hreflang
An HTML attribute telling search engines which language and regional version of a page to serve.
Full definition
hreflang is an HTML attribute of the <link> tag that tells search engines which version of a page is intended for users speaking a specific language or located in a specific region.
Syntax: <link rel="alternate" hreflang="en" href="https://site.com/page/" />
- •Used for:
- •Multilingual sites (en/de/fr).
- •Regional variants (en-US, en-GB, en-AU).
- •Parallel content versions for different countries.
- •hreflang errors are among the most common technical issues in international SEO:
- •Missing return links (every language version must link to all other versions).
- •Mismatch between canonical and hreflang.
- •Incorrect language codes (en-US instead of en).
- •Missing x-default for users outside specified regions.