The Ultimate Guide to Hreflang Tag: Best Practices for SEO

If you have a multilingual website or are planning to make your website multilingual, then you’ve almost certainly heard of hreflang tags.

Here’s an example of a hreflang tag targeting English speakers in Japan:

And this is what it would look like targeting Japanese speakers in Japan:

In short, hreflang tags are important to:

• Reach potential customers in different countries.
• Serve the correct content to visitors based on their region and preferred language.
• Build a strong international search engine optimization (SEO) strategy for your website.
• Provide a good user experience on multilingual websites.

In this guide, we’ll cover what hreflang tags are, how to implement them, and best practices to ensure your hreflang attributes benefit your site’s SEO.

Note: If you’re here to find a tool to implement your hreflang tags, sign up for a free trial of Weglot for a fully translated website and automatically added hreflang tags.

What Are Hreflang Tags?

A hreflang tag is an HTML attribute that tells search engines which language and region a page is meant for, so they can show each searcher the right version.

For example, if you Google ‘adidas’ in the United States, the first result that comes up is “adidas.com.” If you do the same search in France, you’ll get the French version of Adidas’ website.

This is the kind of result hreflang is designed to support. Google weighs several signals here, including the country domain and the searcher’s location, and hreflang tags add a clear one: they tell Google that “adidas.com” is meant for searchers in the United States, while “adidas.fr” is meant for searchers in France.

Hreflang tags may be used in different contexts. For example, a business may want to use hreflang if it wants to offer:

• A website in two or more languages to cater to different audiences.
• Different content to visitors from different regions that speak variants of the same language.

What Do the Hreflang Attributes Look Like?

Hreflang tags have a straightforward structure.

They consist of three HTML attributes:

1. rel: this tells Google that the link in the hreflang tag points to an alternate version of the content instead of the original.
2. hreflang: this specifies the language and the region that this content version is meant for, in “language-region” format.
3. href: this contains the link to the web page that Google should direct visitors with such language and region settings to.

For example, hreflang tags for web pages meant for French and English speakers in Canada would look like these respectively:

A website may also have one page in Spanish for visitors from Spain, and another Spanish language page for visitors from Mexico. In this case, you can extend hreflang tags with hreflang annotations.

Annotations will have to be added to both web pages to tell Google which localized page it should be serving to Spanish and Mexican visitors, respectively. The hreflang tags would look like these:

If you don’t have alternate content versions for certain languages, you can set the hreflang attribute to the fallback value of x-default, like so:

This is a good practice for web pages that don’t target a specific language or region but allow visitors to select their country.

How to Implement Hreflang Tags

There are a few places on your website where you can put your hreflang attributes to implement hreflang tags:

1. For HTML content such as web pages, you can put your hreflang attributes in the <head> section of every page. Weglot adds these hreflang attributes automatically when you translate your site with a subdomain or subdirectory integration.

It’d typically look like this:

One downside to this method is that every language version adds another link element to the HTML of every page. If you have a large site catering to multiple languages, your loading time may increase.

2. For non-HTML content types such as PDF files, HTML link elements won’t work. Instead, your hreflang attributes can go in these files’ HTTP headers. Here’s what a typical hreflang tag example would look like if implemented on the HTTP headers of an ecommerce calendar:

Link: ; rel="alternate"; hreflang="en",

; rel="alternate"; hreflang="de"

Like the previous method, this can also add markup to your site and increase loading time.

If you’d like to put the hreflang attributes for all your website’s web pages in one place, it’s best to add them to your website’s XML sitemap using the hreflang attribute xhtml:link.

Putting hreflang tags in your XML sitemap also helps avoid the possible slowdown in page load speed from using the head section or HTTP headers method.  Here’s a hreflang tag example for this implementation:

https://www.abc.com/

If you will be manually implementing hreflang tags on your website, you need to use only one of the above methods.

Be mindful that you’re working with long pieces of code (particularly in the XML sitemap method). You might have to troubleshoot errors, which can be a tedious task. That’s where hreflang tools come in handy.

Hreflang tools to use for implementing hreflang tags

1. Weglot’s hreflang tag checker – to avoid having to troubleshoot, check if your hreflang attributes work.
2. Use a hreflang tags generator to add hreflang tags in the head section, add hreflang attributes in the XML sitemap, or generate example code templates. Just add your URLs in their form (or upload up to 50 URLs in CSV format), choose your language and country, and generate your tags.

