hreflang: show the right language version in Google

If your site has the same page in several languages, or versions for different countries, hreflang tells Google which one to show to which visitor. Without it, a German speaker may land on your English page.

The rules

1. Every version lists every version, including itself.
2. Links must be reciprocal: if the English page points to German, the German page must point back.
3. Use valid codes: language in ISO 639-1 (en, de, hu), optionally with a country in ISO 3166-1 (en-GB, de-AT). Note it's en-GB, not en-UK.
4. Add x-default for the fallback version.
5. Point to canonical, indexable pages that return 200.

How to add it

• WordPress: multilingual plugins such as WPML, Polylang and TranslatePress add hreflang automatically.
• Shopify: Shopify Markets and translation apps add it for each language.
• Large sites: you can list hreflang in the XML sitemap instead of the page head.

Common errors the audit finds

• invalid language or country codes,
• a page that doesn't reference itself,
• links to redirected or noindexed pages.