How to Use the Hreflang Tag for Maximum SEO Visibility

I’m almost certain you know what Hreflang is.

Knowing what Hreflang is is a good start, but do you know how it works? Do you know how to use the Hreflang tag for maximum SEO visibility?

Just in case you need a quick refresh, here’s the skinny. Hreflang is a tag (piece of code) that informs Google about pages that contain the same content but in different languages (meaning that you have different language versions of your site).

The tag tells the search engine to serve the content in the language that is most appropriate to the reader based on his location.

(Note that Hreflang is a tag unique to Google’s search engine. Bing uses language meta tags.)

Let’s take an example:

Assume that your website gets visitors from USA, UK and France. Each category of visitor responds best when he views content in his lingo.

You create three sets of pages (in American English, UK English and French). Then you add Hreflang tags that inform Google to serve the pages based on visitor geography, which it does.

Result: Hreflang helps you speak to your customers in their language. It helps you reach out to different markets all around the world.

Here’s how the Hreflang tag looks like for the example given above (Note: Google supports the ISO 639-1 format):

<link rel="alternate" href="yourwebsite.com" hreflang="en-us" />

<link rel="alternate" href="yourwebsite.com" hreflang="en-gb" />
(UK is GB in ISO 639-1)

<link rel="alternate" href="yourwebsite.com" hreflang="fr-fr" />

Building in this handy tag is one thing, but making it work for SEO is another. It’s massively challenging for a SEO pro to get your site rank higher up on different Google engines (per country-market).

I’m here to help. Here’s how to use the Hreflang tag to boost your website’s visibility in specific countries.

1. Know your current Google Index status, Clicks and Position.

Fire up Google Webmaster Tools.

Head to Search Traffic > Search Analytics.

Select “Clicks” and “Average Position.”

Select “Countries.” Click the drop down icon and compare countries, US and UK in this example. Note down your position and clicks per country. (You can compare two countries at one time).

Now head to Google Index > Index Status and note the number of pages that are indexed by Google. Your Index Status, Traffic, Clicks, and Position should increase considerably after implementing the Hreflang tag.

2. Site structure and the Hreflang

You can serve your website to different geographies using a subdomain, folder or a country extension.

For the example given above, here’s how the Hreflang will appear:

Subdomain

<link rel="alternate" href="us.yourwebsite.com" hreflang="en-us" />

<link rel="alternate" href="uk.yourwebsite.com" hreflang="en-gb" />

<link rel="alternate" href="fr.yourwebsite.com" hreflang="fr-fr" />

Sub-Folder

<link rel="alternate" href="yourwebsite.com/us" hreflang="en-us" />

<link rel="alternate" href="yourwebsite.com/uk" hreflang="en-gb" />

<link rel="alternate" href="yourwebsite.com/fr" hreflang="fr-fr" />

Country Extension

<link rel="alternate" href="yourwebsite.com/" hreflang="en-us" />

<link rel="alternate" href="yourwebsite.co.uk" hreflang="en-gb" />

<link rel="alternate" href="yourwebsite.fr" hreflang="fr-fr" />

The site structure depends on your business.

Always (always!) double check the country code while adding the tag.  Refer to ISO 639-1 format.

You can also try this Hreflang tag generator tool.

3. Learn how your users search.

This knowledge will help you understand how results (and keywords) appear on country-specific Google engines.

First off, here are some of the search parameters you need to know (For a complete list refer to Google Search Parameters):

hl=language

gl=geolocation of end user

q=query

&=the parameter that makes up the search string

search?=the parameter that follows the Google domain whenever you search

Go incognito while searching. The mode protects your privacy and cookies get deleted after the window is closed, preventing information related to your website visits from being saved.

Here’s how you go incognito in Chrome:

Press Ctrl + Shift + N (Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS)

? + Shift + N (Mac).

So, here’s how you search for “machine” on Google France.

Google.fr/search?hl=fr&gl=fr&q=machine

Here’s what you get. This knowledge won’t do anything for the Hreflang, but will help you understand the keywords that are ranking high for a specific geographical area. Knowing these trends will allow you tweak your content accordingly.

4. Where to insert Hreflang

You can inform Google about pages in different languages by placing the Hreflang in any ONE of the following:

• As an HTML Link Element in the Header, or...
• In the sitemap. Hreflang sitemaps require time, effort and constant updates. Therefore, you should create dynamic Hreflang sitemaps that are automatically updated by your CMS.

For non-HTML files like PDFs and Docs, insert the tag In the HTTP Header (not anywhere else).

5. Avoid these common mistakes.

To ensure your Hreflang is valid, avoid the following mistakes:

1. Build in confirmation links correctly. For example, if page X links to page Y, page Y too should link to page X.
   If this cross annotation is not performed, Google may not interpret the tag correctly or may ignore it, and you’ll see return tag errors.
2. I’ve said this once and I’ll say it again. Ensure that you use the correct language code!
   Look it up on the ISO website just to double-check.
3. If your website contains several different language versions, each specific language page should reference all language versions, including itself (self-reference).  
   Let’s consider an example:
   Your site provides content in American English, UK English, and French. The French website version MUST include a rel="alternate" hreflang="x" link to itself. Plus, it must contain links to the other language versions.
   The same holds true for the other two language versions.
4. Eliminate duplicate content. Google Search Console (Search Appearance > HTML improvements) informs you of duplicate content.
   
   If you cannot control duplication (for example, UK and American content will be considered duplicate by Google), use canonical with Hreflang. Refer to this Google Support Page for detailed information about duplicate content.

Conclusion

After implementing the Hreflang tag the way I have specified, you should see a bump up in search visibility. Keep checking the Search Traffic > International Targeting section in Google Search Console to learn if Google has picked up errors, and correct them as early as you can.

Keep checking the changes in your country-specific search queries, search positions, clicks and CTR and keep tweaking your content to increase your traffic and sales.

Good luck. Buena Suerte. In bocca al lupo. Bonne chance.