I've been wondering about this one for a while but would like to get some feedback from others in the MSEO field.

When you use non-English characters, they are converted into Hex for the URL. Take this example in Russian:

Post Title:

The URL in WordPress for this would be:

Now when you roll over the link, it looks good. Also this displays properly in the SERPs but my questions are:

1) Is this worth doing, as you've pretty much destroyed any usability with the URL for the user. Remembering this is out of the window, even copying it is a pain.

2) Is there a positive SEO benefit for this, in regard to having keywords in the link? I.e. does Google (taking the standard case) translate this hex to the Russian keywords or simply read it as %d0%b7%d0%b0%d0%b... when ranking the page.

Over here in Russia the _vast_ majority of people still use Latin names for documents and web structure. I just wonder if they are missing an opportunity or doing the sensible thing.

__________________
E3internet: Russian Online Marketing

RussianMarketer.com | RussianMarketer.ru

Personal Blog: 300km North of Moscow. Skype nick_wilsdon

IMHO - NO
Look at the Cache and see what the bot got.
Certainly is a factor. I tend to bypass the hassle and work on other factors

Yep algoholic, my thoughts were the same. Thanks for the confirmation

__________________
E3internet: Russian Online Marketing

RussianMarketer.com | RussianMarketer.ru

Personal Blog: 300km North of Moscow. Skype nick_wilsdon