Free on-page seo check

Hreflang Checker

hreflang tells search engines which language version of a page to show to whom. Check the codes, the self reference and the x-default before the wrong version shows up in the wrong country.

Validate hreflang

Enter a page of a multilingual site. Its alternate links are read and validated.

Checks in this tool:page.hreflang page.lang crawl.canonical

Why use the Hreflang Checker

Valid codes

Each code must be an ISO 639-1 language, optionally with an ISO 3166-1 region, or x-default.

Self reference

A page must list itself among its alternates, otherwise the set is incomplete.

x-default

The fallback for visitors whose language is not listed is checked.

Language attribute

The html lang attribute is read so you can compare it with the annotations.

When to use the Hreflang Checker

Launching a language

Check that the new version is annotated on every existing page.

Wrong country results

When the US page ranks in the UK, check the hreflang set.

CMS plugins

Translation plugins generate hreflang. Verify the output.

Regional stores

Separate en-us and en-gb versions with the right codes.

Canonical conflicts

Catch canonicals that point every language at the English page.

Audits

Add multilingual checks to a technical audit.

Understanding Hreflang

How hreflang works

Each language version lists every version, itself included, with a link rel=alternate and an hreflang code. Search engines use the set to show each searcher the version in their language or region.

The annotations must be reciprocal: if page A lists page B, page B must list page A. A standard audit samples several pages and catches missing return links.

Common mistakes

1Wrong codes. en-uk is not valid, the region code for the United Kingdom is gb.
2Missing self reference. Every page must include itself in its own set.
3Canonical to another language. Each version should be its own canonical.
4No x-default. Without it there is no explicit fallback for other languages.

Where the annotations go

In the HTML head, in the HTTP Link header, or in the XML sitemap. Use one method consistently. The checker reads the HTML head.

Privacy, safety and limits

The page is fetched by AbackAuditBot from Aback servers with an ordinary GET request. No cookie, password or form data is sent, and nothing on the site is changed.

The tags are read from the HTML the server sends. Tags that a script adds after the page loads are not seen, and neither are they by most crawlers and preview bots.

Related tools and guides

Canonical CheckerThe canonical link tells search engines which url is the real one when several show the same content. Check that it exists, that it is absolute and that it points at a working page.Meta Tag CheckerSee the title and description a search engine reads, how the result could look, and whether the canonical, robots, viewport and language tags are set correctly.Sitemap CheckerCheck that your sitemap exists, parses as valid XML, is declared in robots.txt and lists urls that actually work. A broken sitemap wastes the crawl budget you give it.SEO CheckerFind the technical problems that keep a page out of search results. The checker reads the page the way a search crawler does and lists what to fix first, with the evidence behind every verdict.Indexability CheckerA page can be blocked from the index in four places: the status code, a noindex directive, robots.txt and the canonical link. Check all four at once and see exactly which one is the problem.Redirect CheckerFollow every redirect of an address, hop by hop. Find chains that slow crawlers down, loops that break pages, and host variants that split your signals across duplicates.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need hreflang on a single language site?

No. The check is skipped when a page has no alternates.

Is en-uk a valid code?

No. Use en-gb. Region codes follow ISO 3166-1, where the United Kingdom is GB.

What is x-default for?

It names the page to show when no listed language matches the searcher, often a language selector or the international version.

Does Bing use hreflang?

Bing relies more on the content-language meta tag and the html lang attribute. Set both alongside hreflang.

Can hreflang point to another domain?

Yes, as long as each domain annotates the others back.

Why must annotations be reciprocal?

So that one site cannot claim to be the translation of another. Unconfirmed annotations are ignored.

Does the checker test every language version?

It validates the page you enter. A standard audit samples more pages and reports missing return links across the sample.