diff --git a/haystack/components/fetchers/link_content.py b/haystack/components/fetchers/link_content.py
index ccc698f61..93cb13ede 100644
--- a/haystack/components/fetchers/link_content.py
+++ b/haystack/components/fetchers/link_content.py
@@ -96,6 +96,7 @@ class LinkContentFetcher:
         # register default content handlers that extract data from the response
         self.handlers: Dict[str, Callable[[Response], ByteStream]] = defaultdict(lambda: _text_content_handler)
         self.handlers["text/*"] = _text_content_handler
+        self.handlers["text/html"] = _binary_content_handler
         self.handlers["application/json"] = _text_content_handler
         self.handlers["application/*"] = _binary_content_handler
         self.handlers["image/*"] = _binary_content_handler
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/fix-linkcontentfetcher-encoding-6c8df3c5b09fbc50.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/fix-linkcontentfetcher-encoding-6c8df3c5b09fbc50.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3dbf59254
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/fix-linkcontentfetcher-encoding-6c8df3c5b09fbc50.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+---
+fixes:
+  - |
+    Encoding of HTML files in LinkContentFetcher
diff --git a/test/components/fetchers/test_link_content_fetcher.py b/test/components/fetchers/test_link_content_fetcher.py
index c6a4d5c55..35cbd5e40 100644
--- a/test/components/fetchers/test_link_content_fetcher.py
+++ b/test/components/fetchers/test_link_content_fetcher.py
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ class TestLinkContentFetcher:
         assert fetcher.timeout == 3
         assert fetcher.handlers == {
             "text/*": _text_content_handler,
+            "text/html": _binary_content_handler,
             "application/json": _text_content_handler,
             "application/*": _binary_content_handler,
             "image/*": _binary_content_handler,
@@ -78,7 +79,7 @@ class TestLinkContentFetcher:
         correct_response = b"<h1>Example test response</h1>"
         with patch("haystack.components.fetchers.link_content.requests") as mock_run:
             mock_run.get.return_value = Mock(
-                status_code=200, text="<h1>Example test response</h1>", headers={"Content-Type": "text/html"}
+                status_code=200, content=b"<h1>Example test response</h1>", headers={"Content-Type": "text/html"}
             )
             fetcher = LinkContentFetcher()
             streams = fetcher.run(urls=["https://www.example.com"])["streams"]