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Fixing Lighthouse and Google Search Console Errors Caused by Easy Table of Contents

12 threads Sep 7, 2025 Plugin → Easy table of contents

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If you use the Easy Table of Contents plugin, you might have encountered warnings or errors in tools like Google Lighthouse or Google Search Console. These issues often relate to accessibility, mobile usability, and HTML validation. This guide explains the most common problems and how to resolve them.

Common Issues and Their Solutions

Based on community reports, here are the frequent problems and their fixes:

1. Tap Targets Are Not Sized Appropriately (Lighthouse)

The Problem: Lighthouse flags the clickable elements in your table of contents (like links) for being too small or too close together, especially on mobile views. This fails Google's mobile usability tests.

The Solution: You can use custom CSS to increase the size and spacing of the tap targets. The following CSS increases the font size and adds padding to the list items within the table of contents. Add this to your theme's Customizer or style.css file.

#ez-toc-container .ez-toc-list a {
    font-size: 16px;
    padding: 12px 0;
    display: block;
}

Adjust the font-size and padding values until the error is resolved in Lighthouse.

2. Incorrect ARIA Label Attribute (Google Search Console/AMP)

The Problem: An invalid attribute like area-label is used instead of the correct aria-label, causing validation errors in AMP and search consoles.

The Solution: This is a bug that must be fixed in the plugin's code. The Easy Table of Contents team has addressed this in past updates. Ensure your plugin is updated to the latest version. If the error persists after updating, it may indicate a new or regression bug that should be reported.

3. Form Elements Do Not Have Associated Labels (Lighthouse Accessibility)

The Problem: The toggle button for collapsing the table of contents is missing a label, which hurts accessibility for screen readers.

The Solution: Like the ARIA label issue, this requires a code fix from the plugin developers. The team has acknowledged this bug and fixed it in previous versions. Always update the plugin to the newest release to ensure you have these patches.

4. Invalid SVG Attributes (AMP Validation)

The Problem: Outdated SVG attributes like version="1.2" and baseProfile="tiny" are included in the toggle icon, causing AMP page validation to fail.

The Solution: This is another code-level issue that has been fixed in plugin updates. Updating to the latest version of Easy Table of Contents should resolve this. If you are on the latest version and still see the error, check for conflicts with other AMP plugins.

General Troubleshooting Steps

  1. Update the Plugin: The first step for any of these issues is to ensure you are running the latest version of Easy Table of Contents. Many common bugs are regularly patched.
  2. Check for Conflicts: Temporarily deactivate other plugins to see if the error disappears. This can help you identify if the problem is due to a conflict with another plugin or your theme.
  3. Use Custom CSS: For visual or spacing issues like tap targets, adding custom CSS is often the fastest way to achieve a fix without waiting for a plugin update.
  4. Report New Bugs: If you confirm an issue is not resolved in the latest version and is not a conflict, you can report it to the plugin's GitHub repository for the development team to investigate.

By following these steps, you can resolve most common errors and improve your site's performance, accessibility, and search engine standing.

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