No empty src or href attributes

An <img src=""> or <a href=""> is not a no-op — browsers resolve the empty string against the current document's URL and fire a second request for the page itself. That doubles server load on every page view, pollutes analytics with phantom pageviews, breaks Lighthouse audits, and in image contexts renders a broken-image placeholder users see. It's an AI-authored bug pattern: a conditional branch that forgot to drop the attribute when the value is missing.

Either omit the attribute entirely when the value is missing, or gate the element itself. In JSX, use conditional rendering rather than always emitting the attribute:

// wrong — emits src="" when imageUrl is falsy
<img src={imageUrl} alt={alt} />

// right — omit the element, or provide a fallback
{imageUrl ? <img src={imageUrl} alt={alt} /> : null}

Audit your templates with grep -rn 'src=""\|href=""' src/ public/.

• ID: site-health-check.trust-polish.no-empty-src

• Severity: medium

• What to look for: Count all elements with src or href attributes in the HTML. Then count how many of these attributes have an empty value (src="" or href="") — there must be no more than 0 empty values. Check specifically for <img src="">, <script src="">, <link href="">, <iframe src="">, and <a href="">. An attribute present with an empty string value is the issue — omitted attributes are fine.

• Pass criteria: 0 elements in the HTML have empty src="" or empty href="" attribute values. Report the total number of src and href attributes inspected (e.g., "Checked 24 src/href attributes — none empty").

• Fail criteria: 1 or more elements have src="" or href="" (attribute present but value is an empty string).

• Skip (N/A) when: The HTML body is less than 100 bytes (effectively empty — likely a redirect or minimal response).

• Error when: SPA detected.

• Detail on fail: "Found 2 <img> tags with empty src attributes — causes duplicate requests to the current page"

• Remediation: Empty src or href attributes cause browsers to make duplicate requests to the current page URL, wasting bandwidth and potentially causing errors. Find and fix them:

  # Find empty src/href in your HTML
  grep -rn 'src=""' src/ public/
  grep -rn 'href=""' src/ public/
  

  Common causes: conditional rendering that outputs src="" when no image URL is available, or placeholder attributes left in templates. Fix by either providing a real value, removing the attribute entirely, or using a placeholder image: <img src="/placeholder.svg" alt="Loading...">.