Connection to the server lost while editing a post in WordPress

I have a client with a very active WordPress site and over 25,000 articles. They found that their authors were losing connection to the server while creating or editing a post.

After weeks of investigation, the web host tech team found this was caused by a bad query with high memory load within the YOAST SEO plugin:

SELECT DISTINCT pw.indexable_id FROM wp_yoast_prominent_words pw JOIN wp_yoast_indexable i ON pw.indexable_id = i.id WHERE pw.stem IN (‘season’, ‘netflix’, ‘series’, ‘fantasy’, …) AND i.post_status NOT IN ( ‘draft’, ‘auto-draft’, ‘trash’ ) OR post_status IS NULL LIMIT 100 OFFSET 6200

This query is tied to the following features, and it’s recommended you turn them off if you are experiencing memory problems or server connection problems within the editor: Text Link Counter and Link Suggestions.

This is a temporary fix until they can optimize their code. For more information, read this thread on Github.

If you’re experiencing the same issue while editing a post in WordPress – lost connection to the server – and you do NOT have Yoast, investigate every plugin that affects the editor.