Character encoding is not UTF-8 — the fix
This page declares a character encoding other than UTF-8. Google recommends UTF-8 as the universal encoding standard, and non-UTF-8 encodings can cause character rendering issues.
Where this fits: metadata in SEO
Metadata is how your page introduces itself to search engines and social platforms: the title tag, meta description, canonical URL, Open Graph and Twitter cards. Titles remain one of the strongest on-page relevance signals, and descriptions drive click-through rate from the results page even though they aren't a direct ranking factor. Bad metadata rarely breaks a site — it quietly bleeds clicks on every query where you appear.
Why character encoding is not utf-8 hurts your rankings
UTF-8 is the web's standard encoding, supporting all languages and special characters. Non-UTF-8 encodings may cause characters to display incorrectly (mojibake) in browsers, search engine indexes, and social media previews. Google strongly recommends UTF-8 for all web pages.
This is a medium-severity issue: individually modest, but it compounds — dozens of medium issues across hundreds of pages add up to a real quality deficit in how search engines assess the site.
How to fix it
Convert the page encoding to UTF-8 and update the charset declaration. Ensure your server, database, and CMS all use UTF-8 consistently.
<meta charset="UTF-8" />Metadata best practices
- Write one unique title per page, 50–60 characters, primary topic first, brand last.
- Write meta descriptions as ad copy: 140–155 characters, include the query intent, end with a reason to click.
- Ship Open Graph + Twitter Card tags on every shareable page — social embeds are free impressions.
- Keep canonical URLs absolute, lowercase, and consistent with your internal links.
- Never duplicate titles across pages — duplicates tell Google the pages are interchangeable.
The full library: SEO best practices, by category.
Frequently asked questions
What does "Character encoding is not UTF-8" mean?
This page declares a character encoding other than UTF-8. Google recommends UTF-8 as the universal encoding standard, and non-UTF-8 encodings can cause character rendering issues.
Why does character encoding is not utf-8 matter for SEO?
UTF-8 is the web's standard encoding, supporting all languages and special characters. Non-UTF-8 encodings may cause characters to display incorrectly (mojibake) in browsers, search engine indexes, and social media previews. Google strongly recommends UTF-8 for all web pages.
How do I fix character encoding is not utf-8?
Convert the page encoding to UTF-8 and update the charset declaration. Ensure your server, database, and CMS all use UTF-8 consistently.
How serious is this issue?
This is a medium-severity issue: individually modest, but it compounds — dozens of medium issues across hundreds of pages add up to a real quality deficit in how search engines assess the site. It belongs to the metadata family of checks.
How do I find every page affected by this on my site?
Run a free Dr Urls audit: it crawls your site, detects character encoding is not utf-8 on every affected page, shows example URLs, and generates a ready-to-use fix task. Re-scan after fixing to verify the issue is gone.
Does your site have this issue?
A free Dr Urls audit crawls your site, finds every page affected by character encoding is not utf-8, and hands you a ready-made fix task.
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