# Why am I seeing system-region tags around my published content?

> Cascade adds system region tags when rendered content isn't valid XML. Wrap the region in a dummy tag inside a cascade-skip code section.

URL: https://www.hannonhill.com/cascadecms/latest/articles/developing-in-cascade/system-region-tags-in-published-content.html
category: Developing in Cascade
article-type: troubleshooting
content-kind: faq
release-availability: all
tags: publishing, templates
updated: 2026-10-06

System region tags are automatically added to rendered and published content that isn't valid XML — specifically, content lacking a root element when Cascade CMS validates it during rendering and publishing.

To generate non-XML-compliant content deliberately, surround your Template regions with a "dummy" tag wrapped in a `#​cascade-skip` [code section](https://www.hannonhill.com/cascadecms/latest/articles/developing-in-cascade/code-sections.html). Cascade skips the dummy tag on render and publish, leaving only your content.

## If your Template is in the same site as your content

```html
<!--#​cascade-skip--><removed><!--#​cascade-skip-->
<​system-region name="DEFAULT"/>
<!--#​cascade-skip--></removed><!--#​cascade-skip-->
```

## If your Template is shared across sites

Template:

```html
<!--#​cascade-skip-->
<removed>
    <​system-region name="DEFAULT"/>
</removed>
```

Format:

```velocity
<!--#​protect-top
...Format here...
#​protect-top-->
```

## Browser errors you can ignore

Because the content is no longer valid XML, the browser may show an error like this when rendering it inside Cascade CMS:

```bash
This page contains the following errors:
error on line 2 at column 1: Document is empty
Below is a rendering of the page up to the first error.
```

This happens because Cascade tells the browser to render the content as XML when it isn't. The error can be disregarded.

See [System pseudo-tags](https://www.hannonhill.com/cascadecms/latest/articles/developing-in-cascade/system-pseudo-tags.html) for the other tags that control render and publish behavior.