Free SEO tool
hreflang checker: test hreflang and canonicals in seconds
Enter a URL. The checker reads the hreflang tags and the canonical and checks whether the language versions point to each other. That tells you why Google shows the wrong language version.
- hreflang from HTML and HTTP headers, codes checked against ISO
- Status, redirects, canonical and noindex of every language version
- Return links, plus corrected tags to copy
How it works
- 1
Enter a URL
Any publicly accessible page, for example your home page or a product.
- 2
Wait for the check
We fetch the page and every language version it lists, usually within a few seconds.
- 3
Read the result
You see for each language version what is correct and what is missing, and know where to start.
hreflang explained
hreflang is a hint in the source code that tells search engines which language or country versions of a page exist. Google then shows a visitor from Austria the German page and a visitor from the US the English one. If hreflang is missing or wrong, the wrong language version often ranks, and visitors leave.
Every language version names itself and all other versions. An entry looks like this: <link rel="alternate" hreflang="de" href="https://example.com/de/">. With hreflang="x-default" you define which page visitors see when there is no version in their language.
The checker loads the page, reads all hreflang tags and the canonical, then loads every language version listed and checks that it links back. Google only uses the annotations once all versions reference each other.
The most common hreflang errors
- Missing return link: page A names B, but B does not name A. Google then ignores both.
- Canonical pointing to another language: the canonical must point to the page itself, otherwise it overrides hreflang.
- Wrong codes: “en-UK” instead of “en-GB”, or a country without a language (“de-AT” is valid, “AT” alone is not).
- Redirects and error pages: every hreflang URL must answer directly with status 200.
- No x-default: visitors from other countries end up on a random version.
Frequently asked questions
What is hreflang?
A hint in the source code that tells search engines which language or country versions of a page exist, so they can show every user the right one.
Why do the references have to be mutual?
Google only uses hreflang when page A points to B and B points back to A. If the return link is missing, the annotation is ignored.
Does it work with Shopify and WordPress?
Yes, with any publicly accessible page, whatever system it is built with.
Multilingual, and mapped correctly
We translate stores and websites so that search engines find every language version. Send us your link: we translate a 50,000-character sample for free.