There’s a number of different reasons why the interlinking isn’t working. The most common reasons are:
- The “Site Interlinking Access Code” doesn’t match between sites.
- The sites that you’re trying to link aren’t licensed with the same license key.
- Your browser’s cache needs to be cleared.
- Browser privacy settings are blocking Link Whisper.
The Site Interlinking Access Code doesn’t match between sites.
The Site Interlinking Access Code needs to match between all of the linked sites. The code is used for verifying that all site linking requests are coming from your sites, and not from some attacker. If the code doesn’t match between the sites, Link Whisper will assume that the request isn’t from you and won’t respond.
The sites aren’t licensed with the same key.
All of the sites that you’re trying to link together need to be licensed with the same key. When a site tries to connect, Link Whisper does a check of the calling site’s subscription to see if it’s coming from a site that belongs to you.
This is an added security measure to verify the calling site’s identity so we don’t just rely on the access code for securing the connection. It’s similar to how you might have 2 Factor Identification set up for your admin accounts so people can’t just steal your password and log in to your account.
A limitation of the technology however is that all of the sites have to be in the same subscription plan for this check to work. So if you have sites spread across multiple subscriptions, they won’t be able to connect to each other.
Your browser’s cache needs to be cleared.
Your browser automatically stores some of the files and scripts used to create pages in a cache. That way, it doesn’t have to download them and the page can be loaded faster next time you visit.
The problem is that after a Link Whisper update, these cached files may be outdated and not work. They may even cause errors on the page. When this happens, clicking on the “Generate Code” or “Attempt Site Linking” buttons won’t do anything.
Clearing your browser’s cache erases all of these outdated files and tells your browser to download new ones.
Browser privacy settings are blocking Link Whisper.
If you’ve already tried clearing your browser cache, and the buttons aren’t working, the problem might be the browser’s privacy settings. Sometimes the browser’s privacy protection settings disable the popups that Link Whisper uses in the settings. Usually when this happens, clicking on a button like “Generate Code” or “Attempt Site Linking” doesn’t do anything.
To troubleshoot this situation, try saving the site interlinking settings from a major browser like Chrome or Firefox with the default privacy settings enabled. If the settings save successfully, then you know it was the privacy settings.
To narrow down what the problem is, relax your preferred browser’s privacy settings as much as possible. And one by one, tighten the privacy settings and test if each increase causes the buttons to not work. When the buttons stop working, you will know what privacy setting was disabling the settings.