Common issues & fixes

Overview

Most problems come from one of these:

• a page isn't recognized as a recipe
• posts missing from the sitemap Allspice reads
• a caching or optimization plugin delaying scripts
• Publisher Portal changes that haven't reached WordPress yet
• a large site still syncing in batches

After changing something in the Publisher Portal, go to Settings → Allspice in WordPress and click Sync Buttons & Settings to apply it right away.

Prerequisites

Before troubleshooting, confirm:

• The Allspice plugin is installed and activated
• Your domain is linked and verified in the Publisher Portal
• Your recipe posts are publicly accessible
• You have at least one recipe URL you can test
• You've clicked Sync All in Settings → Allspice

If you don't sync by hand, WordPress picks up Publisher Portal changes and the recipe list automatically about every 12 hours.

Syncing & recipe count issues

Issue: "Allspice shows fewer recipes synced than I have on my site"

Usually one of these:

• some posts aren't in your public sitemap, or are in a sitemap Allspice doesn't read (see below)
• some posts were not recognized as valid recipes
• some pages were temporarily inaccessible during crawling
• some posts did not include enough recipe data for extraction

Common examples of "not a valid recipe":

• pages that look like recipe content visually, but do not include recipe JSON-LD (schema.org Recipe)
• recipe JSON-LD with neither ingredients nor instructions

Make sure every recipe post outputs schema.org Recipe JSON-LD. Most recipe card plugins do this automatically.

Issue: "Whole groups of posts are missing"

When your domain's content source is Crawl (sitemap), Allspice starts from your sitemap index and only follows the child sitemaps whose URL path contains recipe, article, post, blog, or page-sitemap. Posts listed only in a sitemap with another name, such as /food-sitemap.xml or a custom post type sitemap, aren't found.

Switch the domain to WordPress Direct, which reads the post list from the plugin instead of your sitemaps. Otherwise, make sure your recipes appear in a sitemap whose name contains one of those words.

Issue: "A handful of recipes failed when syncing a large site"

Large sites sync in batches, and a few pages can fail on the first pass because they time out or return inconsistent markup. With thousands of recipes, an incomplete first run is normal. The next scheduled sync picks up the stragglers.

Issue: "Sync is taking longer than expected"

This is most common on sites with thousands of recipe pages, slow server response times, or inconsistent recipe markup across older posts.

Recipe detection issues

Issue: "Allspice is not appearing on a recipe page"

Most common causes:

• the recipe does not have structured recipe markup
• the recipe is embedded in a way Allspice cannot reliably detect
• the page is being cached with incomplete HTML
• script delay / optimization is preventing the widget from running

Recommended steps:

• Confirm the page is a real recipe post (not a category page or tag page)
• Confirm the page has schema.org Recipe JSON-LD with ingredients or instructions
• If the post is new, wait about 10 minutes, then click Sync Recipes in Settings → Allspice
• Clear your site cache
• Test in an incognito window

Issue: "Allspice appears on a post that isn't a recipe"

This happens when a page carries recipe structured data but isn't meant to be a recipe.

Recommended steps:

• Check the page's structured data
• Remove recipe schema from posts that aren't recipes
• Contact Allspice support with the page URL so we can refine detection

Issue: "Allspice is missing older recipes, but works on newer ones"

Common causes:

• older posts are missing recipe JSON-LD (required)
• older recipes use a different recipe plugin that doesn't output JSON-LD
• content structure changed during a theme migration

Recommended steps:

• Check the older posts for schema.org Recipe JSON-LD
• Make sure your sitemap includes older recipe URLs (or use WordPress Direct)

Button & widget issues

Issue: "Buttons show up but nothing happens when I click them"

Most common causes:

• a caching or optimization plugin delayed the scripts the buttons need
• a custom button class was applied but action mapping wasn't configured
• Publisher Portal changes weren't synced yet

Recommended steps:

• Confirm the button is configured correctly in the Publisher Portal
• Click Sync Buttons & Settings in Settings → Allspice
• Temporarily turn off "Delay JS" in your optimization plugin
• Test again in an incognito window

Issue: "Custom buttons don't work"

Custom buttons require two things:

• a data-allspice-id attribute with the correct button ID on your element
• the correct action assigned in the Publisher Portal

Recommended steps:

• Check that the data-allspice-id value matches the button ID exactly
• Confirm the button's action in the Publisher Portal
• Click Sync Buttons & Settings

Issue: "Premade buttons aren't appearing where expected"

Where a premade button appears depends on how you added it:

• Shortcode: appears only where you place the shortcode
• Block: appears only where you place the block
• Automatic placement: appears only on detected recipe pages. Above recipe card and Under recipe card also need a WP Recipe Maker card on the page (see Recipe card plugins).

If you're trying to show a premade button on a landing page or homepage, use a shortcode, a block, or a custom button instead.

WordPress Plugin docs →

Publisher Portal settings not applying

Issue: "I changed settings in the Publisher Portal but my site didn't update"

WordPress picks up Publisher Portal changes automatically about every 12 hours. To apply them right away, click Sync Buttons & Settings in Settings → Allspice. Do this after every portal change while you're testing. The Status & Debug section of the same page shows when each sync last ran and any sync errors.

Issue: "Recipe changes don't show up immediately"

When you publish, update, or unpublish a post, the plugin notifies Allspice automatically, and Allspice re-reads that post about 10 minutes later. You don't need to do anything for that part.

WordPress then gets the updated recipe list at its next automatic sync, within about 12 hours. To speed that up, wait about 10 minutes after saving the post and click Sync Recipes in Settings → Allspice. Sync Recipes pulls Allspice's recipe list into WordPress; it doesn't make Allspice re-read your posts.

Performance / caching issues

Issue: "Allspice works sometimes, but not always"

Usually one of these:

• caching plugins serving different JS versions
• "Delay JS execution" settings
• script combining or minification changing execution order
• conflicting overlays or UI layers on the page

Recommended steps:

• Exclude asx-bootstrap and allspicelabs from JavaScript delay, minify, and combine (WP Rocket, Cloudflare Rocket Loader, and LiteSpeed Cache are handled automatically)
• Clear your cache and test in an incognito window

Plugin Compatibility docs →

Issue: "Allspice is not loading for logged-out users"

Possible causes:

• caching rules differ between logged-in and logged-out visitors
• a security plugin blocks third-party scripts
• bot protection challenges interfere with loading

Recommended steps:

• Test as a logged-out user
• Check that caching rules aren't blocking scripts
• Check your security plugin's settings for third-party script restrictions

Ads / UI overlap issues

Issue: "Allspice overlaps my sticky footer ad"

Allspice detects your sticky footer (adhesion) ad and moves its rail, floating widget, and bottom controls up so they sit above the ad strip instead of on top of it. The full-page widget leaves room for the ad at the bottom of the screen.

First, check your footer ad's z-index. Allspice's rail and full-page widget use very high z-index values (from 2147482000) so that site headers, menus, and drawers can't cover them. If your sticky footer ad's container has a lower z-index (for example 9999 or 9999999), Allspice can end up on top of the ad wherever the two overlap.

If overlap still occurs, it usually means:

• the ad unit uses a non-standard container Allspice doesn't recognize
• the footer ad's height changes dynamically
• there are multiple stacked overlays competing for space

Recommended steps:

• Send us a screenshot and the recipe URL, and we can add handling for your layout