automatically links attributes always added even if disabled

#163571
  • Resolved Pietro Carrara
    Rank Math free

    Hello,
    I’me receiving multiple error warnings from W3C Validator because your plugins automatically add fake attributes to all my external links, even if I’ve disabled those options in your plugin settings panel.

    First of all, all my links (internal and external) have this unwanted code:

    class="rank-math-link"

    and I DON’T WANT IT!!!

    But, most of all… All external links have this bogus code appended form your plugin

    class="rank-math-link" a tab noopener--lwpdom--quot---lwpdom-

    This is causing multiple W3C Validation errors!!!
    Please, correct your bugs!

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
  • Hello,

    Thank you for contacting the support, and sorry for any inconvenience that might have been caused due to that.

    Please ensure that you are using the latest version of Rank Math plugin. If not yet, please do update them. You may refer to our changelog page here: https://rankmath.com/changelog/

    Would you mind sharing a copy of the affected links on the sensitive data section so that we can check this issue further?

    Looking forward to helping you. Thank you.

    You can freely check any post on my blog, e.g.: https://donpi.it/dieci-parole/

    By inspecting the code of the page, you can verify that the internal links have in any case added the “rank-math-link” class, and this class always remains, even if I apply one of the suggestions found on your forum. support:

    // Filter to removerank-math-link` class from the frontend content links
    add_filter (‘rank_math / link / remove_class’, ‘__return_true’);`

    And it remains even if I deactivate your plugin!

    But the biggest problem of all is the errors introduced in all my external liks, which add tags not enclosed in quotes, creating a huge amount of W3C validation errors.
    I think there are parsing errors in adding the “noopener, noreferrer and nofollow” attributes… but this happens even if I have disabled the add of those attributes function in your plugin control panel!
    The only way to restore the original WordPress links is to deactivate your plugin (also if the “rank-math-link” class is still present)… I have not tried to uninstall it completely because I am afraid of losing all the settings and a mountain of data in the database!

    To be completely sure that your plugin is creating these problems (and not for example my theme, or a strange interaction with my theme) I also tried to use the default theme of WordPress 5.7 (Twenty Twenty-one), but the links problems remains.

    The only other plugin that “interferes” and creates this serious bug on my external links is “LuckyWP Table of Contents”, in the sense that when it is active it adds the word “-lwpdom-” among the various unquoted attributes of the links, but this happens only if “LuckyWP Table of Contents” is installed and active together with your plugin, otherwise everything is OK.

    I ask you to check, because the situation is really critical!

    Hello,

    Thank you for keeping in touch with us and I am sorry for the issue you are facing.

    Since the attribute is still being added even when you deactivate Rank Math (correct me if I’m wrong), it is really hard to point out the cause of this issue.

    I was able to see the issue on your website. However. I am trying to replicate this issue from my own WordPress installation and I wasn’t able to.

    To investigate this further, we might need to check this one over your WordPress admin settings. Please edit the first post on this ticket and include your WordPress & FTP logins in the designated Sensitive Data section.
    Sensitive Data Section

    It is completely secure and only our support staff has access to that section. If you want, you can use the below plugin to generate a temporary login URL to your website and share that with us instead:

    https://wordpress.org/plugins/temporary-login-without-password/

    You can use the above plugin in conjunction with the WP Security Audit Log to monitor what changes our staff might make on your website (if any):

    https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-security-audit-log/

    We really look forward to helping you.

    Instead I have to correct you: you are wrong, because you don’t read carefully what users write to you when they ask for support.
    I said that the only thing that remains present (even if you disable your plugin) is the class:
    class = "rank-math-link"
    and I understood the reason: you just entered it in my database! This is a hateful and deplorable thing.
    Now I have to remove from my database all occurrences of that unwanted class you added.
    You have to keep your hands off the contents of our posts, and our links (also for the fact that in the control panel I have set the options not to add anything to my links).

    Instead all the problems related to link attributes added “on the fly” but incorrectly (without the quotes) and therefore producing validation errors on W3C disappear when I deactivate your plugin and the whole page is validated correctly.
    So, this is proof that it is your plugin’s responsibility.

    Last thing: as I have already replied to your other colleagues (in other support request posts), I will NEVER give access to the administrative part of my site again, neither with my credentials nor with a temporary login, because the last time I done, your colleague caused me a lot of trouble by modifying parts of my site that he wasn’t supposed to touch, and I had to work days to get everything back in place.

    P.S. However I see that finally someone has realized the BUG and solved everything with the new version 1.0.59.1 – Now all validates right. Please don’t introduce other bugs. Thanks.

    Good morning.

    Hello,

    We do not add it to the database. It is added to the frontend on the fly.

    We add that class when you use the Block Editor. This is done so the link options offered by Rank Math work without any issues.

    We see that the class is not present anymore on your external links so the update seems to have worked for you.

    If you need further help or with anything else, please open a new support ticket here so we can help.

    We are always here for assistance.

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

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