About This HTML Issue
This error is misleading at first glance because the <meta> tag in question is often perfectly well-formed. The real problem is usually above the <meta> tag — an element that doesn’t belong in <head> (such as <img>, <div>, <p>, or other flow content) has been placed there. When the HTML parser encounters such an element inside <head>, it implicitly closes the <head> and opens the <body>. From that point on, any subsequent <meta> tags are now technically inside the <body>, where the name attribute on <meta> is not permitted.
In other cases, the error can also occur when a <meta name="..."> tag is explicitly placed inside <body>, or when a typo or malformed tag earlier in the document breaks the expected document structure.
This matters for several reasons. Search engines and social media platforms rely on <meta> tags being in the <head> to extract page descriptions, Open Graph data, and other metadata. If the document structure is broken and <meta> tags end up in the <body>, this metadata may be ignored entirely. Additionally, elements like <img> inside <head> won’t render as expected, and the overall document structure will be invalid, potentially causing unpredictable behavior across browsers.
How to fix it
-
Look above the flagged
<meta>tag. Find any element in the<head>that doesn’t belong there — common culprits include<img>,<div>,<span>,<p>,<a>, or<section>. -
Move the offending element into the
<body>where it belongs. -
If the
<meta>tag itself is in the<body>, move it into the<head>. -
Check for malformed tags above the
<meta>— an unclosed tag or a typo can break the parser’s understanding of the document structure.
Only certain elements are allowed inside <head>: <title>, <meta>, <link>, <style>, <script>, <noscript>, <base>, and <template>.
Examples
An invalid element in <head> breaks the context
The <img> tag is not allowed inside <head>. The parser implicitly closes <head> when it encounters it, so the <meta> tag that follows ends up in <body>:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<title>My Page</title>
<img src="photo.jpg" alt="A smiling cat">
<meta name="description" content="A page about cats">
</head>
<body>
<p>Welcome!</p>
</body>
</html>
Move the <img> into the <body> to fix the issue:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<title>My Page</title>
<meta name="description" content="A page about cats">
</head>
<body>
<img src="photo.jpg" alt="A smiling cat">
<p>Welcome!</p>
</body>
</html>
A <meta> tag accidentally placed in <body>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<title>My Page</title>
</head>
<body>
<meta name="author" content="Jane Doe">
<p>Hello world</p>
</body>
</html>
Move the <meta> tag into <head>:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<title>My Page</title>
<meta name="author" content="Jane Doe">
</head>
<body>
<p>Hello world</p>
</body>
</html>
A malformed tag disrupts the <head>
A missing closing > on a <link> tag can confuse the parser, causing subsequent elements to be misinterpreted:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<title>My Page</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css"
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
</head>
<body>
<p>Content</p>
</body>
</html>
Close the <link> tag properly:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<title>My Page</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
</head>
<body>
<p>Content</p>
</body>
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