How to fix it
Add <meta charset="utf-8"> as the first element in the head, or send a Content-Type header that includes charset=utf-8.
When it is not a problem
A Content-Type header with charset=utf-8 does the same job, and this check reads the HTML only. If the header is set the finding is a belt without braces rather than a problem.
How Rankelle handles it
- SeverityInformational. Often correct as it stands, and reported so you can see the pattern rather than so you can clear it.
- DetectionDetected on a single page while crawling it, then grouped with the other pages under the same URL pattern.
- GroupingEvery page with this finding under the same URL pattern becomes one cause, with a confidence taken from how much of the pattern is affected. 400 of 400 is a template; 6 of 14 is phrased as a question. Causes are ranked by the impressions behind their pages.
- LandingThe affected URLs stay under cheap watch. When this finding is gone from all of them, the fix is marked landed without anyone reporting the deploy.
- VerdictAt landing, comparable untouched URLs are frozen as a control set. Twenty-eight days later the two are compared, and the fix can come back as having done nothing — all four verdicts reach the report.
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