HTML Guide
And end tag has been found that does not match the current open element. Check the context to fix the start and end tags.
Related W3C validator issues
An </a> end tag has been found to violate nesting rules. <a> tags 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>An end tag </code> has been found violating nesting rules. Check other errors in the same document related to the <code> element, and fix the unallowed nested elements.
A closing </body> tag has been found, but there are unclosed elements before it. For example this has an unclosed <section> element:
<body>
<section>
</body>An end tag has been found after the closing </body> tag, which breaks the expected HTML document structure.
Check out the document structure, a basic example follows:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="">
<head>
<title>Test</title>
</head>
<body>
<p></p>
</body>
</html>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>A <button> tag can’t include other <button> tags inside. Most probable cause is an unclosed <button> tag, like in this example:
<button>Submit
<button>Cancel</button>HTML documents are expected to start with a first line containing the Document Type Declaration, that defines the HTML version used. Since HTML5, it’s just <!DOCTYPE html>, which must appear before the start <html> tag.
Here’s an example of a minimal HTML5 document:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Test</title>
</head>
<body>
<p></p>
</body>
</html>An end tag for X has been found that does not correspond to a previous open tag. This usually happens when you close the same tag twice, for example:
<ul>
<li>item</li>
</ul>
</ul>A <div> tag appears where the HTML structure does not expect it, often due to incorrect nesting or missing closing tags.
HTML elements must be properly nested and closed according to the specifications outlined by the HTML standard. A stray start tag usually occurs when a block-level element like <div> is used in a context where only phrasing (inline) content is permitted, or if required closing tags (such as </li>, </tr>, or </td>) are missing, causing the parser to be out of sync.
Incorrect Example: div after closing the html tag
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="">
<head>
<title>Test</title>
</head>
<body>
<p></p>
</body>
</html>
<div>
some extra content
</div>In the above, the <div> at the bottom is not valid because it appears after closing the html tag.
Always close elements properly and place block-level elements like <div> only inside appropriate containers. If your issue occurs elsewhere, look for missing closing tags or incorrect placement of the <div> relative to tables, lists, or other structural elements.
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>