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ValidateHTML
·7 min read

HTML Validation Checklist Before Going Live

25 essential checks to run before deploying your website. Covers HTML quality, SEO, accessibility, performance, and social sharing. Use our HTML validator to automate most of these checks.

HTML Structure

Valid DOCTYPE declaration

Every page starts with <!DOCTYPE html>. Without it, browsers switch to quirks mode and render inconsistently.

Check with HTML Validator

No unclosed tags

Every opening tag has a matching closing tag. Unclosed divs and spans cascade layout bugs.

Check with HTML Validator

Proper nesting

Tags are nested correctly. No <div><p></div></p> patterns that break document structure.

No duplicate IDs

Every id attribute is unique on the page. Duplicate IDs break JavaScript selectors and accessibility.

Valid character encoding

<meta charset='UTF-8'> is the first tag in <head>. Prevents garbled characters on international content.

Language attribute set

<html lang='en'> is set. Helps screen readers pronounce content correctly and search engines serve the right version.

SEO Essentials

Unique title tag on every page

Under 60 characters, primary keyword first. The most important on-page SEO element.

Check with Meta Tag Checker

Meta description present

Under 160 characters, compelling, includes target keyword. Affects click-through rate from search results.

Check with Meta Tag Checker

Canonical URL set

<link rel='canonical'> points to the preferred URL. Prevents duplicate content issues.

Heading hierarchy is correct

One H1 per page, followed by H2s, then H3s. No skipped levels (H1 directly to H3).

All images have alt text

Descriptive alt attributes on every img tag. Required for accessibility and image SEO.

Check with Accessibility Checker

robots.txt is valid

No accidental disallow rules blocking important pages. Sitemap URL is declared.

Check with Robots.txt Checker

XML sitemap is submitted

Sitemap.xml lists all important pages and is submitted to Google Search Console.

Social Sharing

Open Graph tags present

og:title, og:description, og:image, og:url, and og:type are set on every page.

Check with OG Checker

OG image is 1200x630px

The recommended size for all major platforms. Must be an absolute URL.

Twitter card tag set

At minimum twitter:card is set to summary_large_image for full-width previews.

Social preview tested

Check how your page looks when shared on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter before launch.

Check with OG Checker

Accessibility

All images have alt attributes

Screen readers need alt text to describe images to visually impaired users.

Check with Accessibility Checker

Form inputs have labels

Every input, select, and textarea has an associated <label> element.

Color contrast is sufficient

Text has at least 4.5:1 contrast ratio against its background (WCAG AA).

Page is keyboard navigable

All interactive elements can be reached and activated with keyboard only.

Performance

No render-blocking resources

CSS and JS in <head> block rendering. Use async/defer for scripts, inline critical CSS.

Images are optimized

Use WebP/AVIF, proper dimensions, lazy loading on below-fold images.

Page weight is reasonable

Total page size under 3MB for good mobile performance. Check with our tool.

Check with Page Size Checker

CSS is valid

Invalid CSS is silently ignored by browsers, causing invisible bugs.

Check with CSS Validator

Run All Checks Automatically

Our tools automate most of these checks. Start with the HTML validator and work through the list.

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