Hreflang Checker

Paste one or more page URLs to read their hreflang tags from the HTML head and the HTTP Link header. The checker validates every language and region code, fetches the alternate pages and confirms they link back, so you can see exactly why Google may be ignoring your international setup.

How to check hreflang tags

1. Paste up to 50 page URLs, one per line. They can be different language versions of the same page or pages from different sections.
2. Keep Fetch alternate pages ticked to confirm return links, status codes, noindex and canonicals of each alternate URL.
3. Click Check hreflang. Each page gets a card with its issues and a table of every hreflang tag.
4. Fix the errors in red first, then the warnings. Download the CSV to share with your developer.

Common hreflang mistakes

• No return link: the English page points to the Hindi page, but the Hindi page doesn’t point back.
• Wrong codes: en_IN instead of en-IN, en-UK instead of en-GB, or a country used as a language.
• Missing self-reference: each page should include itself in its own list.
• Alternates that redirect, return 404 or are noindex: hreflang should only point to final, indexable 200 URLs.
• Canonical to another language: every version needs its own self-referencing canonical.

To find other crawl problems across the whole site, run the website SEO crawler. It also flags hreflang pages with missing return links.

Frequently asked questions

What is hreflang?

Hreflang is an HTML attribute (or HTTP header) that tells search engines which language and country each version of a page is for, so they can show the right version to each searcher. For example, en-IN for English in India and hi-IN for Hindi in India.

What format should hreflang codes use?

A language code from ISO 639-1 (such as en, hi, ta), optionally followed by a hyphen and a country code from ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 (such as IN, US, GB). Use a hyphen, not an underscore, and GB for the United Kingdom, not UK. A country on its own, like hreflang=”in”, is not valid.

What is a return link and why does it matter?

If page A lists page B as an alternate, page B must also list page A. Google ignores hreflang pairs that are not confirmed both ways. Tick ‘Fetch alternate pages’ to check this for every alternate URL.

Do I need x-default?

It is optional. x-default tells search engines which page to show when no listed language or country matches the searcher, often a language picker or your main version. The checker notes when it is missing but doesn’t count it as an error.

Should each page reference itself?

Yes. Every page in a hreflang set should list all versions, including itself. A missing self-reference is one of the most common hreflang errors.

Can hreflang and canonical conflict?

Yes. If a page’s canonical points to a different URL, Google treats that page as a duplicate and ignores its hreflang. Each language version should have a self-referencing canonical.

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