The issue: If your audit has flagged URLs HTML is missing or empty, you’ve got a critical issue on your hands.
These are pages that technically exist (they return a 200 OK status), but there’s no actual content for users or search engines to interact with.
Let’s dive into why this matters and how to resolve it.
What Are URLs With HTML is Missing or Empty?
This issue arises when a page’s HTML is either completely absent or effectively empty.
For example, a flagged page might contain nothing more than this:
<!doctype html>
<head>
</head>
<body>
</body>
</html>
In other words, the page is there in name only.
It looks like a blank canvas to both users and search engines.
Why Is This a Problem?
1. No Content for Users or Search Engines
If there’s no HTML, users land on an empty page and leave immediately.
Search engines, on the other hand, can’t crawl or index anything—making the page entirely useless for SEO.
2. Signals a Potential Error
3. Breaks the User Experience
Blank pages confuse users and undermine trust in your site.
If users encounter multiple pages like this, it can harm your brand’s reputation.
Why Does This Happen?
There are a few common reasons this might occur:
- Content Deleted by Accident: Someone accidentally removes the page’s content without realising it.
- Server Misconfiguration: An error in server settings or a deployment issue results in an empty page being served.
- Broken Page Templates: A faulty or missing template file leads to a page rendering with no HTML content.
Next Steps: How to Fix Missing or Empty HTML
This is a critical issue and should be treated as a top priority. Here’s how to handle it:
1. Determine If the Content Was Ever Present
Start by investigating the page’s history:
- Was this page live and functioning properly before?
- Check tools like Wayback Machine, or your CMS’s revision history, to see if content existed in the past.
2. Revive or Republish the Page (If Relevant)
If the page is supposed to be live and serving content:
- Restore the content from backups or recreate it if necessary.
- Check your CMS or development environment to ensure the correct content is being pulled through.
3. Serve the Correct Status Code
If the page is no longer needed:
- Return a 404 (Not Found) or 410 (Gone) status code to indicate to search engines that the page is intentionally unavailable.
- This prevents search engines from indexing an empty page and helps manage crawl budget effectively.
4. Investigate the Root Cause
Once the immediate issue is resolved, dig deeper:
- Was this a one-off mistake, or could it happen again?
- Review server configurations, deployment processes, or CMS settings to prevent future occurrences.
5. Monitor for Recurrence
Set up monitoring tools or regularly run audits to catch these issues early in the future.
Wrapping It Up
A page with missing or empty HTML isn’t just a wasted opportunity—it’s a glaring error that can confuse users, frustrate search engines, and damage your site’s performance.
The good news?
It’s usually an easy fix once you know what’s causing it.
Your audit has already done the heavy lifting by flagging these pages.
Now it’s time to act:
Revive the content where needed, clean up any unnecessary URLs, and put measures in place to prevent this from happening again.