Video Summary


This SOP explains how to resolve a common issue that occurs when moving a WordPress site from a temporary/staging URL to its final live domain — specifically when using Yoast SEO. After launching a website, you may notice that many internal references in the site code still point to the old TEMP URL (for example: staging URLs from GoDaddy or Pressable). These leftover references can cause search engines to index the wrong version of the website, which negatively impacts SEO and creates long-term visibility issues.


This summary outlines how to identify the problem and how to fix it using the Yoast Test Helper plugin.





Why This Matters



When Yoast SEO is active during development on a temporary domain, it stores that domain inside its indexables table. After launching the site on the real URL, Yoast continues to push those old staging URLs into the metadata.


This results in:


• Wrong URLs appearing in page source

• Incorrect canonical tags

• Google indexing the temporary domain instead of the live one

• SEO performance issues and slow ranking


This only occurs with Yoast, so it must be checked for every site launched using Yoast SEO.





Symptoms of the Issue



You may see the following when viewing the page source:


• “property=” or “og:” tags referencing the old staging domain

• Meta tags containing the TEMP URL

• Canonical URLs pointing to the wrong domain

• Inconsistent Open Graph tags generated by Yoast


These references make Google think the staging URL is the correct URL.





How to Fix It



Follow these steps:



1. Install Yoast Test Helper



A free plugin created by Yoast that allows you to reset key tables.


Steps:


  1. Go to Plugins → Add New

  2. Search for Yoast Test Helper

  3. Install and activate the plugin






2. Reset Yoast’s Indexables



Once installed:


  1. Go to Tools → Yoast Test

  2. Locate Reset indexables tables & migrations

  3. Click to run the reset



This clears all stored domain references and forces Yoast to rebuild them using the correct live URL.





3. Refresh and Verify



After running the reset:


  1. Refresh the homepage

  2. View the page source again

  3. Confirm all references now match the live domain

  4. Ensure no TEMP URLs appear in meta tags, OG tags, or canonical URLs



You should now see clean metadata aligned with the correct domain.





When to Use This SOP



Run this process anytime:


• A site is launched from a temporary/staging environment

• Yoast SEO was installed before launch

• You notice the live site showing old URLs in the source code

• Google Search Console indexes the wrong domain





Important Notes



• This issue is specific to Yoast SEO

• Websites using RankMath, SEOPress, or other SEO plugins do not experience this problem

• Always run this check immediately after launching a site

• Fixing this early prevents long-term SEO problems