine.

The English "about me" page opens in German. Also wrong. (And there's probably a few others)

 

Thanks for your help.

[Pratik.d]

Hello,

I updated the Rank Math plugin on your site with the Sitemap fix. The sitemap will now work fine for the translated posts.

For the Redirection issue, can you please tell us how you added Redirections to the plugin? Did you import it from other plugin or you manually added it? I updated the Redirection rule for the 2 links you added in the Sensitive Data Section and now it's working fine. Basically, this is what I did: For /kontakt/ page I navigated to Dashboard >> Rank Math >> Redirections and searched kontakt in Redirection search, at the very end there is a redirection rule for /kontakt/, I just updated that rule without changing anything and that fixed the too_many_redirects issue.

Although, there is 1 more thing there. You are using same page slug in both English & German language, so the redirection rule you added for /kontakt/ is also applied to /de/kontakt/. I checked with other Redirection plugins too and the same thing happens. To fix this, please use different page slugs or disable the Redirection module for now. We'll try to get in touch with the WPML team and we'll try to fix this together with them, as it looks like something in there code is causing this issue.

Hope that helps. If there is anything else, please let us know.

Thank you.

[nina2]

Thanks for your help and reply.

How do I change redirection rules in Rank Math that you mentioned? Do you mean temporary redirection vs permanent? 

How can I manually add a redirection?

 

I imported the data from Redirection Plugin.

 

Unfortunately, there are still a few persisting problems:

 

If I click on “About Me” - the German site opens

If I click on “Courses - Learn German via Skype” - German version opens

If I click on “Courses - Learn English via Skype” - German version opens

If I click on “Courses - Tutoring” - nothing opens

If I click on “Prices” - German Startpage opens

If I click on “Blog” - nothing opens

 

If I click on “Online Unterricht- Alleine Reisen als Frau” - English version opens

If I click on “Über mich” - Half is in German other half in English

If I click on “Meine Bücher - Wo bitte gehts hier um die Welt - Rezensionen” - English startpage opens

If I click on “Kontakt" - English version opens

 

 

 

Where can I see both sitemaps? Have they been submitted? In the index only 3 show up for the English site, none for the .de

 

I appreciate your time and effort!

[Pratik.d]

Hello,

It looks like the Redirections were not imported properly on your site. You will have to manually update the Redirection rules which are not working. Please see the screencast I added in the Sensitive Data Section on how to do this.

I checked your Sitemap and it looks ok to me. The index page shows the main categories of Sitemap i.e Posts, Pages & Category which is not specific to language. Please click on any of this index and see if it shows all posts/pages in the Sitemap. I checked it and it's showing posts/pages from both the language.

Hope that helps. Thank you.

[Pratik.d]

Hello,

I imported Redirections again on your site and now all the Redirections seems to be working fine.

Please let us know if you are still facing any issue. Thank you.

[nina2]

Hello, thanks but there are still some issues:

https://ninabuschmann.com/de/effektive-online-kurse-via-skype - the first part of page shows up in English, then German, at the end English again.

 

 Can you please tell me how the plugin is creating these random changes? Makes me a bit afraid to keep using it as I’m not sure when these effects will reappear and how to control them

 

 https://ninabuschmann.com/de/englisch-online-lernen-via-skype - same problem, both languages on one page

https://ninabuschmann.com/de/ihre-sprach-und-reiseexpertin - same problem, both languages on one page

 https://ninabuschmann.com/de/learning-german-online-de/unglaublich-praktische-ressourcen-zum-thema-deutsch-online-lernen -in English only

“Meine Bücher - Wo bitte gehts hier um die Welt? - Rezensionen” - goes back to English startpage

“Kontakt” - shows only English contact page

“Online Unterricht - Alleine Reisen als Frau”  - only in English

 

What changes are you making, how to change the redirection rules in RM? Can I also switch it off in the plugin and use another redirection plugin?

