PILLAR 2, TOPICAL CONTENT · 2.1 Title & metaHighInferred
Invalid elements closing <head> early
What it is
Stray tags terminate the head prematurely.
Why it matters
Directives/canonicals after the break are ignored.
How to fix it
Keep only valid head elements before content.
Impact
Medium-high; silent failures. Inferred.
Evidence
Head directives must be within a valid head. Google Search Central, Robots Meta Tags Specifications; Google Search Central, Consolidate duplicate URLs (canonicalization)
Sources