Latest version breaking tags

(@sevenstarsystems)

Hey guys,

Troubleshooting an issue for a client, and noticed that UAE was breaking the site’s <title> tag.

We had to patch it with the following fix, but would appreciate you looking into this on your end.

Thanks!

add_action('template_redirect', function() {
    ob_start(function($html) {
        if (is_admin()) return $html;
        if (strpos($html, '<title>') !== false) return $html;

        $post = get_post();
        if (!$post) return $html;

        $title = '';

        // RankMath
        if (defined('RANK_MATH_VERSION')) {
            $title = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'rank_math_title', true);
        }

        // Yoast SEO
        if (empty($title) && defined('WPSEO_VERSION')) {
            $title = get_post_meta($post->ID, '_yoast_wpseo_title', true);
        }

        // AIOSEO
        if (empty($title) && defined('AIOSEO_VERSION')) {
            $title = get_post_meta($post->ID, '_aioseo_title', true);
        }

        // Universal fallback — works regardless of SEO plugin
        if (empty($title)) {
            $title = get_the_title($post->ID) . ' - ' . get_bloginfo('name');
        }

        $title_tag = '<title>' . esc_html($title) . '</title>';
        $html = str_replace('<head>', '<head>' . "\n" . $title_tag, $html);

        return $html;
    });
}, 0);

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

Plugin Support Jan Gerald Starosa
(@jangsr)

1 week, 5 days ago
Hi @sevenstarsystems ,

thanks for reporting this!

We looked into the code and couldn’t reproduce a case where UAE/HFE removes
the tag, hfe-header.php calls wp_head() before we clear its hooks, so the title should always be rendered. That said, we’d like to dig deeper to confirm whether something specific to your setup is triggering this.

Before applying the workaround, we’d caution against it, it reads raw post meta from SEO plugins, which store title templates (e.g. %%title%% %%sep%% %%sitename%% in Yoast, %title% %sep() %sitename% in Rank Math), not the final rendered strings. The fix would inject those unprocessed variables directly into <title>, which would likely hurt SEO more than a missing tag would.

Could you share a few details so we can investigate properly?
- Which theme you are using?
- Which SEO plugin (Yoast, Rank Math, AIOSEO, or none)?
- In the HFE settings, which compatibility mode is selected – Default or Option 2?
- Is this happening on all pages or specific ones?
- Can you share a URL where we can inspect the rendered HTML?
We want to make sure we fix the root cause rather than patch over it.

Thanks!
Thread Starter sevenstarsystems
(@sevenstarsystems)

1 week, 5 days ago
Yep, I’m aware of the limitations of the workaround, but thank you… It currently works in our RankMath setup, as the meta fields are being stamped with the actual, rendered titles, but thanks for the heads up on that.
1. It’s a custom theme (we inherited this site).
2. SEO is RankMath.
3. Option 1 (Option 2 doesn’t work at all, it seems… still shows other headers)
4. All of them. I made a test page, and the issue didn’t present when the page was blank or just had a shortcode, but as soon as I put an Elementor text element in there, the problem appeared. Very strange.
5. I’m hesitant to take down the workaround for inspection, but I can tell you that the <title> tag was completely absent from the <head> tag.
Very weird situation that I haven’t encountered before. When UAE is disabled, the title comes back, but then obviously so do the non-UAE headers.

Thanks!
Plugin Support Dhruv
(@dpandya)

1 week ago
Hi @sevenstarsystems,

Thanks for the detailed follow-up. Based on your description, this looks like it may be related to how our default compatibility mode (Option 1) handles the original theme’s header.php, and we’d like to verify that against your specific setup.

To investigate without disrupting your live site, could you share:
1. The site URL. Even with your workaround active, we can still inspect the rendered HTML, the theme structure, and how Elementor outputs onto the page- that gives us most of what we need.
2. Two snippets from the custom theme (you can paste them here, no need to share files):
  - The <head> section of the theme’s header.php — specifically how the <title> tag is rendered (printed directly, or left to wp_head()?).
  - Any add_theme_support( 'title-tag' ) declaration in the theme’s functions.php.
3. An optional isolated test, if convenient. Create a single test page, temporarily bypass your workaround for just that one URL, and confirm whether <title> is missing there. This lets us see the unpatched output on a controlled URL without touching the rest of the site.
In parallel, we’re reviewing the relevant code path in our default compatibility mode (specifically how the theme’s header.php is buffered when HFE replaces it) to see whether the title can be preserved in cases where the theme prints it directly rather than via wp_head.

On Option 2, that sounds like a separate theme compatibility issue worth following up once the title behaviour is sorted; happy to look at it here in the same thread or a new one, whichever you prefer.

Best regards,
Dhruv – BSF Support Team

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

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