If you’re a visual learner, here’s a video explaining how to add hreflang tags to your website:

What Are the Key Hreflang Best Practices?

The key hreflang best practices are to use valid codes, link every language version in both directions, and keep your tags in sync with your site. Here’s the full checklist:

• Use an ISO 639-1 language code, optionally followed by an ISO 3166-1 Alpha 2 region code (like “fr-ca”), and never a region code on its own.
• On each language version, list every version of the page, including itself, so each link points both ways.
• Use full, absolute URLs that include https://.
• Add an x-default tag for visitors whose language or region you don’t cater to.
• Pick one implementation method (HTML, HTTP headers, or XML sitemap) and stick to it.
• Update your tags whenever you add or remove a language version, and only point them at live, indexable pages.

Get these right and you’ll sidestep most of the mistakes we cover later in this guide.

How Do You Check Your Hreflang Tags?

To check your hreflang tags, run a page’s URL through a hreflang checker, which shows you the tags a search engine bot finds on that page. Weglot’s free Hreflang Checker lets you confirm that every language version is listed, uses a valid code, and links back to the others. If a page is missing a tag or return link, fix the tags on both pages, then run the check again. We walk through how to use it step by step below.

How Does Hreflang Help International SEO?

Hreflang helps international SEO by telling search engines which language and regional version of a page to show searchers in each market.

It’s one of the foundations of multilingual SEO, alongside translated URLs, translated metadata, and a sitemap that lists every language version. Hreflang is what ties those versions together, so Google understands that your French, German, and Spanish pages are the same content for different audiences. For the wider strategy, see our international SEO guide.

In practice, hreflang:

• Shows each searcher the version built for their language and region.
• Tells Google that near-identical regional pages, such as US and UK English, are alternates rather than duplicates.
• Guides Google’s choice rather than forcing it, since Google still weighs other signals like a searcher’s language settings.

Here’s how each of those works.

Hreflang SEO Helps Signal Web Page Relevance

The hreflang tag signals to Google which versions of your web pages are most relevant for certain search queries. It doesn’t boost rankings by itself. Instead, it helps Google show each searcher the version built for their language and region.

This is how it works:

• Hreflang tags tell Google that a web page has several language and regional variants
• They provide the link to that web page
• They specify the language and region of the particular variant that Google is looking at.

Using this information, Google determines which web page version is most relevant to searchers with certain language or regional settings.

For example, your web page might have a hreflang tag indicating that the page is meant for visitors from Japan. When Google sees the hreflang tag, it can show that version to searchers in Japan instead of another language version. This can lead to more visibility and clicks from Japanese searchers.

On the other hand, let’s say your web page doesn’t have a hreflang tag. In this case, Google may decide to serve it to Japanese searchers anyway.

However, if your web page is in English, a Japan-based searcher may be less willing to read it and more inclined to quit (or “bounce”) right after landing on it.

The result is that Google may see this user behavior as a sign that your web page is less relevant for Japanese searchers. Because of this, your web page may not rank as highly or receive as much traffic from queries from Japanese searchers in the future.

Hreflang Tags Help Avoid Duplicate Content Penalties

When preparing the language and regional variants of your web pages, you’ll end up translating their contents into different languages, resulting in web pages with highly distinct page content.

Conversely, some language variants – such as pages in English for American and British audiences – may call for only minor content differences in the same language. You’ll then have a website that has web pages with very similar content.

This could cause potential duplicate content issues because Google’s policy is to serve web pages with unique, relevant content to searchers. If it comes across web pages with duplicate content, it may decide to rank only one of these web pages.

In cases where Google suspects that the website owner is trying to manipulate their search rankings, Google may even decide to rank none of the web pages.

The good news is that you can use hreflang tags to avoid these duplicate content issues. With hreflang tags, you are telling Google that your web pages are meant for and should be served to different audiences, and they shouldn’t be treated as identical content.

Hreflang Tags Are Not a Directive

Be aware that hreflang tags are not a directive.

While a correct hreflang implementation can help influence Google’s decision on which version of your web page is most relevant to searchers, Google is not obliged to show them the version that you want to show to searchers.

