Yoast SEO 19.7 Causes Fatal Error & Crashes Websites
Yoast SEO has released an update to correct fatal errors due to a plugin conflict.
Yoast SEO WordPress plugin version 9.7 conflicted with other plugins, leading to websites suffering fatal errors.
Yoast has failed to update for the third year due to a conflicting plugin.
Yoast quickly investigated the reports and published an update to fix the problem.
WordPress Fatal Error
Although there are many reasons for fatal errors, this one was caused by Yoast SEO’s update. The coding of the plugin conflicted with Yoast SEO’s coding.
This could happen when two plugins try to accomplish the same thing, but one cancels out the other or prevents them from working together.
One metaphor for a plugin conflict is two cars driving in opposite directions on one road.
A plugin should make allowances for other plugins. This is especially true for standard plugins.
This is precisely what happened to the Yoast 19.7 Update.
Yoast 19.7 conflicted with custom coding or plugins that modify the admin login URL.
Changing the login URL is a security measure that tricks hacker software. It automatically navigates to the default URL for adminstrator logins and attempts to guess the login password credentials.
Yoast Announces Update Bug
Yoast was completely transparent about the bug and posted a tweet explaining to users what was happening.
Yoast Tweet
“We were informed by Yoast SEO 19.7 that it causes fatal errors when combined with plugins or code which alters the default WordPress login URL.
We have identified the issues and are currently working to solve it.”
According to the Yoast plugin, one of the changes made to Yoast 19.7 was an improvement in how Yoast handles fatal mistakes by preventing them from running on the login page.
“Improves handling fatal errors in front-end by preventing Yoast SEO from running on the login page. Users can access their dashboard.”
Could this have been the reason?
Why do plugins cause fatal errors?
Yoast plugin conflicts aren’t unique to Yoast. Yoast is more likely to experience plugin conflicts because of its large user base.
However, this is the third year in a row that a Yoast update caused a fatal error plugin conflict.
Joost De Valk, Yoast SEO Plugin founder, explained in a Tweet that it is not always possible for all the plugins in WordPress to be accounted for.
He tweeted:
“This is the kind of #WordPress plugin conflict situation I don’t know how to stop from happening.
How do you test your plugin against the 60,000+ plugins?
I am open to any ideas or suggestions.
Joost also tweeted that Yoast tests all plugin updates before they are released with many of its most popular plugins.
“We test against the large ones, not concerned about them as much, but a few small ones together still cause enough headaches.”
He went on
“… It’s not fun to break things. Everything passes our rigorous testing. It is not easy to create plugins that many people can use.
Solutions Available Within Hours
Yoast released a new update less than two hours after announcing they had discovered a bug in the previous update and were working to fix it.
The Best Action To Take
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
Leave a Reply