Placeholder text left on the page
What it is
The page’s text contains “lorem ipsum”, the dummy Latin used to fill a layout before the real copy exists. It is usually left behind in a section nobody filled in: a template block, a collapsed tab, a testimonial slider or a footer column.
Why it matters
Visitors who spot it assume the site is unfinished or neglected, which costs trust just when they are deciding. Search engines and AI crawlers read the placeholder as part of the page, so it can blur what the page is about and can end up in a search snippet . Placeholder text that is hidden on screen is still in the HTML they read.
How Asky checks it
Asky reads the page’s raw HTML and searches the <body> text, without <script>, <style>, <noscript> and <template> contents, for “lorem” followed by “ipsum”, in any capitals and with any whitespace between them. Text hidden by CSS counts. The title, meta description, alt text and other attributes are not searched, and neither is text added by JavaScript. Other placeholder phrases, such as “your text here”, are not detected.
Reported as a warning with high severity.
How to fix it
- Search the page source for “lorem” to find the block. It may sit in a collapsed tab, a slider or a section shown only on mobile.
- Replace it with real copy, or delete the element if the section is not needed. If removing it leaves little text, the page may then show up as having fewer than 300 words.
- If it comes from a template, a component’s default text or a theme’s demo content, fix it there so every page using it is cleaned at once. Some site builders, Webflow among them, fill a new paragraph with lorem ipsum by default.
- To leave it as it is: if the page is about lorem ipsum itself, such as a typography article that quotes it, mark the issue resolved.
Example
A hidden tab on https://example.com/products/desk-lamp was never filled in:
<!-- Before -->
<div class="tab-pane" id="shipping" hidden>
<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.</p>
</div>
<!-- After -->
<div class="tab-pane" id="shipping" hidden>
<p>Free returns within 30 days on every order shipped in the EU.</p>
</div>