diff --git a/src/frame/middleware/context/generic-toc.ts b/src/frame/middleware/context/generic-toc.ts
index ccabe2470cc7..f9e09ede8dea 100644
--- a/src/frame/middleware/context/generic-toc.ts
+++ b/src/frame/middleware/context/generic-toc.ts
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ async function getTocItems(node: Tree, context: Context, opts: Options): Promise
     node.childPages.filter(filterHidden).map(async (child) => {
       const { page } = child
       const title = await page.renderProp('rawTitle', context, { textOnly: true })
-      const octicon = page.octicon ? page.octicon : null
+      const octicon = page.octicon ?? null
       const category = page.category ? page.category : null
       const complexity = page.complexity ? page.complexity : null
       const industry = page.industry ? page.industry : null
diff --git a/src/landings/components/CategoryLanding.tsx b/src/landings/components/CategoryLanding.tsx
index 633185881d1f..cb8bdc1aac4d 100644
--- a/src/landings/components/CategoryLanding.tsx
+++ b/src/landings/components/CategoryLanding.tsx
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ export const CategoryLanding = () => {
         <div className="pt-8">
           <div className="py-5 border-bottom">
             <div className="pb-3 mr-5 ml-1 float-xl-left">
-              <h2>
+              <h2 aria-live="polite">
                 {t('explore_articles').replace('{{ number }}', searchResults.length.toString())}
               </h2>
             </div>
@@ -135,13 +135,13 @@ export const CategoryLanding = () => {
               />
             </div>
           </div>
-          <ul className="clearfix d-flex flex-wrap gutter-md-spacious">
+          <ul className="clearfix d-flex flex-wrap gutter-md-spacious" aria-live="polite">
             {searchResults.map((item, index) => (
               <li key={index} className="col-md-6 col-lg-4 col-sm-12 list-style-none p-4">
                 <CookBookArticleCard
                   title={item.title}
                   description={item.intro!}
-                  icon={item.octicon}
+                  icon={item.octicon ?? undefined}
                   tags={[
                     ...(item.industry || []),
                     ...(item.category || []),
diff --git a/src/landings/types.ts b/src/landings/types.ts
index b8e522cae615..36f849c0b7cf 100644
--- a/src/landings/types.ts
+++ b/src/landings/types.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 export type BaseTocItem = {
   fullPath: string
   title: string
-  intro?: string
+  intro?: string | null
 }
 
 // Valid octicon types that match the CookBookArticleCard component
@@ -23,19 +23,19 @@ export type ValidOcticon =
 
 // Extended type for child TOC items with additional metadata
 export type ChildTocItem = BaseTocItem & {
-  octicon?: ValidOcticon
-  category?: string[]
-  complexity?: string[]
-  industry?: string[]
+  octicon?: ValidOcticon | null
+  category?: string[] | null
+  complexity?: string[] | null
+  industry?: string[] | null
 }
 
 // Main TOC item type that can contain children
 export type TocItem = BaseTocItem & {
   childTocItems?: ChildTocItem[]
-  octicon?: ValidOcticon
-  category?: string[]
-  complexity?: string[]
-  industry?: string[]
+  octicon?: ValidOcticon | null
+  category?: string[] | null
+  complexity?: string[] | null
+  industry?: string[] | null
 }
 
 // Type alias for article card components
@@ -90,11 +90,11 @@ export function mapRawTocItemToTocItem(raw: RawTocItem): TocItem {
   return {
     fullPath: raw.fullPath,
     title: raw.title,
-    intro: raw.intro || undefined,
-    octicon: isValidOcticon(raw.octicon) ? raw.octicon : undefined,
-    category: raw.category || undefined,
-    complexity: raw.complexity || undefined,
-    industry: raw.industry || undefined,
+    intro: raw.intro || null,
+    octicon: isValidOcticon(raw.octicon) ? raw.octicon : null,
+    category: raw.category || null,
+    complexity: raw.complexity || null,
+    industry: raw.industry || null,
     childTocItems: raw.childTocItems?.map(mapRawTocItemToTocItem),
   }
 }
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ export function mapRawTocItemToSimpleTocItem(raw: RawTocItem): SimpleTocItem {
   return {
     fullPath: raw.fullPath,
     title: raw.title,
-    intro: raw.intro || undefined,
+    ...(raw.intro && { intro: raw.intro }),
     childTocItems: raw.childTocItems?.map((child) => ({
       fullPath: child.fullPath,
       title: child.title,