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        4. How to fix broken links?

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        • Indiatravelz
          Indiatravelz last edited by

          Hi,

          I use WordPress CMS with Yoast SEO plugin.  I have just found out that my 403 errors increased dramatically. It seems that all my tags below of each post are being broken for some reason. When i click on the tags i get the following massage: **403 Forbidden Request forbidden by administrative rules. **

          I assume it has something to do with the configuration within Yoast SEO plugin.

          Dose anyone know how should i fix that?

          Thanks,

          Raviv

          evsGujA

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • evolvingSEO
            evolvingSEO @Indiatravelz last edited by

            Awesome! Definitely happy you let us know 😉

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • Indiatravelz
              Indiatravelz @Indiatravelz last edited by

              Hi Dan,

              Just wanted to let you know that the problem is fixed at last:)

              WP support suggested to check this out with the hosting and bingo! Apparently is happened because of a massive on many WP sites ( Brute Force Attack ) which blocked some of my files and that was the reason for the 403's.

              I thought that you might want to know.

              Again, thanks so much for your help!!!

              Raviv

              evolvingSEO 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
              • Indiatravelz
                Indiatravelz @evolvingSEO last edited by

                For sure!

                Indiatravelz 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • evolvingSEO
                  evolvingSEO @Indiatravelz last edited by

                  Hi Raviv - great, that will be your quickest source to the answer I think at this stage. Do update us if you can!

                  -Dan

                  Indiatravelz 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • Indiatravelz
                    Indiatravelz @evolvingSEO last edited by

                    Hey Dan,

                    Thanks so much for your help! really!

                    I still didn't fix it but as you said the tags themselves are broken. when i viewed them in the tags archive i get the same thing guess what? 403!

                    anyways, I will contact the help forum as you suggested hopefully they'll be able to tell me how to get it done.

                    Thanks again!

                    Raviv

                    evolvingSEO 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • evolvingSEO
                      evolvingSEO @Indiatravelz last edited by

                      Ah good! We've ruled out Yoast. Either one of two things are going on;

                      1. Tags are simply broken.

                      2. Maybe the link to the tags are just broken.

                      Can you adjust the URL at all to get to tags? Maybe the links are adding something extra in the URL making it incorrect? Or you can't get to tags at all. From within the Admin section, try going to Posts->Tag and hovering over a tag click "view" to try and view that tag archive. If it's still broken then it's tags themselves.

                      Either way this is leaning more towards a development issue, and maybe you want to contact the help department for your theme, or try the WordPress help forum.

                      -Dan

                      Indiatravelz 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • Indiatravelz
                        Indiatravelz @evolvingSEO last edited by

                        Hey Dan,

                        So I've tested it and it seems that I still get those broken links even when the Yoast plug in was disabled. In both tests i got the same results- 403.

                        Any suggestions of how to fix it?

                        Cheers,

                        Raviv

                        evolvingSEO 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • evolvingSEO
                          evolvingSEO @Indiatravelz last edited by

                          Hi Raviv

                          Yes, go to plugins and hit "disable" - you shouldn't lose your information, but I would take screenshots or write down of your settings just in case. Definitely don't delete the plugin - just disable it temporarily.

                          Let me know!

                          -Dan

                          Indiatravelz 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • Indiatravelz
                            Indiatravelz @evolvingSEO last edited by

                            Hi Dan!

                            Thanks for helping here!

                            2nd test result - even when I'm not being logged in to WP then I still get the 403 error

                            with regard to the 1st test ( shunting off the plugin) : 1 )  shall i do it by the  'deactivate' function in the plugins section? or is it something in I need to do withing the setting of Yoast plug in itself.

                            1. either way is shutting off the plug in means that I will have to reconfigure the plugin from the beginning after switching it back on?

                            Sorry ... I'm still very new to this

                            Thanks Again

                            Raviv

                            evolvingSEO 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • evolvingSEO
                              evolvingSEO last edited by

                              Raviv

                              Just to make sure we're not assuming incorrectly, temporarily shut off the Yoast SEO plugin. This should be fine to do for just a few minutes. Do you still get the 403 errors? If so, then it is not the Yoast plugin but some other issue.

                              Also, do you get this error while logged out of WordPress? Trying doing it on your site in incognito mode in Chrome without logging in.

                              Let us know what happens with both of those tests!

                              -Dan

                              Indiatravelz 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                              • Indiatravelz
                                Indiatravelz @EdsonGroupMedia last edited by

                                Hi Ed,

                                Thanks for that! But I need now to find out how to fix those broken links

                                Cheers,

                                Raviv

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • EdsonGroupMedia
                                  EdsonGroupMedia last edited by

                                  Hi Raviv,

                                  I used this Worpress plugin to fix my broken links, hope it helps http://w-shadow.com/blog/2007/08/05/broken-link-checker-for-wordpress/

                                  Regards

                                  Ed

                                  Indiatravelz 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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