the current object for which the meta is being added.
	 * @param string $meta_key   The full meta key (including prefix).
	 * @param string $meta_value New meta value.
	 *
	 * @return null|bool True = stop saving, null = continue saving.
	 */
	public static function dont_save_meta_if_default( $check, $object_id, $meta_key, $meta_value ) {
		/* If it's one of our meta fields, check against default. */
		if ( isset( self::$fields_index[ $meta_key ] ) && self::meta_value_is_default( $meta_key, $meta_value ) === true ) {
			return true; // Stop saving the value.
		}

		return $check; // Go on with the normal execution (add) in meta.php.
	}

	/**
	 * Is the given meta value the same as the default value ?
	 *
	 * @param string $meta_key   The full meta key (including prefix).
	 * @param mixed  $meta_value The value to check.
	 *
	 * @return bool
	 */
	public static function meta_value_is_default( $meta_key, $meta_value ) {
		return ( isset( self::$defaults[ $meta_key ] ) && $meta_value === self::$defaults[ $meta_key ] );
	}

	/**
	 * Get a custom post meta value.
	 *
	 * Returns the default value if the meta value has not been set.
	 *
	 * {@internal Unfortunately there isn't a filter available to hook into before returning
	 *            the results for get_post_meta(), get_post_custom() and the likes. That
	 *            would have been the preferred solution.}}
	 *
	 * @param string $key    Internal key of the value to get (without prefix).
	 * @param int    $postid Post ID of the post to get the value for.
	 *
	 * @return string All 'normal' values returned from get_post_meta() are strings.
	 *                Objects and arrays are possible, but not used by this plugin
	 *                and therefore discarted (except when the special 'serialized' field def
	 *                value is set to true - only used by add-on plugins for now).
	 *                Will return the default value if no value was found.
	 *                Will return empty string if no default was found (not one of our keys) or
	 *                if the post does not exist.
	 */
	public static function get_value( $key, $postid = 0 ) {
		global $post;

		$postid = absint( $postid );
		if ( $postid === 0 ) {
			if ( ( isset( $post ) && is_object( $post ) ) && ( isset( $post->post_status ) && $post->post_status !== 'auto-draft' ) ) {
				$postid = $post->ID;
			}
			else {
				return '';
			}
		}

		$custom = get_post_custom( $postid ); // Array of strings or empty array.

		if ( isset( $custom[ self::$meta_prefix . $key ][0] ) ) {
			$unserialized = maybe_unserialize( $custom[ self::$meta_prefix . $key ][0] );
			if ( $custom[ self::$meta_prefix . $key ][0] === $unserialized ) {
				return $custom[ self::$meta_prefix . $key ][0];
			}

			if ( isset( self::$fields_index[ self::$meta_prefix . $key ] ) ) {
				$field_def = self::$meta_fields[ self::$fields_index[ self::$meta_prefix . $key ]['subset'] ][ self::$fields_index[ self::$meta_prefix . $key ]['key'] ];
				if ( isset( $field_def['serialized'] ) && $field_def['serialized'] === true ) {
					// Ok, serialize value expected/allowed.
					return $unserialized;
				}
			}
		}

		// Meta was either not found or found, but object/array while not allowed to be.
		if ( isset( self::$defaults[ self::$meta_prefix . $key ] ) ) {
			return self::$defaults[ self::$meta_prefix . $key ];
		}

		/*
		 * Shouldn't ever happen, means not one of our keys as there will always be a default available
		 * for all our keys.
		 */
		return '';
	}

	/**
	 * Update a meta value for a post.
	 *
	 * @param string $key        The internal key of the meta value to change (without prefix).
	 * @param mixed  $meta_value The value to set the meta to.
	 * @param int    $post_id    The ID of the post to change the meta for.
	 *
	 * @return bool Whether the value was changed.
	 */
	public static function set_value( $key, $meta_value, $post_id ) {
		/*
		 * Slash the data, because `update_metadata` will unslash it and we have already unslashed it.
		 * Related issue: https://github.com/Yoast/YoastSEO.js/issues/2158
		 */
		$meta_value = wp_slash( $meta_value );

		return update_post_meta( $post_id, self::$meta_prefix . $key, $meta_value );
	}

	/**
	 * Deletes a meta value for a post.
	 *
	 * @param string $key The internal key of the meta value to change (without prefix).
	 * @param int    $post_id The ID of the post to change the meta for.
	 *
	 * @return bool Whether the value was changed.
	 */
	public static function delete( $key, $post_id ) {
		return delete_post_meta( $post_id, self::$meta_prefix . $key );
	}

