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Fixing Double Slashes and Incorrect Canonical URLs in Yoast SEO

19 threads Sep 7, 2025 Plugin → Yoast seo

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Many WordPress users rely on the Yoast SEO plugin to manage their site's search engine optimization. A common and frustrating issue that can arise is the plugin generating incorrect canonical URLs, often featuring problematic double slashes (//) or incorrect letter casing. This guide will help you understand why this happens and walk you through the most effective solutions.

What is the Problem?

Users report that Yoast SEO outputs malformed canonical URLs in their site's HTML source code. The issues typically manifest in two ways:

  • Double Slashes: The canonical URL appears as https://example.com//post-name/ instead of https://example.com/post-name/.
  • Incorrect Casing: The plugin uses uppercase letters in the path (e.g., /Urlaub/) when the correct, functioning path uses lowercase letters (e.g., /urlaub/). This can lead to "problematic status code" warnings in SEO tools.

These errors are confirmed to be related to Yoast SEO because they disappear immediately when the plugin is deactivated.

Why Does This Happen?

Based on community reports, these issues are often caused by one of the following:

  1. Incomplete or Invalid Data: The plugin's internal optimization data (stored in "indexables") can become corrupted or outdated, especially after imports, migrations, or plugin updates.
  2. Configuration Conflicts: Incorrect settings in WordPress or the server configuration (like the site URL defined in wp-config.php) can conflict with how Yoast generates URLs.
  3. Plugin or Theme Interactions: The way certain themes (like Avada) or other plugins handle custom post types (e.g., portfolios) can sometimes lead to unexpected URL generation.

How to Fix It: Step-by-Step Solutions

Try these solutions in order. The first method resolves the issue for most users.

Solution 1: Reset and Rebuild Yoast SEO's Data

The most common fix is to reset the plugin's data and allow it to rebuild everything correctly. This clears out any corrupted information.

  1. Install and activate the free Yoast Test Helper plugin.
  2. Go to Tools > Yoast Test in your WordPress admin dashboard.
  3. In the Yoast SEO section, click the following buttons one by one. The page will reload after each click:
    • Reset indexables tables & migrations
    • Reset Prominent words calculation
    • Reset Internal link counter
  4. Now, go to SEO > Tools.
  5. Under "SEO data," click the Start SEO data optimization button. Let the process complete.

This forces Yoast SEO to re-analyze all your content and rebuild its database with clean, correct URLs. Check your site's source code afterward to see if the issue is resolved.

Solution 2: Verify Your WordPress and Server Configuration

If the problem persists, double-check your core settings.

  1. Navigate to Settings > General in WordPress.
  2. Ensure the WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL) are identical and do not have a trailing slash (e.g., https://example.com, not https://example.com/).
  3. Check your wp-config.php file. If you have lines defining WP_HOME or WP_SITEURL, ensure they also do not have a trailing slash and match the settings above.

Solution 3: Check for a Manual Canonical URL

For individual posts or pages that have the wrong canonical URL:

  1. Edit the problematic post or page.
  2. Scroll down to the Yoast SEO meta box.
  3. Click the Advanced tab.
  4. Look at the "Canonical URL" field. If a URL is manually entered here, it will override the automatic generation. This field should be left completely blank unless you have a specific reason to change it. Clear it out if it contains an incorrect URL.

Solution 4: Identify Conflicts

As a last resort, a conflict with your theme or another plugin might be the cause.

  1. Temporarily switch your theme to a default WordPress theme like Twenty Twenty-Four.
  2. Deactivate all plugins except Yoast SEO.
  3. Check if the canonical URL is now correct.
  4. If it is, reactivate your plugins one by one, checking each time, to identify the culprit.
  5. Finally, reactivate your original theme to test it.

When to Seek Further Help

If you have tried all these steps and the issue remains, the problem may be more complex. The Yoast SEO team has acknowledged specific bugs related to pagination and prev/next links in archive pages. In such cases, your best course of action is to search for your specific error message on the Yoast SEO support forums to see if others have found a workaround while an official fix is developed.

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