HTML Validation

Bad start tag in “p” in “noscript” in “head”.

About This HTML Issue

A <p> element cannot be placed inside a <noscript> tag within the <head> section.

According to the HTML specification, the <head> element must only contain metadata, such as <title>, <meta>, <link>, <script>, and <style>. The <noscript> element is allowed in <head>, but it must only contain elements that are valid in head, not flow content like <p>. The <p> (paragraph) tag is flow content meant for the <body>. For fallback content in <head>, only metadata elements are allowed.

Incorrect example:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <title>Example</title>
    <noscript>
      <p>JavaScript is disabled.</p>
    </noscript>
  </head>
  <body>
  </body>
</html>

Correct approaches:

Remove the <p> from <noscript> in <head>:
- If you must include fallback styles or links in case JavaScript is disabled, use only metadata tags.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <title>Example</title>
    <noscript>
      <link rel="stylesheet" href="no-js.css">
    </noscript>
  </head>
  <body>
  </body>
</html>

Place textual fallback content in the <body> instead:
- Moving the <noscript> block with flow content (such as <p>) to the body ensures validity.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <title>Example</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <noscript>
      <p>JavaScript is disabled.</p>
    </noscript>
  </body>
</html>

Remember: Do not use <p> (or any flow content) in <noscript> inside <head>. Use such content only in the body.

Learn more:

→ MDN Web Docs: Head
→ MDN Web Docs: Noscript
→ WHATWG HTML Standard: The head element

Last reviewed: July 24, 2025

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Reading time

1 min read

Category

HTML Validation

Engine

W3C Validator

Last reviewed

July 24, 2025

Resources

Related W3C Validator Issues (20)

Bad start tag in “iframe” in “noscript” in “head”.

There is an iframe tag inside a noscript tag that is itself inside the head section of the HTML document. This is not allowed because an iframe cannot be nested inside the head section.

To fix this issue, you may move the noscript section that contains the iframe tag outside of the head section, and ensure that it is placed within the body section of the HTML document.

For example, this is invalid HTML because the head section cannot contain iframe elements:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <title>My webpage</title>
    <noscript>
      <p>Please enable JavaScript to view this website</p>
      <iframe src="https://example.com/"></iframe>
    </noscript>
<!-- Other meta tags and styles go here -->

  </head>
  <body>
<!-- Rest of your webpage content goes here -->

  </body>
</html>

Moving the noscript inside the body section fixes the issue, as that’s where iframe elements belong:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <title>My webpage</title>
<!-- Other meta tags and styles go here -->

  </head>
  <body>
    <noscript>
      <p>Please enable JavaScript to view this website</p>
      <iframe src="https://example.com/"></iframe>
    </noscript>
<!-- Rest of your webpage content goes here -->

  </body>
</html>

Stray start tag “head”.

A <head> start tag has been found in an unexpected place in the document structure. Check that the <head> section appears before the <body> section, and that is not duplicated.

The <head> section of an HTML document is the container of metadata about the document, and must appear before the <body> section. A common cause of this issue is duplicated <head> sections.

Here is an example of a minimal HTML document structure:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Test</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <p></p>
  </body>
</html>

Stray start tag “noscript”.

The “Stray start tag noscript“ error in the W3C HTML Validator indicates that the <noscript> tag has been used incorrectly or is placed in an invalid location within your HTML document.

The <noscript> tag is used to define alternative content for users who have disabled JavaScript in their browsers or for browsers that do not support JavaScript.

Common Causes:

Position of <noscript>: The <noscript> tag should be placed correctly within sections where it is allowed.
Nested Improperly: The <noscript> tag should not be placed inside other tags where it is not valid.

Correct Usage:

Within <head>:

 <head>
     <title>Example Page</title>
     <script>
         // Some JavaScript code
     </script>
     <noscript>
         <style>
             /* Alternative styling if JavaScript is disabled */
         </style>
     </noscript>
 </head>

Within <body>:

 <body>
     <h1>Welcome to the Example Page</h1>
     <script>
         // Some JavaScript code
     </script>
     <noscript>
         <p>JavaScript is disabled in your browser. Please enable JavaScript for the full experience.</p>
     </noscript>
 </body>

Fixing the Issue:

Inside Existing Tags: Ensure the <noscript> tag is not placed inside other tags where it cannot be parsed correctly.

<!-- Incorrect -->


 <div>
     <noscript>
         <p>JavaScript is disabled in your browser.</p>
     </noscript>
 </div>
 
<!-- Correct -->


 <noscript>
     <div>
         <p>JavaScript is disabled in your browser.</p>
     </div>
 </noscript>

Placement in Body or Head: Verify that the <noscript> tag is placed inside the <body> or <head> based on what content it’s providing a fallback for.

<!-- Incorrect (inside an illegal tag) -->


 <div>
     Some content
     <noscript><p>JavaScript is disabled in your browser.</p></noscript>
 </div>

<!-- Correct -->


 <div>Some content</div>
 <noscript><p>JavaScript is disabled in your browser.</p></noscript>

Summary:

Place <noscript> only within accepted sections (<head> or <body>).
Avoid nesting <noscript> inside other tags improperly.

Bad start tag in “img” in “noscript” in “head”.

A start tag for <img> has been found inside a <noscript> section within the <head>, where it’s not allowed. Consider moving it to the <body> section.

The HTML <noscript> element defines a section of HTML to be inserted if a script type on the page is unsupported or if scripting is currently turned off in the browser.

When JavaScript is disabled, the content inside <noscript> will be used instead, so this content must fit within its parent section. As an <img> tag is not allowed inside <head>, this will raise an issue. Instead, consider moving the <noscript> part to the <body> section.

This issue is often related to 3rd party tracking pixels like the Facebook or LinkedIn conversion tracking pixels. For example, the Facebook pixel instructions tell you to insert it like this:

<html>
  <head>
    <script>
       ...some script...
    </script>
    <noscript>
       <img src="..." />
     </noscript>
  </head>
  <body>
     ...
  </body>
</html>

Instead, consider moving the <noscript> part inside the <body>, where the <img> makes sense to be inserted:

<html>
  <head>
    <script>
       ...some script...
    </script>
  </head>
  <body>
     ...
     <noscript>
       <img src="..." />
     </noscript>
  </body>
</html>

Element “head” is missing a required instance of child element “title”.

head
title

The <head> section of an HTML document contains metadata about the document, and as a minimum it must include a <title> tag defining the document title.

Common causes for this issue are forgetting to define the <title>, or duplicated <head> sections where one of them does not include the title.

Here’s an example of a minimal HTML document including the title:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Don't panic! This is the title</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <p></p>
  </body>
</html>

End tag X did not match the name of the current open element Y.

“meta” element between “head” and “body”.

No “p” element in scope but a “p” end tag seen.

An end tag </p> has been found that cannot be matched for an opening tag <p>. Most of the times this is due to closing the same tag twice, for example:

<p>some text</p></p>

Start tag “a” seen but an element of the same type was already open.

An <a> tag can’t include other <a> tags inside. Most probable cause is an unclosed <a> tag, like in this example:

<a href="one.html">Page 1
<a href="two.html">Page 2</a>

Start tag “button” seen but an element of the same type was already open.

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