1

For text content on a site - say for example, a Chinese language site I could use HTML escapes:

库存了电气和电子应用
领域的连接器,从重型
工业连接

Or just UTF-8 encoded characters (not a representation of the above - just an example):

控制和洁净室, 测试与测量, 计算机与外围设备

Where both would appear the same to visitors - but differently in the page source. Given a new site, I've read that the accepted best practice seems to be just to use UTF-8 wherever possible. However, I'm working on a legacy / existing site and would like to understand if there is any difference SEO-wise?

Are both sets of text content (in an HTML document) equally visible to search engines (if the displayed characters / content is the same)?

Is there a difference between how Google or more local search engines (such as Baidu) would handle the content?

1 Answer 1

2

Are both sets of text content (in an HTML document) equally visible to search engines

Absolutely yes: both variants are fully equal. All search engines understand unicode (your second example), the encoded HTML entities from the first example are not a problem too.

The entity encoding is nothing other as another encoding like, win-8859-1, utf-8 or win-1251. So looks a wikipedia URL, written in russian: enter image description here

And both variants are fully support and understood by both of browsers and search engines.

3
  • I was interested in what someone would say about this question. I would not have had a clue. Good job!!
    – closetnoc
    Jan 16, 2016 at 1:57
  • 1
    Thanks for this answer. Do you have any sources of reference? The original reason that prompted my question is that I was told Baidu couldn't understand HTML escapes (or at least wouldn't match it to characters just encoded in UTF-8).
    – Michael
    Jan 18, 2016 at 9:38
  • updated my answer
    – Evgeniy
    Jan 22, 2016 at 9:45

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.