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Hreflang is an HTML attribute (rel="alternate" hreflang="x") that tells Google a page's language and regional target. It is used on international sites to ensure each locale sees the correct language version in search results.
Implementing hreflang requires every page in a language cluster to link to every other variant in that cluster, and to include an x-default tag for the fallback URL. Common errors include missing return tags, incorrect locale codes, and pointing to redirects rather than canonical URLs.
Hreflang is complex to implement at scale and is one of the most error-prone areas of technical SEO. A site with 10 language variants and 500 pages has 5,000 individual hreflang relationships to maintain.
Example
A site with English (US), English (UK), and Spanish (Mexico) versions uses hreflang to ensure US visitors see /en-us/page/, UK visitors see /en-gb/page/, and Mexican visitors see /es-mx/page/.
Apply this in practice
Definitions are step one.
Our team implements Hreflang correctly for clients across 15 active engagements. If you want a technical SEO audit that covers this and 100+ other checkpoints, talk to us.