SEO
hreflang
Tell Google which language and region each version of your page targets. Mistakes here are the #1 reason multi-language sites underperform — wrong country, wrong content, wrong inventory.
What it is
`<link rel="alternate" hreflang="...">` (or HTTP header / sitemap equivalents) declaring localized variants. Each variant must list itself and every sibling — bidirectional, fully-qualified URLs, ISO 639-1 language + ISO 3166-1 region codes, plus an `x-default` for unmatched users.
Why it matters
Without hreflang, a US shopper might see the UK site (wrong currency, no inventory, unfamiliar spelling). Google then ranks the wrong locale in each market and conversion craters. There's no de-jure spec — Google's documentation is the de-facto standard, and the validators all check it.
Who it applies to
Multi-language or multi-region sites — anyone serving distinct content per locale.
How WQI scores it
Web Quality Index considers this standard satisfied when the supporting factor passes.
| # | Factor | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 42 | hreflang for multi-language sites | planned |
0 of 1 supporting factors are currently collected. Sites where the remaining 1 haven't been measured will show as partial or unknown on this standard until the data lands.
Related standards
- See also
- Canonical , robots/sitemap
Other references
- guidance Google — common hreflang mistakes
Examples
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-us" href="https://example.com/us/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-gb" href="https://example.com/gb/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="fr-fr" href="https://example.com/fr/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://example.com/" />Every variant must reference every sibling, including itself. x-default is the fallback for unmatched users.