	/**
	 * Used for imports, this functions imports the value of $old_metakey into $new_metakey for those post
	 * where no WPSEO meta data has been set.
	 * Optionally deletes the $old_metakey values.
	 *
	 * @param string $old_metakey The old key of the meta value.
	 * @param string $new_metakey The new key, usually the WPSEO meta key (including prefix).
	 * @param bool   $delete_old  Whether to delete the old meta key/value-sets.
	 *
	 * @return void
	 */
	public static function replace_meta( $old_metakey, $new_metakey, $delete_old = false ) {
		global $wpdb;

		/*
		 * Get only those rows where no wpseo meta values exist for the same post
		 * (with the exception of linkdex as that will be set independently of whether the post has been edited).
		 *
		 * {@internal Query is pretty well optimized this way.}}
		 */
		$query  = $wpdb->prepare(
			"
				SELECT `a`.*
				FROM {$wpdb->postmeta} AS a
				WHERE `a`.`meta_key` = %s
					AND NOT	EXISTS (
						SELECT DISTINCT `post_id` , count( `meta_id` ) AS count
						FROM {$wpdb->postmeta} AS b
						WHERE `a`.`post_id` = `b`.`post_id`
							AND `meta_key` LIKE %s
							AND `meta_key` <> %s
						GROUP BY `post_id`
					)
				;",
			$old_metakey,
			$wpdb->esc_like( self::$meta_prefix . '%' ),
			self::$meta_prefix . 'linkdex'
		);
		$oldies = $wpdb->get_results( $query );

		if ( is_array( $oldies ) && $oldies !== array() ) {
			foreach ( $oldies as $old ) {
				update_post_meta( $old->post_id, $new_metakey, $old->meta_value );
			}
		}

		// Delete old keys.
		if ( $delete_old === true ) {
			delete_post_meta_by_key( $old_metakey );
		}
	}

	/**
	 * General clean-up of the saved meta values.
	 * - Remove potentially lingering old meta keys;
	 * - Remove all default and invalid values.
	 *
	 * @return void
	 */
	public static function clean_up() {
		global $wpdb;

		/*
		 * Clean up '_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots'.
		 *
		 * Retrieve all '_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots' meta values and convert if no new values found.
		 *
		 * {@internal Query is pretty well optimized this way.}}
		 *
		 * @todo [JRF => Yoast] Find out all possible values which the old '_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots' could contain
		 * to convert the data correctly.
		 */
		$query  = $wpdb->prepare(
			"
				SELECT `a`.*
				FROM {$wpdb->postmeta} AS a
				WHERE `a`.`meta_key` = %s
					AND NOT	EXISTS (
						SELECT DISTINCT `post_id` , count( `meta_id` ) AS count
						FROM {$wpdb->postmeta} AS b
						WHERE `a`.`post_id` = `b`.`post_id`
							AND ( `meta_key` = %s
							OR `meta_key` = %s )
						GROUP BY `post_id`
					)
				;",
			self::$meta_prefix . 'meta-robots',
			self::$meta_prefix . 'meta-robots-noindex',
			self::$meta_prefix . 'meta-robots-nofollow'
		);
		$oldies = $wpdb->get_results( $query );

		if ( is_array( $oldies ) && $oldies !== array() ) {
			foreach ( $oldies as $old ) {
				$old_values = explode( ',', $old->meta_value );
				foreach ( $old_values as $value ) {
					if ( $value === 'noindex' ) {
						update_post_meta( $old->post_id, self::$meta_prefix . 'meta-robots-noindex', 1 );
					}
					elseif ( $value === 'nofollow' ) {
						update_post_meta( $old->post_id, self::$meta_prefix . 'meta-robots-nofollow', 1 );
					}
				}
			}
		}
		unset( $query, $oldies, $old, $old_values, $value );

