International SEO and hreflang: A Guide for Multilingual Sites

If your site exists in several languages or for several countries, hreflang is the tool that lets Google understand the relationship between these versions and show the most suitable one to each user.

What is hreflang for?

This attribute indicates that several pages are equivalents in different languages or regions. It helps serve the right version in results (for example the French page to a French-speaking user) and prevents the versions from being seen as competing duplicate content. It is a helping signal, not a guarantee.

The syntax

In the header of each page, you declare all versions, including the page itself:

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

• The language is written with a two-letter code (fr, en, de).
• The region is optional and added after a hyphen (fr-be, en-gb, en-us).
• x-default designates the fallback page for visitors whose language isn't covered, or a language selection page.

Where to declare hreflang

Three equivalent methods exist: link tags in the HTML head, HTTP headers (useful for PDFs) or the XML sitemap. Choose only one to avoid inconsistencies.

Rules to follow

• Reciprocity: if page A declares page B, page B must declare page A. Without a return link, the declaration may be ignored.
• Self-reference: each page declares itself in the list.
• Full, canonical URLs: use absolute addresses that return 200 and are indexable.
• Consistency with canonical: each version should have its own canonical, not a canonical pointing to another language.

Common mistakes

• An invalid code, such as en-uk instead of en-gb.
• Links to redirected, error or noindex pages.
• Hreflang on only some pages, or different lists from one version to another.
• Poor automatic translations published without review.

URL structure

One subdirectory per language (/fr/, /en/) is often the easiest to maintain. Truly translate the content, including titles, meta descriptions and URLs, rather than translating only the visible text.