diff --git a/libraries/src/Table/Content.php b/libraries/src/Table/Content.php
index da2f1acf7a592..4ab79c4bef585 100644
--- a/libraries/src/Table/Content.php
+++ b/libraries/src/Table/Content.php
@@ -302,6 +302,15 @@ public function check()
 			// Put array back together delimited by ", "
 			$this->metakey = implode(', ', $clean_keys);
 		}
+		else
+		{
+			$this->metakey = '';
+		}
+
+		if ($this->metadesc === null)
+		{
+			$this->metadesc = '';
+		}
 
 		return true;
 	}
diff --git a/tests/Codeception/api/com_content/ContentCest.php b/tests/Codeception/api/com_content/ContentCest.php
index a234c45eb08ec..bbfcb7c360b94 100644
--- a/tests/Codeception/api/com_content/ContentCest.php
+++ b/tests/Codeception/api/com_content/ContentCest.php
@@ -65,8 +65,6 @@ public function testCrudOnArticle(ApiTester $I)
 			'title' => 'Just for you',
 			'catid' => 2,
 			'articletext' => 'A dummy article to save to the database',
-			'metakey' => '',
-			'metadesc' => '',
 			'language' => '*',
 			'alias' => 'tobias'
 		];