		// Delete old keys.
		delete_post_meta_by_key( self::$meta_prefix . 'meta-robots' );


		/*
		 * Remove all default values and (most) invalid option values.
		 * Invalid option values for the multiselect (meta-robots-adv) field will be dealt with seperately.
		 *
		 * {@internal Some of the defaults have changed in v1.5, but as the defaults will
		 *            be removed and new defaults will now automatically be passed when no
		 *            data found, this update is automatic (as long as we remove the old
		 *            values which we do in the below routine).}}
		 *
		 * {@internal Unfortunately we can't use the normal delete_meta() with key/value combination
		 *            as '' (empty string) values will be ignored and would result in all metas
		 *            with that key being deleted, not just the empty fields.
		 *            Still, the below implementation is largely based on the delete_meta() function.}}
		 */
		$query = array();

		foreach ( self::$meta_fields as $subset => $field_group ) {
			foreach ( $field_group as $key => $field_def ) {
				if ( ! isset( $field_def['default_value'] ) ) {
					continue;
				}

				if ( $key === 'meta-robots-adv' ) {
					$query[] = $wpdb->prepare(
						"( meta_key = %s AND ( meta_value = 'none' OR meta_value = '-' ) )",
						self::$meta_prefix . $key
					);
				}
				elseif ( isset( $field_def['options'] ) && is_array( $field_def['options'] ) && $field_def['options'] !== array() ) {
					$valid = $field_def['options'];
					// Remove the default value from the valid options.
					unset( $valid[ $field_def['default_value'] ] );
					$valid = array_keys( $valid );

					$query[] = $wpdb->prepare(
						"( meta_key = %s AND meta_value NOT IN ( '" . implode( "','", esc_sql( $valid ) ) . "' ) )",
						self::$meta_prefix . $key
					);
					unset( $valid );
				}
				elseif ( is_string( $field_def['default_value'] ) && $field_def['default_value'] !== '' ) {
					$query[] = $wpdb->prepare(
						'( meta_key = %s AND meta_value = %s )',
						self::$meta_prefix . $key,
						$field_def['default_value']
					);
				}
				else {
					$query[] = $wpdb->prepare(
						"( meta_key = %s AND meta_value = '' )",
						self::$meta_prefix . $key
					);
				}
			}
		}
		unset( $subset, $field_group, $key, $field_def );

		$query    = "SELECT meta_id FROM {$wpdb->postmeta} WHERE " . implode( ' OR ', $query ) . ';';
		$meta_ids = $wpdb->get_col( $query );

		if ( is_array( $meta_ids ) && $meta_ids !== array() ) {
			// WP native action.
			do_action( 'delete_post_meta', $meta_ids, null, null, null );

			$query = "DELETE FROM {$wpdb->postmeta} WHERE meta_id IN( " . implode( ',', $meta_ids ) . ' )';
			$count = $wpdb->query( $query );

			if ( $count ) {
				foreach ( $meta_ids as $object_id ) {
					wp_cache_delete( $object_id, 'post_meta' );
				}

				// WP native action.
				do_action( 'deleted_post_meta', $meta_ids, null, null, null );
			}
		}
		unset( $query, $meta_ids, $count, $object_id );


		/*
		 * Deal with the multiselect (meta-robots-adv) field.
		 *
		 * Removes invalid option combinations, such as 'none,noarchive'.
		 *
		 * Default values have already been removed, so we should have a small result set and
		 * (hopefully) even smaller set of invalid results.
		 */
		$query  = $wpdb->prepare(
			"SELECT meta_id, meta_value FROM {$wpdb->postmeta} WHERE meta_key = %s",
			self::$meta_prefix . 'meta-robots-adv'
		);
		$oldies = $wpdb->get_results( $query );

		if ( is_array( $oldies ) && $oldies !== array() ) {
			foreach ( $oldies as $old ) {
				$clean = self::validate_meta_robots_adv( $old->meta_value );

