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Hreflang Tag Analysis

Our checker evaluates your website's hreflang implementation to ensure proper language and regional targeting for international audiences and search engines.

  • Tag presence: We verify that appropriate hreflang tags exist for multilingual or multi-regional content.
  • Implementation quality: We check that hreflang tags use valid language codes and follow proper syntax requirements.
  • Return links: We analyze whether all language versions properly reference each other with complete return links.
  • x-default handling: We verify the presence and implementation of the x-default directive for language fallbacks.

Based on these findings, you can optimize your international SEO strategy to serve the right content to users in different regions and languages.

Hreflang Implementation Best Practices​

❌ Bad Practice​

<!-- Missing x-default tag -->
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-US" href="https://example.com/us/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="de-DE" href="https://example.com/de/" />
<!-- No fallback for unsupported languages -->

<!-- Invalid language codes -->
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-us" href="https://example.com/us/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="german" href="https://example.com/de/" />
<!-- Should be ISO formatted: language-COUNTRY (en-US, de-DE) -->

<!-- Incomplete return links -->
<!-- On English page: -->
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-US" href="https://example.com/us/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="de-DE" href="https://example.com/de/" />
<!-- But German page doesn't link back to English -->

<!-- Inconsistent URL patterns -->
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-US" href="https://example.com/us/product" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="de-DE" href="https://example.com/de/produkt" />
<!-- Different URL structures across languages -->

<!-- Multiple hreflang tags for same language -->
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-US" href="https://example.com/us/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-US" href="https://example.com/usa/" />
<!-- Confuses search engines about which version to serve -->

<!-- Missing self-referencing hreflang -->
<!-- Current page is https://example.com/uk/ but doesn't include itself in hreflang set -->

✅ Good Practice​

<!-- Complete hreflang implementation with x-default -->
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://example.com/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-US" href="https://example.com/us/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-GB" href="https://example.com/uk/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="de-DE" href="https://example.com/de/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="fr-FR" href="https://example.com/fr/" />

<!-- Self-referencing inclusion -->
<!-- On the German page (https://example.com/de/): -->
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://example.com/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-US" href="https://example.com/us/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-GB" href="https://example.com/uk/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="de-DE" href="https://example.com/de/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="fr-FR" href="https://example.com/fr/" />

<!-- Alternative implementation in sitemap -->
<url>
  <loc>https://example.com/</loc>
  <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://example.com/" />
  <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-US" href="https://example.com/us/" />
  <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="de-DE" href="https://example.com/de/" />
</url>

<!-- Language-only targeting for all countries speaking that language -->
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en" href="https://example.com/english/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="es" href="https://example.com/espanol/" />

<!-- HTTP headers implementation (for non-HTML content) -->
Link: <https://example.com/de/>; rel="alternate"; hreflang="de-DE"
Link: <https://example.com/en/>; rel="alternate"; hreflang="en-GB"
Link: <https://example.com/>; rel="alternate"; hreflang="x-default"

Why Hreflang Tags Matter​

  • International SEO:
    Ensures search engines serve the right language/regional version to users, improving relevance and engagement.
  • Duplicate Content Prevention:
    Clarifies that similar content in different languages isn't duplicate content but properly localized alternatives.
  • User Experience:
    Directs users to content in their preferred language automatically from search results.
  • Targeting Precision:
    Allows fine-grained control over which content appears in which country/language-specific search results.
  • Global Brand Consistency:
    Maintains brand presence across international markets while respecting language preferences.

Proper hreflang implementation is essential for websites serving multiple languages or regions, reducing the risk of search engines choosing the wrong language version for users and improving overall international search performance.