devnihil

This thread was marked resolved due to a lack of activity, but you’re always welcome to re-open the topic. Please read this post before opening a new request.

This thread was marked resolved due to a lack of activity, but you’re always welcome to re-open the topic. Please read this post before opening a new request.

Thanks for your reply and you’re very welcome. We’re going ahead and marking this as resolved, but you’re always welcome to re-open the topic. 

@hankris This error is typically caused by that the resources required to generate the sitemap are not available or the request is timing out due to the resource restrictions of the server environment.

To resolve this, we would first recommend ensuring that the PHP settings for both max_execution_time and memory_limit are set to a high enough value in the PHP environment. This setting is typically controlled by editing the values in a php.ini file such as in the following example:

max_execution_time = 300
memory_limit = 256M

If you aren’t sure how to change these settings in php.ini, we would recommend contacting your hosting provider for additional assistance. 

If you are still receiving the critical error on the sitemaps after increasing both values for the PHP max_execution_time and memory_limit, the issue may be caused by that the PHP script run time restriction on the server is being reached.

In order to reduce the amount of time necessary for the script to generate the sitemap, you can reduce the number of entries in the sitemap.

By default, the number of entries in the sitemap is set to 1000 but by decreasing this value it will decrease the amount of resources required to generate the sitemap. To decrease the number of sitemap entries you can use the filter wpseo_sitemap_entries_per_page.

For example, here is example code to limit the number of sitemap entries to 100:

<?php

/********* DO NOT COPY THE PARTS ABOVE THIS LINE *********/

/* Limit the number of sitemap entries for Yoast SEO

* Yoast SEO defaults to 1000

*/

function max_entries_per_sitemap() {

return 100;

}

add_filter( 'wpseo_sitemap_entries_per_page', 'max_entries_per_sitemap' );

We also have more information on using this developer filter at the following link: Limit the number of sitemap entries entries.

@mikechukwuka This issue appears because of incomplete breadcrumb markup. 

We ask that you please check whether you have missed adding the ‘Breadcrumb title’ or ‘Anchor text for your Homepage’? 

You can read more on how to configure this here: How to implement Yoast SEO breadcrumbs, or you can go in your WordPress dashboard to: Yoast SEO > Settings > Advanced > Breadcrumbs, then ensure the Anchor text for the home page is not blank.

After adding the text, please clear your site’s cache from your server and/or CDN, then recheck the page via Google’s Rich Result Testing Tool.

@kristinubute Can you please try to first update the plugin to the most current version, which is 21.5.

Before we discuss manually updating, let’s cover a few important things to be aware of beforehand. First, Yoast SEO stores SEO data and settings in the database, so manually updating is not expected to cause any data loss.

Second, we recommend creating regular backups of your site and database for your site’s health and safety. This is especially important before installing, updating, or removing plugins. It provides you with a safety net in case something were to go wrong. Learn more about <u>the benefits of regular backups</u>.

Thirdly, updating a severely outdated plugin may cause unexpected issues. Thus, we highly recommend using a staging or testing site to reduce the impact on your live site. Some popular web hosts offer quick setups for a staging site, so please contact your web host for assistance. They will probably be able to help you out. If your web host does not offer staging sites, the WordPress plugin repository offers staging plugins, or you can create your own staging site.

Now on to your options for updating the plugin manually.

Option 1: Replace the installed version with the uploaded version

This method is similar to the original installation steps. When you see the warning that the plugin is already installed, please click the ‘Replace current with uploaded’ button to complete the manual update.

Option 2: Uninstall and Reinstall

This method will remove all plugin files and install a freshly downloaded copy. As you are removing and uploading a new copy, you will have a clean install of the plugin. Please follow the steps to uninstall the plugin before you install the latest version. You can download the latest version here.

Option 3: Via S/FTP or File Manager

This method entails deleting the old plugin files and uploading the new plugin files to the same folder path. We have a step-by-step guide to help you through the process. How can I manually update my (premium) plugin? If you are unfamiliar with using FTP, your web host may be able to help.

We understand that you are experiencing an issue in that the Title and Meta Description you have specified in the plugin settings are not displaying as expected in the search results for your site.

Whereas Google typically uses the title and meta description from the page’s metadata for indexing, this is not always the case. Google will sometimes modify or ignore the title and meta description when it sees fit, as well as sometimes adding the brand or sitename to the end of your title. This is not due to the plugin not functioning as expected, but rather is due to Google using another value for the title and meta description that it indexes, as it’s algorithm has concluded that there is a better version to index. We have additional information on this topic available at the following links: My SEO title isn’t showing as I have entered it and Google shows the wrong meta description for my site.

If Google is ignoring the title or meta description you have created for a page and creating it’s own based off the page’s content, we would recommend creating new ones that reflect the page’s content. Please refer to these articles as they include recommendations for crafting a page title which will help increase the likelihood that Google will use the title you specified, instead of it’s modified version.