Content & headings
Placeholder text left on a live page
One of the 136 checks Lala SEO runs on every page of a site in a free audit.
- How serious
- Worth fixing. Weakens how Google reads or shows the page. Fix after the serious ones.
- Based on
- Industry standard: Google does not document this one, so the check follows established practice.
What is wrong
Placeholder text is temporary content you intended to replace before publishing—words like "Lorem ipsum," "TK," "TODO" or "Click here"—that remain visible on a live page. Google's crawler will read and index these words as if they were real content about your business. Visitors who land on the page will see gibberish or vague instructions instead of the information they came for.
Why it costs you
Search engines treat placeholder text as real content, so it dilutes your page's focus and tells Google your page is about nothing in particular. Visitors who see placeholder text will leave immediately, thinking the page is unfinished or broken. Neither helps your rankings or your business.
How to fix it
Search your pages for common placeholder patterns like "Lorem ipsum," "TK," "TODO," "Click here," "Insert [something]," "FIXME" and "Replace this text." Read the pages yourself as a visitor would. If you find placeholder text, replace it with genuine information about what that section offers. Do this in your page editor or template before the page goes live, not after.
What the audit tests
- The page has no leftover placeholder text such as Lorem ipsum
Check your site
Run a free audit of up to 300 pages. No card needed.
Start a free audit