diff --git a/packages/nuxt/src/app/components/client-only.ts b/packages/nuxt/src/app/components/client-only.ts
index ab56eb4ab2..c65eec1b55 100644
--- a/packages/nuxt/src/app/components/client-only.ts
+++ b/packages/nuxt/src/app/components/client-only.ts
@@ -1,12 +1,14 @@
-import { cloneVNode, createElementBlock, createStaticVNode, defineComponent, getCurrentInstance, h, onMounted, provide, ref } from 'vue'
+import { cloneVNode, createElementBlock, defineComponent, getCurrentInstance, h, onMounted, provide, ref } from 'vue'
 import type { ComponentInternalInstance, ComponentOptions, InjectionKey } from 'vue'
 import { isPromise } from '@vue/shared'
 import { useNuxtApp } from '../nuxt'
-import { getFragmentHTML } from './utils'
 import ServerPlaceholder from './server-placeholder'
+import { elToStaticVNode } from './utils'
 
 export const clientOnlySymbol: InjectionKey<boolean> = Symbol.for('nuxt:client-only')
 
+const STATIC_DIV = '<div></div>'
+
 export default defineComponent({
   name: 'ClientOnly',
   inheritAttrs: false,
@@ -54,16 +56,14 @@ export function createClientOnly<T extends ComponentOptions> (component: T) {
         return (res.children === null || typeof res.children === 'string')
           ? cloneVNode(res)
           : h(res)
-      } else {
-        const fragment = getFragmentHTML(ctx._.vnode.el ?? null) ?? ['<div></div>']
-        return createStaticVNode(fragment.join(''), fragment.length)
       }
+      return elToStaticVNode(ctx._.vnode.el, STATIC_DIV)
     }
   } else if (clone.template) {
     // handle runtime-compiler template
     clone.template = `
       <template v-if="mounted$">${component.template}</template>
-      <template v-else><div></div></template>
+      <template v-else>${STATIC_DIV}</template>
     `
   }
 
@@ -105,10 +105,8 @@ export function createClientOnly<T extends ComponentOptions> (component: T) {
             return (res.children === null || typeof res.children === 'string')
               ? cloneVNode(res)
               : h(res)
-          } else {
-            const fragment = getFragmentHTML(instance?.vnode.el ?? null) ?? ['<div></div>']
-            return createStaticVNode(fragment.join(''), fragment.length)
           }
+          return elToStaticVNode(instance?.vnode.el, STATIC_DIV)
         }
       })
     } else {
@@ -117,8 +115,7 @@ export function createClientOnly<T extends ComponentOptions> (component: T) {
           if (mounted$.value) {
             return h(setupState(...args), ctx.attrs)
           }
-          const fragment = getFragmentHTML(instance?.vnode.el ?? null) ?? ['<div></div>']
-          return createStaticVNode(fragment.join(''), fragment.length)
+          return elToStaticVNode(instance?.vnode.el, STATIC_DIV)
         }
       }
       return Object.assign(setupState, { mounted$ })
diff --git a/packages/nuxt/src/app/components/utils.ts b/packages/nuxt/src/app/components/utils.ts
index 5fe9739e31..7a38c6fdfc 100644
--- a/packages/nuxt/src/app/components/utils.ts
+++ b/packages/nuxt/src/app/components/utils.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-import { h } from 'vue'
-import type { Component, RendererNode } from 'vue'
+import { createStaticVNode, h } from 'vue'
+import type { Component, RendererNode, VNode } from 'vue'
 // eslint-disable-next-line
 import { isString, isPromise, isArray, isObject } from '@vue/shared'
 import type { RouteLocationNormalized } from 'vue-router'
@@ -117,9 +117,9 @@ export function vforToArray (source: any): any[] {
  * Handles `<!--[-->` Fragment elements
  * @param element the element to retrieve the HTML
  * @param withoutSlots purge all slots from the HTML string retrieved
- * @returns {string[]} An array of string which represent the content of each element. Use `.join('')` to retrieve a component vnode.el HTML
+ * @returns {string[]|undefined} An array of string which represent the content of each element. Use `.join('')` to retrieve a component vnode.el HTML
  */
-export function getFragmentHTML (element: RendererNode | null, withoutSlots = false): string[] | null {
+export function getFragmentHTML (element: RendererNode | null, withoutSlots = false): string[] | undefined {
   if (element) {
     if (element.nodeName === '#comment' && element.nodeValue === '[') {
       return getFragmentChildren(element, [], withoutSlots)
@@ -131,7 +131,6 @@ export function getFragmentHTML (element: RendererNode | null, withoutSlots = fa
     }
     return [element.outerHTML]
   }
-  return null
 }
 
 function getFragmentChildren (element: RendererNode | null, blocks: string[] = [], withoutSlots = false) {
@@ -151,6 +150,20 @@ function getFragmentChildren (element: RendererNode | null, blocks: string[] = [
   return blocks
 }
 
+/**
+ * Return a static vnode from an element
+ * Default to a div if the element is not found and if a fallback is not provided
+ * @param el renderer node retrieved from the component internal instance
+ * @param staticNodeFallback fallback string to use if the element is not found. Must be a valid HTML string
+ */
+export function elToStaticVNode (el: RendererNode | null, staticNodeFallback?: string): VNode {
+  const fragment: string[] | undefined = el ? getFragmentHTML(el) : staticNodeFallback ? [staticNodeFallback] : undefined
+  if (fragment) {
+    return createStaticVNode(fragment.join(''), fragment.length)
+  }
+  return h('div')
+}
+
 function isStartFragment (element: RendererNode) {
   return element.nodeName === '#comment' && element.nodeValue === '['
 }