 

New problem:

If I want to do a speed test on GT Metric or pagespeedinsights I get 404 error message (even though I can open the page)

Lighthouse returned error: ERRORED_DOCUMENT_REQUEST. Lighthouse was unable to reliably load the page you requested. Make sure you are testing the correct URL and that the server is properly responding to all requests. Status code: 404.

[Pratik.d]

Hello,

2 hours ago, nina2 said:

https://ninabuschmann.com/de/effektive-online-kurse-via-skype - the first part of page shows up in English, then German, at the end English again.

 Can you please tell me how the plugin is creating these random changes? Makes me a bit afraid to keep using it as I’m not sure when these effects will reappear and how to control them

 https://ninabuschmann.com/de/englisch-online-lernen-via-skype - same problem, both languages on one page

https://ninabuschmann.com/de/ihre-sprach-und-reiseexpertin - same problem, both languages on one page

 https://ninabuschmann.com/de/learning-german-online-de/unglaublich-praktische-ressourcen-zum-thema-deutsch-online-lernen -in English only

2

Rank Math plugin doesn't change any content. Your pages itself has mix-content. Please check the Screencasts I added to the Sensitive Data Section

 

2 hours ago, nina2 said:

“Kontakt” - shows only English contact page

 

You created a Redirection rule for /kontakt which is why it is redirecting to the English page. Please check my answer here: 

 

2 hours ago, nina2 said:

What changes are you making, how to change the redirection rules in RM? Can I also switch it off in the plugin and use another redirection plugin?

 

We didn't change anything in your Redirection rules. The Redirections were not imported properly because of which you were facing issues before of some pages redirecting to different URLs.

You can switch off Redirection module of plugin from Dashboard >> Rank Math >> Dashboard >> Modules >> Redirections: https://mythemeshop.d.pr/5R20Vg

2 hours ago, nina2 said:

New problem:

If I want to do a speed test on GT Metric or pagespeedinsights I get 404 error message (even though I can open the page)

Lighthouse returned error: ERRORED_DOCUMENT_REQUEST. Lighthouse was unable to reliably load the page you requested. Make sure you are testing the correct URL and that the server is properly responding to all requests. Status code: 404.

This is not happening because of the Rank Math plugin. I deactivated the Rank Math plugin on your site to see if Speed Test throws 404 error and it did throw 404 error after deactivating the plugin. Maybe some other plugin installed on your site is causing this problem.

Hope that helps. Thank you.

[nina2]

Thanks for helping out, the mixed language issues are a WPML issue and they are working on a solution. I have now fixed all the redirect issues and 404. The sitemaps were not submitted to I manually uploaded them to Search Console. I hope all is on track for now, thanks for your time.

Hello, thanks but there are still some issues,

https://ninabuschmann.com/de/effektive-online-kurse-via-skype - the first part of page shows up in English, then German, at the end English again.

 

 Can you please tell me how the plugin is creating these random changes? Makes me a bit afraid to keep using it as I’m not sure when these effects will reappear and how to control them

 

 https://ninabuschmann.com/de/englisch-online-lernen-via-skype - same problem, both languages on one page

https://ninabuschmann.com/de/ihre-sprach-und-reiseexpertin - same problem, both languages on one page

 https://ninabuschmann.com/de/learning-german-online-de/unglaublich-praktische-ressourcen-zum-thema-deutsch-online-lernen -in English only

“Meine Bücher - Wo bitte gehts hier um die Welt? - Rezensionen” - goes back to English startpage

“Kontakt” - shows only English contact page

“Online Unterricht - Alleine Reisen als Frau”  - only in English

 

What changes are you making, how to change the redirection rules in RM? Can I also switch it off in the plugin and use another redirection plugin?

 

New problem:

If I want to do a speed test on GT Metric or pagespeedinsights I get 404 error message (even though I can open the page)

Lighthouse returned error: ERRORED_DOCUMENT_REQUEST. Lighthouse was unable to reliably load the page you requested. Make sure you are testing the correct URL and that the server is properly responding to all requests. Status code: 404.

[Pratik.d]

Hello,

We are glad you got that working now.

If you need anything else in future, feel free to ask.

Thank you.