Why Your SEO Title, Description & Focus Keyword Aren’t Being Saved

In the unlikely event that you run into a situation where your SEO Title, Description, and/or Focus Keyword aren’t being saved when you update a post or page – here are some of the most common causes:

1 Plugin Conflicts

There can be plugin conflicts due to which you might not be able to save the SEO Title, Description, and Focus Keyword. You can solve these plugin conflicts by going through our knowledgebase article on plugin conflict.

2 Firewall

If you are using a Firewall, there are chances that it will prevent saving the data. Check your firewall if Rank Math is being blocked and if it the case, whitelist Rank Math and its files.

3 JavaScript-related Errors

If you are experiencing issues while saving your SEO Title, Description, or Focus keyword then it could be due to JavaScript-related errors. You can diagnose JavaScript-related errors from the JavaScript Console.

4 Blocked Access to the file

If you see blocked access to these files:

/wp-json/rankmath/v1/updateMeta
/wp-json/rankmath/v1/updateSchemas
/wp-json/rankmath/v1/updateRedirection

Then, you can whitelist the file using WordFence in Learning Mode. These instructions are for WordFence but will likely work on any firewall plugin/software.

How to Ensure Rank Math Meta Data Can Be Updated?

You have to ensure that the file is whitelisted and access to it isn’t blocked using a plugin like WordFence. You can install WordFence as well and see if you can replicate the issue. If you aren’t sure, then you can ask the web host why that file is showing a 403.

To whitelist a file in WordFence, navigate to WordFence > Tools in your WordPress admin area. Click on Whitelist Param from Firewall.

How to Whitelist Rank Math File in Cloudflare?

If you’re using Cloudflare and ran into a situation where the file /wp-json/rankmath/v1/updateMeta?_locale=user is being blocked by Cloudflare, then we recommend adding a page rule in Cloudflare to disable security for this specific URL. The following steps will help you add a page rule in Cloudflare.

1 Navigate to Rules in Cloudflare

In the Cloudflare dashboard of your domain, navigate to the Rules section as shown in the image below.

2 Create New Page Rule

Under the Rules tab, click the Create Page Rule button.

The next page lets you create a page rule. You’ll have to enter the path of the Rank Math file to be whitelisted in the field “If the URL matches” as:

*example.com/wp-json/rankmath/v1/updateMeta*

*example.com/wp-json/rankmath/v1/updateMeta*
*example.com/wp-json/rankmath/v1/updateSchemas*
*example.com/wp-json/rankmath/v1/updateRedirection*

Make sure that you replace example.com with your domain name. In the field “Then the settings are” choose Disable security as shown below.

3 Deploy Page Rule

After adding the necessary settings, click Save and Deploy button. Now Cloudflare security to the Rank Math file has been completely disabled, and you can check if you can save your SEO metadata in Rank Math.

We recommend you add a Meta Description, Focus Keyword, and SEO Title to all your posts and pages to increase the organic traffic on your website.

And, that’s it! We hope the article helped you fix the issue prevent SEO metadata from being saved. If the issue persists, feel free to open a support ticket, and our support team will help you in the best way they can.