That’s because Google may also consider other SEO factors when deciding on a web page’s relevance (and hence how high to rank it) for any given search query. Examples of these factors are your website’s load time, mobile friendliness, and domain authority.

The user’s search settings in Google also play a role. For instance, users browsing from France with their language preference set to English will mostly see search results in English rather than French.

Hreflang Tag vs Canonical Tag: What’s the Difference?

Hreflang tags indicate to Google which of your web page’s different versions should be served for different language and regional searches.

You may have several web pages with similar (or even identical) content that you want Google to index and rank only one of them in the search engine results. Here, you’d use a canonical tag to indicate to Google which web page this is, so that it doesn’t rank some other page instead. Doing so can also help you avoid duplicate content issues.

You can implement hreflang and canonical tags together, but you must do it correctly. Otherwise, you may send conflicting signals to Google about which pages it should index, so it decides to ignore all your directives.

To implement hreflang and canonical tags together:

• Add your hreflang tags and their return links to your web pages as you normally would
• Then, add canonical tags that indicate the canonical versions of these pages in the same language (or the best possible alternate language if there isn’t one)

This will result in your web pages having:

• One canonical tag that points to the canonical version of the page (whether it is itself or another page).
• As many hreflang attributes as needed for all the language variants that you’ve catered for.

Note: If you’re here to find a tool to implement your hreflang tags, sign up for a free trial of Weglot for a fully translated website and automatically added hreflang tags.

Importance of Hreflang Tags for International Brands

Ensuring That the Content That You Produce Reaches the Right Target Audience

When marketing to an international audience, you must create website content that is suited to your visitors’ local context. This is where hreflang SEO comes in. With hreflang tags, you can help search engines direct searchers to the right versions of your web pages, allowing searchers to view the content designed specifically for their location.

For example, take a look at the global homepage of the beverage multinational corporation The Coca-Cola Company:

Then, compare it with the homepage of the brand’s Australian website:

The corporate social responsibility program messaging on its Australian homepage differs to highlight its efforts to help Australian communities. This will likely resonate more with Australians than a global initiative.

How Do You Apply Hreflang Across Your Language Versions?

How Many Hreflang Attributes Does a Page Need?

There are no minimum or maximum limits on the number of hreflang attributes you can add to any given web page.

However, this doesn’t mean that you should try to add hreflang attributes for all variations in language and region. Creating content for each possible variation will take up significant resources, so focus on producing content for only those that make sense for your business. Then, add the relevant number of hreflang attributes to your web pages accordingly.

And for all other variations that you don’t have specific content for, cater to them by using “x-default.”

How Should You Index Your Pages After Adding Hreflang Tags to Them?

As part of hreflang SEO, index all of your web pages—including the original content and all its variations—so that Google can find these and serve them to the right visitors.

None of your pages (whether the original or the variations) should contain noindex tags. These can conflict with the instructions in the hreflang tags to index both the original and the content variations.

If Google doesn’t index these pages, you won’t appear on SERPs, and it won’t see your hreflang instructions on them. So it won’t serve the pages to the searchers who should be seeing them.

How Do You Implement Return Links?

Hreflang tags come in twos. If you have a hreflang tag on the original web page that links to an alternate language version of your page, then that alternate page must also have a hreflang tag that links back to the original web page.

Such hreflang links are called return links or bi-directional links. To implement them, add them to all of your original web pages and their alternates, and make sure that the originals point to the alternates and vice versa. Otherwise, Google may not be able to serve the right versions of your web pages to the right visitors.

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Using Hreflang Tags

Using the Wrong Method to Implement Hreflang Tags

We’ve covered three methods of hreflang implementation above, and you can choose one (and only one) of them to use for your website.

Be sure to implement your chosen method properly as well, or this can result in problems in your hreflang tag setup. (If you’re using Weglot, we set up your hreflang tags for you, so there’s no implementation to get wrong.)

Not Using the Correct Language and Region Codes for Your Hreflang Link Attributes

You need to use the right ISO 639-1 language codes and ISO 3166-1 region codes when stating the language and region of your hreflang link attributes. For example, you should be using “ko” to refer to the Korean language but “kr” for the region of South Korea.

Using the wrong language or country code may throw up a “your site has no hreflang language tags” error in Google Search Console. Visitors may also see the wrong version of a page.