				if ( $clean !== $old->meta_value ) {
					if ( $clean !== self::$meta_fields['advanced']['meta-robots-adv']['default_value'] ) {
						update_metadata_by_mid( 'post', $old->meta_id, $clean );
					}
					else {
						delete_metadata_by_mid( 'post', $old->meta_id );
					}
				}
			}
		}
		unset( $query, $oldies, $old, $clean );

		do_action( 'wpseo_meta_clean_up' );
	}

	/**
	 * Recursively merge a variable number of arrays, using the left array as base,
	 * giving priority to the right array.
	 *
	 * Difference with native array_merge_recursive():
	 * array_merge_recursive converts values with duplicate keys to arrays rather than
	 * overwriting the value in the first array with the duplicate value in the second array.
	 *
	 * array_merge_recursive_distinct does not change the data types of the values in the arrays.
	 * Matching keys' values in the second array overwrite those in the first array, as is the
	 * case with array_merge.
	 *
	 * Freely based on information found on http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.array-merge-recursive.php
	 *
	 * {@internal Should be moved to a general utility class.}}
	 *
	 * @return array
	 */
	public static function array_merge_recursive_distinct() {

		$arrays = func_get_args();
		if ( count( $arrays ) < 2 ) {
			if ( $arrays === array() ) {
				return array();
			}
			else {
				return $arrays[0];
			}
		}

		$merged = array_shift( $arrays );

		foreach ( $arrays as $array ) {
			foreach ( $array as $key => $value ) {
				if ( is_array( $value ) && ( isset( $merged[ $key ] ) && is_array( $merged[ $key ] ) ) ) {
					$merged[ $key ] = self::array_merge_recursive_distinct( $merged[ $key ], $value );
				}
				else {
					$merged[ $key ] = $value;
				}
			}
			unset( $key, $value );
		}

		return $merged;
	}

	/**
	 * Counts the total of all the keywords being used for posts except the given one.
	 *
	 * @param string  $keyword The keyword to be counted.
	 * @param integer $post_id The is of the post to which the keyword belongs.
	 *
	 * @return array
	 */
	public static function keyword_usage( $keyword, $post_id ) {

		if ( empty( $keyword ) ) {
			return array();
		}

		$query = array(
			'meta_query'     => array(
				'relation' => 'OR',
				array(
					'key'   => '_yoast_wpseo_focuskw',
					'value' => $keyword,
				),
			),
			'post__not_in'   => array( $post_id ),
			'fields'         => 'ids',
			'post_type'      => 'any',

			/*
			 * We only need to return zero, one or two results:
			 * - Zero: keyword hasn't been used before
			 * - One: Keyword has been used once before
			 * - Two or more: Keyword has been used twice before
			 */
			'posts_per_page' => 2,
		);

		// If Yoast SEO Premium is active, get the additional keywords as well.
		if ( WPSEO_Utils::is_yoast_seo_premium() ) {
			$query['meta_query'][] = array(
				'key'     => '_yoast_wpseo_focuskeywords',
				'value'   => sprintf( '"keyword":"%s"', $keyword ),
				'compare' => 'LIKE',
			);
		}

		$get_posts = new WP_Query( $query );

		return $get_posts->posts;
	}

	/* ********************* DEPRECATED METHODS ********************* */

	/**
	 * Get a value from $_POST for a given key.
	 *
	 * Returns the $_POST value if exists, returns an empty string if key does not exist.
	 *
	 * @deprecated 9.6
	 * @codeCoverageIgnore
	 *
	 * @param string $key Key of the value to get from $_POST.
	 *
	 * @return string Returns $_POST value, which will be a string the majority of the time.
	 *                Will return empty string if key does not exists in $_POST.
	 */
	public static function get_post_value( $key ) {
		_deprecated_function( __METHOD__, 'WPSEO 9.6' );

		// @codingStandardsIgnoreLine
		return ( array_key_exists( $key, $_POST ) ) ? $_POST[ $key ] : '';
	}
} /* End of class */