🔍 SEO / GEO

hreflang

hreflang · hreflang tag · rel alternate hreflang · x-default · language targeting · international seo

Definition

hreflang is an HTML attribute that tells search engines which version of a page is intended for a given language and region, and that links the language alternates of one page together.

How hreflang works

The hreflang tag is a signal to Google and Bing: this page exists in several language versions,
and here are their URLs. The engine uses that information to serve the right version, based on the
visitor’s browser language and location.

The basic markup in the <head> of every language version:

<!-- On the German version /de/personalisierung/ -->
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="de" href="https://example.com/de/personalisierung/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en" href="https://example.com/en/personalization/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://example.com/en/personalization/" />

<!-- On the English version /en/personalization/ — the same set of tags -->
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="de" href="https://example.com/de/personalisierung/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en" href="https://example.com/en/personalization/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://example.com/en/personalization/" />

Important: hreflang must be reciprocal — every page references all the versions, including
itself. A one-sided declaration is ignored.

URL structure for multilingual sites

Option	Example	Pros	Cons
Subdomain	`de.example.com`	Independent geotargeting settings in Search Console	Harder to share domain authority
Subfolder	`example.com/de/`	Shared domain authority, simple hreflang	Harder to separate in Search Console
Separate domain	`example.de`	The strongest geolocation signal	Link equity is fragmented

For most online stores a subfolder (/de/, /en/) is the best balance.

Common mistakes

No x-default: the hreflang="x-default" tag names the version for visitors whose language is
covered by none of the other annotations. Without it, Google chooses for you.

hreflang URLs that do not match real pages: if an annotation points at a URL that returns a 404
or a redirect, Google discards the whole hreflang cluster for that group.

Different tag sets on different versions: if the German page references the English one but the
English page does not reference it back, the hreflang is broken.

Mixing it with canonical: when a page carries a canonical pointing at another version and at the
same time an hreflang pointing at itself, the signals conflict. Canonical is the stronger of the
two, and Google may ignore the hreflang.

Checking hreflang

Audit tools: Google Search Console (International Targeting, the errors report), Screaming Frog in
hreflang mode, Ahrefs Site Audit, and hreflang.org for a quick check of a single URL.

Frequently asked questions

Where should hreflang go — HTML, HTTP headers or the sitemap?

Google supports all three. An HTML `<link>` in the `<head>` is the most universal. The `Link:` HTTP header suits non-HTML files such as PDFs. The sitemap is convenient when there are many pages and makes management simpler. Pick one method and do not mix them, or you create conflicts.

Do all search engines support hreflang?

Google and Bing do. Yandex, the dominant search engine in Russia and several CIS markets, does not read hreflang directly — it works from the content-language HTTP header, the `<meta http-equiv="content-language">` tag and the geotargeting settings in its webmaster console. If a market served by Yandex matters to you, configure that layer separately.

What happens if a multilingual site has no hreflang?

Google may show the English version to users in Germany or the reverse, especially when the URLs look alike. That lowers click-through in the results and conversion on the site, because the visitor lands on a page in a language they did not want. There is also a duplicate-content risk: both versions compete for the same positions.

Do I need hreflang if the language switches by cookie and the URL stays the same?

No — hreflang works at URL level. If both language versions live at one URL, switched by JavaScript or a cookie, Google indexes only one of them, usually the default. For SEO, separate the language versions in the URL structure: a subdomain, a subfolder or a separate domain.