Hi there!
Better Search Replace Support Team here, Thanks for reaching out with your query we would be happy to assist!
Better Search Replace changes are done instantly on the database. We recommend checking your database directly first as the changes may have already reflected on the database but not on the front-end of your site.
If it does then it’s likely to do with the theme used on your site. Perhaps the links are harcoded on the template file or the theme used stores the URLs differently in the database. We recommend reaching out to your theme developers for further information here.
However, if the changes are also not reflected on the database then it could be due to a caching issue or plugins installed on site.
Could you first please confirm whether the changes still haven’t reflected yet? If not, please check if you have any caching plugins installed. Kindly try clearing any cache on your site and see if that resolves the issue.
If the issue persists, please try temporarily disabling plugins and switch to a default theme such as Twenty Twenty-Five then retry the process again.
Please let us know how that goes.
Hi,
Thanks for that,
I’m using elementor.
But since all data is saved in the DB, regardless how a link is created, the plugin should interrogate the db, find the string and change it, right?
Thanks
Hi @rik0399,
You’re right that Better Search Replace searches the database for text and replaces it. We recommend checking the database directly to confirm whether the changes were applied. Your hosting provider may be able to assist with that.
If the database updates are there, but the old links still appear on the frontend, it might help to check with Elementor for any additional settings that could affect this. You can also try clearing Elementor’s cache using the steps here:
https://elementor.com/help/caching-prevents-live-site-from-showing-changes-in-editor/
Please let us know how it goes!
Same issue. Dry run says what it will do. Actual run says it made all the replacements. Yet, no change on the current blog when checked. Go back to the plugin and try it again and it says no replacements were made this time. That means that the plugin is keeping a phantom database that it refers to and updates, but that phantom is not being reflected in the external view via the public-facing blog. Nor does it appear in editing posts, where no changes are observed. I can kind of understand how a theme or cache may interfere, but when it comes to editing a post, that has to derive from the database. Right?
Hi @prpuk,
The plugin makes direct changes to the database during the actual search and replace process.
However, with page builders like Elementor, content may also be stored in additional places like the postmeta table, perhaps in formats such as JSON or escaped strings. This can cause certain content not to match during a search unless the formatting is taken into account.
While Better Search Replace can perform replacements on your selected tables in the database, the visibility of those changes depends on how the page builder or theme loads and displays that content. In some cases, clearing cache or even checking with the builder’s support may be needed to fully reflect updates.
Not using anything like Elementor AFAICT, just manually writing with a a theme-based WordPress. What to look for?
