Learn how to implement hreflang for multilingual SEO to ensure users see the correct language version of your site. This guide covers hreflang syntax, placement methods, best practices, and SEO benefits to help improve international search visibility.
Hreflang is an HTML attribute that tells Google which language and regional version of a webpage to display. It helps prevent duplicate content issues and ensures users see the correct version of a site based on their location and language.
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-us" href="https://example.com/us/" />
Without hreflang, Google might show the wrong language version to users.
Hreflang supports ISO 639-1 language codes.
✅ Example:
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en" href="https://example.com/en/" />
For country-specific content, use ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 region codes.
✅ Examples:
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-gb" href="https://example.com/uk/" /> <!-- English (UK) -->
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-us" href="https://example.com/us/" /> <!-- English (US) -->
<head> Section (Easiest Method)<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en" href="https://example.com/en/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="fr" href="https://example.com/fr/" />
Link: <https://example.com/en.pdf>; rel="alternate"; hreflang="en"
<url>
<loc>https://example.com/en/</loc>
<xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="en" href="https://example.com/en/" />
<xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="es" href="https://example.com/es/" />
</url>
✅ Hreflang Must Be Bidirectional
✅ Each Page Must Have a Self-Referencing Hreflang
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="fr" href="https://example.com/fr/" />
✅ Use x-default for a General Fallback Page
For users whose language isn’t covered, add a default version.
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://example.com/" />
📌 Correct hreflang implementation improves both SEO rankings and user experience in global markets.
