Language Variants
Generated Code
Pro Tips
- x-default: Always include x-default tag for fallback
- Bidirectional: Each page must reference all versions
- Absolute URLs: Use complete URLs with https://
- Validation: Check Google Search Console
- Consistency: Use same format across all pages
Best Practices
Self-reference: Each page must link to itself
Return tags: All pages must return the same hreflang tags
Canonical tags: Don't conflict with hreflang
Language only: Use language-only tags when appropriate
What is Hreflang Tag & Why It Matters for International SEO
Hreflang tags tell search engines which language and region version of a page to show in search results.
Why Hreflang Tags Matter for International SEO
- Multi-language sites: Serve correct language to users
- Regional targeting: Target en-US, en-GB, en-AU separately
- Prevent duplicates: Tell Google these are alternates
- Better UX: Users see content in their language
Hreflang Language Codes (ISO 639-1 & ISO 3166-1)
Use ISO 639-1 language codes and ISO 3166-1 Alpha 2 country codes.
en - English | es - Spanish
fr - French | de - German
it - Italian | pt - Portuguese
zh - Chinese | ja - Japanese
ar - Arabic | ru - Russian
How to Implement Hreflang Tags (3 Methods)
HTML Link Tag Method
Add in <head> section. Best for small sites.
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en" href="..." />HTTP Header Method
For PDFs and non-HTML files.
Link: <...>; rel="alternate"; hreflang="en"XML Sitemap Method
Best for large sites.
<xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="es" href="..." />