Hreflang is an HTML attribute used to tell search engines which language and regional variation of a webpage to serve to users in specific locations. It's important for websites with content in multiple languages or aimed at audiences in different countries.
The hreflang attribute helps search engines, like Google, understand which version of your page is the most relevant for users based on their language and geographic location.
For example, if your website has a French version for France and a French version for Canada, the hreflang tag ensures that French users in France see the correct version of the page, and French users in Canada see the version that’s tailored for them.Hreflang tags are typically placed in the HTML code of a webpage or in the HTTP header. They help avoid duplicate content issues and improve the user experience by showing them the most relevant version of a page.
Using hreflang is crucial for a number of reasons.
Without hreflang, search engines can show the wrong version of your page to users, which can lead to a poor user experience and a high bounce rate. By using hreflang, you tell search engines what page to show based on the user's location and language, improving the chances of your content being found and ranking well.
If you have multiple versions of the same page in different languages or for different regions, search engines could treat them as duplicate content. This can hurt your rankings. Hreflang helps search engines understand that they are different versions of the same content, eliminating the risk of penalties.
Hreflang ensures that users are directed to the right version of your content based on their preferences, language, and region. This increases the likelihood that users will engage with your content and spend more time on your site.
Implementing hreflang makes your content accessible to a wider audience by ensuring that search engines present the right linguistic or regional version to users around the world. This helps you target specific markets more effectively.
Using hreflang in practice involves a few steps to ensure that it is set up correctly:
Hreflang tags can be placed in the <head>HTML of your web page, or you can include them in your XML sitemap. The syntax for the tag looks like this.
<link rel="alternate" href="page-url" hreflang="region-language-code" />For example:
<link rel="alternate" href="https://example.com/fr-fr" hreflang="fr-fr" />
<link rel="alternate" href="https://example.com/fr-ca" hreflang="fr-ca" />In this example, the hreflang tags tell search engines that one of the pages is intended for French speakers in France (fr-fr), and the other for French speakers in Canada (fr-ca).
The hreflang attribute requires specific language and region codes. Language codes follow ISO 639-1, and region codes follow ISO 3166-1. For example, “en” for English and “fr” for French. A region code like “US” or “CA” can be added to indicate a specific country.
It is important to include self-referential hreflang tags for each version of the page. This tells search engines that the page is relevant to the region or language, even if no other variations are available. For example, the English version of the page would have a tag like this.
<link rel="alternate" href="https://example.com/en" hreflang="en" />If you want, you can add hreflang tags to your XML sitemap. This is especially useful for large websites with lots of pages. The sitemap would look like this:
<url>
<loc>https://example.com/en</loc>
<xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="fr" href="https://example.com/fr" />
<xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="de" href="https://example.com/de" />
</url>
After implementing hreflang tags, it is essential to validate them using tools like Google Search Console or the hreflang tag testing tool. These tools can help you identify possible errors or misconfigurations in your hreflang implementation.
