Lorem ipsum audit
The Lorem ipsum audit detects placeholder text that has been left in your page content.
Why it matters
Publishing a page with placeholder text makes it look unfinished to readers. Search engines can index the placeholder text and show it in search results, and social platforms can show it in link previews. Placeholder text is often hidden from view, for example in image alt text or accessibility labels. When it is, people who use screen readers or other assistive technologies may still hear it, even though it doesn’t appear on the page.
What the audit checks
The audit reports each place on the page where placeholder text appears. It checks visible page text, plus several places where it may not be visible immediately or at all:
- image alt text
- accessibility labels and descriptions
- form field placeholders
- tooltips
- the page title
- metadata, such as the meta description and social sharing tags
Code that isn’t presented to users, such as scripts and styles, isn’t checked.
How the text is matched
The audit looks for the phrase “lorem ipsum” in any combination of uppercase and lowercase letters. It also finds the phrase when the words are split across lines or elements, or have no space between them. If the phrase appears more than once in the same element or attribute, that place is reported once.
Known limitations
- Only “lorem ipsum”: other placeholder text, such as “TBD” or other Latin filler words without “lorem ipsum”, isn’t detected.
- Highlight on page: isn’t available for the page title or metadata, because they don’t appear on the page. Use Details and the Element box to find the text.
How to resolve
Check Details for the text’s location, such as a page title, alt text, or heading. Recommendation explains how to fix it, and the Element box shows the text inside its tag.
Use Highlight on page where available. A hidden element may appear at other screen sizes or in a menu or dialog.
Replace or remove the placeholder text. For alt text and accessibility labels, describe the image or control. See Audit results in Preflight for more guidance.