ZenovayTools

Hreflang Checker

Validate hreflang tags for international SEO. Check language codes, x-default, self-referential links, and return link consistency.

How to Use Hreflang Checker

  1. 1Enter the URL of any page with hreflang tags.
  2. 2Our scanner fetches the page and extracts all hreflang link tags.
  3. 3Review language codes, x-default usage, self-referential links, and common errors.
  4. 4Fix any issues identified to improve your international SEO ranking signals.
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Frequently Asked Questions

What are hreflang tags?▾
Hreflang tags are HTML link elements that tell search engines which language and geographic version of a page to show users. They prevent duplicate content issues for multilingual/multi-regional websites and help Google serve the correct regional variant.
What is the x-default hreflang tag?▾
The x-default tag specifies the fallback page to show users whose language/region doesn't match any other hreflang tag. It's required for international sites and typically points to your main English or global page.
Why must hreflang tags be self-referential?▾
Google requires every page in an hreflang group to include an hreflang tag pointing to itself. Without this, Google may ignore the entire hreflang set for that page.
What language codes are valid in hreflang?▾
Hreflang uses BCP 47 format: ISO 639-1 language codes (e.g., "en", "de", "zh") optionally combined with ISO 3166-1 region codes (e.g., "en-US", "pt-BR", "zh-Hant"). "x-default" is also valid.
Why do hreflang URLs need to be absolute?▾
Google requires hreflang URLs to be absolute (include the full https:// URL). Relative URLs like "/fr/page" are not valid and will cause hreflang to be ignored.
Can hreflang be implemented in sitemaps instead of HTML?▾
Yes. Hreflang can be declared in XML sitemaps, HTTP headers (for non-HTML files), or HTML link tags. This tool checks HTML link tag implementation only.
What happens if I have duplicate hreflang language codes?▾
Duplicate language codes (e.g., two "en-US" tags) will confuse search engines and cause your hreflang implementation to be ignored. Each language/region should appear exactly once per page.