diff --git a/src/validate/html/a11y.ts b/src/validate/html/a11y.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..70beea0ac3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/validate/html/a11y.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+import * as namespaces from '../../utils/namespaces';
+import validateEventHandler from './validateEventHandler';
+import { Validator } from '../index';
+import { Node } from '../../interfaces';
+
+export default function a11y(
+	validator: Validator,
+	node: Node,
+	elementStack: Node[]
+) {
+	if (node.type === 'Text') {
+		// accessible-emoji
+		return;
+	}
+
+	if (node.type !== 'Element') return;
+
+	const attributeMap = new Map();
+	node.attributes.forEach((attribute: Node) => {
+		attributeMap.set(attribute.name, attribute);
+	});
+
+	if (node.name === 'a') {
+		if (!attributeMap.has('href')) {
+			validator.warn(`A11y: <a> element should have an href attribute`, node.start);
+		}
+
+		if (!node.children.length) {
+			validator.warn(`A11y: <a> element should have child content`, node.start);
+		}
+	}
+
+	if (node.name === 'img' && !attributeMap.has('alt')) {
+		validator.warn(`A11y: <img> element should have an alt attribute`, node.start);
+	}
+
+	if (node.name === 'figcaption') {
+		const parent = elementStack[elementStack.length - 1];
+		if (parent) {
+			if (parent.name !== 'figure') {
+				validator.warn(`A11y: <figcaption> must be an immediate child of <figure>`, node.start);
+			} else {
+				const index = parent.children.indexOf(node);
+				if (index !== 0 && index !== parent.children.length - 1) {
+					validator.warn(`A11y: <figcaption> must be first or last child of <figure>`, node.start);
+				}
+			}
+		}
+	}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/validate/html/index.ts b/src/validate/html/index.ts
index 186181e913..d36b00b833 100644
--- a/src/validate/html/index.ts
+++ b/src/validate/html/index.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import validateElement from './validateElement';
 import validateWindow from './validateWindow';
+import a11y from './a11y';
 import fuzzymatch from '../utils/fuzzymatch'
 import flattenReference from '../../utils/flattenReference';
 import { Validator } from '../index';
@@ -13,6 +14,8 @@ export default function validateHtml(validator: Validator, html: Node) {
 	const elementStack: Node[] = [];
 
 	function visit(node: Node) {
+		a11y(validator, node, elementStack);
+
 		if (node.type === 'Element') {
 			if (meta.has(node.name)) {
 				return meta.get(node.name)(validator, node, refs, refCallees);
diff --git a/src/validate/html/validateElement.ts b/src/validate/html/validateElement.ts
index aa396bac0a..c3243c6e64 100644
--- a/src/validate/html/validateElement.ts
+++ b/src/validate/html/validateElement.ts
@@ -60,8 +60,6 @@ export default function validateElement(
 	let hasOutro: boolean;
 	let hasTransition: boolean;
 
-	const attributeMap: Map<string, Node> = new Map();
-
 	node.attributes.forEach((attribute: Node) => {
 		if (attribute.type === 'Ref') {
 			if (!refs.has(attribute.name)) refs.set(attribute.name, []);
@@ -179,8 +177,6 @@ export default function validateElement(
 				);
 			}
 		} else if (attribute.type === 'Attribute') {
-			attributeMap.set(attribute.name, attribute);
-
 			if (attribute.name === 'value' && node.name === 'textarea') {
 				if (node.children.length) {
 					validator.error(
@@ -198,29 +194,6 @@ export default function validateElement(
 			}
 		}
 	});
-
-	// a11y
-	if (node.name === 'a' && !attributeMap.has('href')) {
-		validator.warn(`A11y: <a> element should have an href attribute`, node.start);
-	}
-
-	if (node.name === 'img' && !attributeMap.has('alt')) {
-		validator.warn(`A11y: <img> element should have an alt attribute`, node.start);
-	}
-
-	if (node.name === 'figcaption') {
-		const parent = elementStack[elementStack.length - 1];
-		if (parent) {
-			if (parent.name !== 'figure') {
-				validator.warn(`A11y: <figcaption> must be an immediate child of <figure>`, node.start);
-			} else {
-				const index = parent.children.indexOf(node);
-				if (index !== 0 && index !== parent.children.length - 1) {
-					validator.warn(`A11y: <figcaption> must be first or last child of <figure>`, node.start);
-				}
-			}
-		}
-	}
 }
 
 function checkTypeAttribute(validator: Validator, node: Node) {
diff --git a/test/validator/samples/a11y-anchor-has-content/input.html b/test/validator/samples/a11y-anchor-has-content/input.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ca81f90ae8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/validator/samples/a11y-anchor-has-content/input.html
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+<a href='/foo'></a>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/validator/samples/a11y-anchor-has-content/warnings.json b/test/validator/samples/a11y-anchor-has-content/warnings.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..157bec1f9b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/validator/samples/a11y-anchor-has-content/warnings.json
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+[{
+	"message": "A11y: <a> element should have child content",
+	"loc": {
+		"line": 1,
+		"column": 0
+	},
+	"pos": 0
+}]
\ No newline at end of file