Hreflang Tag Checker
Validate your international SEO targeting. Ensure search engines serve the right language version to the right audience.
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What Are Hreflang Tags?
Hreflang tags are HTML attributes that tell search engines which language and geographic region a specific page is intended for. They are essential for websites that serve content in multiple languages or target users in different countries.
- Language targeting: Tags like
hreflang="en"specify the page is in English, whilehreflang="es"indicates Spanish. - Region targeting: Tags like
hreflang="en-gb"target English speakers in the UK specifically. - x-default: A special value that specifies the fallback page for users whose language/region doesn't match any other hreflang tag.
Why Hreflang Matters
Without hreflang tags, Google may show the wrong language version to users, or treat your translated pages as duplicate content — both of which hurt rankings. Proper implementation ensures the right user sees the right content.
Proper hreflang implementation can increase international organic traffic by 20-40% by ensuring the correct language version appears in each market's search results.
Best Practices for Hreflang Tags
Follow these industry standards to ensure your international SEO signals are clear and effective:
- Reciprocity: If Page A references Page B, Page B MUST reference Page A back. One-way references are ignored.
- Use ISO Codes: Always use ISO 639-1 for languages and ISO 3166-1 Alpha 2 for regions (e.g.,
en-gb). - Self-Reference: Every page must include an hreflang tag pointing to itself as part of the alternate tag set.
- Audit Regularly: Hreflang is fragile; a single broken URL in the set can invalidate the entire block for that page.
How to Use This Tool
Enter any URL and click "Check Tags". We'll fetch the page, extract all hreflang annotations (from HTML head, HTTP headers, or sitemap), validate the language/region codes, check for return tags and self-references, and flag any configuration issues that could hurt your international SEO.
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