What Is an Hreflang Tag?

Do you need hreflang?

You need hreflang when one page exists in more than one language or regional version. You do not need it for a single-language site. Use this table.

Each language needs its own URL. Google says that you should use different URLs for each language version, rather than changing the language with cookies or browser settings.

What the tag looks like

Here is an illustrative set for a page that exists in English and Greek, with a fallback for everyone else. The addresses are placeholders.

<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en" href="https://example.com/en/services/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="el" href="https://example.com/el/services/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://example.com/en/services/" />

The same three lines go in the <head> of both the English and the Greek page. That sameness is deliberate. Each page lists every version, including itself.

The rules that cause most errors

1. Return links. If page A points to page B, page B must point back to A. Otherwise Google ignores the tags.
2. Self-reference. Each page lists itself as well as the others.
3. Full URLs. Include the protocol, such as https://example.com/foo, not /foo.
4. Valid codes. Use a language code from ISO 639-1, such as en or el, and optionally add a region code from ISO 3166-1 Alpha 2, such as GB or CY. A country code on its own is invalid, and UK has no effect, because the code for the United Kingdom is GB.
5. A fallback. Use x-default for the page shown to visitors whose language matches none of your versions.
6. A catch-all for regional variants. If you have several English versions, such as UK and Cyprus, also provide a generic English page.
7. Matching canonicals. Each version's canonical tag should point to a page in the same language, not to a page in a different one.

Three ways to add it

Google treats these as equivalent. Pick one, because using all three gives no added benefit in Search.

Codes for a Cyprus business

These examples assume you serve visitors in Cyprus and elsewhere.

If your .cy or .com choice is still open, our guide on .cy or .com will help. For the strategy that decides which versions to build at all, read international SEO strategy.

Hreflang is not a translation fix

Hreflang tells Google about versions that exist. It does not make a weak version good. Google says localized versions count as duplicates if their main content remains untranslated, and translating only the template, such as menus, around content in another language creates a poor experience. Translate the whole page.

Google also determines a page's language from its visible content, not from the lang attribute or the URL. Keep one language per page and avoid showing two translations side by side.

A ten-minute check you can do by hand

You do not need a tool to test one pair of pages.

1. Open the English page, view its source and search for hreflang. Write down every address listed.
2. Open each of those addresses in turn. Each must load as a normal page, in the language its tag claims.
3. In each page's source, check that the full set of tags is present, including a tag for the page itself.
4. Confirm each page lists the English page too. That is the return link.
5. Read the codes against the table above. A stray UK, a country code with no language, or a typo is enough to make Google ignore the line.
6. Repeat for one more pair on a different part of the site, because a template fault can affect one section only.

If every pair passes, your setup is sound. If a section fails, fix the template once instead of editing pages one by one.

Common errors and fixes

Free hreflang checkers exist, and they are useful for spotting missing pairs, but verify any finding by viewing the page source yourself.

Next step

List the pages that exist in more than one language on your site, add the full set of tags to each, and test five pairs by hand. Our technical SEO checklist puts this check in context. If you want a hand with a multilingual build, see our SEO service.