Using the Hreflang Tag on Only Your Homepage

Hreflang tags need to be implemented on all pages of your website that have language and regional variants, and not just the homepage. Otherwise, you’ll signal that you have one or more variants for the homepage only but not for your other web pages.

Using Hreflang Tags to Point Your Web Pages to Irrelevant Language Variants

Adding hreflang tags for language variants to web pages that haven’t been customized for such languages might sound like a good strategy for covering all your bases.

But this will only confuse your visitors and cause them to bounce, particularly when they see web pages that haven’t been tailored to their context.

Google may pick up on this and note that your web pages have lower relevance for such visitors – and hence rank them lower for similar searches in the future.

Using the Same Language Variants for Visitors From Different Regions

France and Belgium may both have people who speak French, but this doesn’t mean that you can serve the same version of your web page to French speakers in both countries.

Your web pages will need to be localized and tailored to the local contexts for both groups, whether in terms of content or culture, to provide a truly localized user experience.

Adding Hreflang Tags to Noindexed Pages

A noindex tag tells Google not to index a page, so Google is unlikely to see or process the hreflang tags you’ve added to it.

Not Providing a Fallback Page for Uncatered Variants

You don’t have to provide alternate versions of your web pages for all possible languages and regions. However, you should have fallback pages that Google can serve to visitors with language and region settings that you haven’t catered to.

Don’t forget to set up the “x-default” hreflang attribute for these pages, either!

Not Keeping Your Hreflang Tags Up to Date

As your website grows, be sure to stay on top of your website structure and monitor whether your hreflang tags need updating.

If you add a new domain for a country, you’ll need to add hreflang tags to all your existing web pages to point to the web pages in that new domain.

But if you have deleted a language version of your website, the hreflang tags that point to that language version will also need to be removed.

You don’t want to have hreflang tags that point to missing or incorrect URLs – this hurts the user experience and can also affect your rankings in Google searches.

What is the Best Way of Adding Hreflang Tags to Your Multilingual Site?

It’s possible to manually add hreflang tags to your multilingual website (see above for the three methods we’ve covered). However, the easiest option is to use a website translation tool that will do all the heavy lifting for you.

Weglot is a translation tool that prepares your web pages for multilingual SEO and adds your hreflang tags automatically. Because Weglot generates the tags for every language version, you avoid many of the common hreflang mistakes we’ve mentioned in this guide.

How to Check That a Hreflang Tag Has Been Correctly Implemented

For peace of mind, it’s a good idea to double-check that your hreflang tags are working after you’ve implemented them. We’ve developed a handy Hreflang Checker tool for this very purpose!

Simply paste the URL that you want to check into the search bar of the tool (with “http://” or “https://” in front), choose the search engine bot that you want to mimic and then click on the “Test URL” button.

Here are some demo results, using Weglot's own website as an example:

Our Hreflang Checker tool will work regardless of whether you’ve implemented your hreflang tags manually or with Weglot, so go ahead and give it a spin.

Get the Hang of Hreflang

Hreflang SEO is a powerful tool for ensuring that the different language versions of your content reach their intended audience, especially if you’re targeting an international crowd.

If you haven’t already implemented hreflang tags on your website, then we hope this guide has helped show you the benefits of doing so and how you can get started.

On the other hand, if you’ve realized that you’ve made a mistake in your hreflang SEO implementation, use the pointers in the guide to take care of this important aspect of your multilingual website.

Keep in mind that after you’ve added hreflang tags to your website or corrected your existing implementation, you’ll need to wait at least a couple of days for any ranking changes to occur. Google will have to reindex your website to pick up on your changes, and such reindexing might not happen immediately.

Also, don’t be disappointed if you don’t see an increase in traffic after implementing hreflang tags on your website. The goal of adding hreflang tags is to serve the right language version of your content to the right users, and this might not necessarily translate to more website visitors.

Instead, looking for improvements to your website engagement and bounce rates may be a better way to see if your hreflang tags are making a difference.

Of course, hreflang SEO is only one of the things that you’ll need to do to make your website multilingual. There’s also the translation of your website content to think about – and our AI translation takes care of that in 110+ languages.

If needed, Weglot can also automatically add hreflang tags to your website, so that’s one thing off your plate as you plan your foray into the international markets. But you don’t have to take our word for it – sign up for a free 14-day trial to experience the power of Weglot for yourself.