Hreflang: A necessity for multilingual audiences
Description
The hreflang tag indicates the target language and region for each version of a page. It is essential for multilingual or multi-regional sites because it prevents duplicate content issues and directs users to the appropriate version.
Proper implementation improves the international user experience and optimizes positioning in each target market.
Why is this important for ai search?
Multilingual models use hreflang signals to understand relationships between content and provide answers in the appropriate language.
Proper implementation helps LLMs geographically contextualize information and tailor their citations based on the user's region.
This improves the accuracy of localized answers and avoids confusion between content variants.
Technical details
- Integration of the Hreflang tag
- Format of this tag
- Completeness of the Hreflang tag
- Matching the language of the main content
- Positioning of the tags
1. Presence of the Hreflang tag
The hreflang tag is essential for multilingual or multi-regional websites. It tells search engines about the different language or geographic versions of a page, which is crucial for serving relevant content to users and generative AI engines.
- When to use it: The hreflang tag should be present on all pages that have alternate versions in other languages or for other regions. If your site only targets a single language and region, this tag is not necessary.
- Self-referencing: Each page should include an hreflang tag that points to itself, in addition to the tags pointing to its alternates.
2. Hreflang Tag Format
The correct format of the hreflang tag is vital for search engines to interpret it correctly. Any syntax error can render the tag ineffective.
- HTML syntax: The hreflang tag is implemented as a link attribute in the <head> section of your HTML document.
<link rel="alternate" href="https://www.example.com/fr/page" hreflang="fr-FR" />
- Language and region codes: Use ISO 639-1 language codes (e.g., fr for French, en for English) and ISO 3166-1 Alpha 2 country codes (e.g., FR for France, CA for Canada) if you are targeting a specific region. If you are targeting a language without specifying a region, use only the language code (e.g., en). Examples:
- en: English (all regions)
- en-US: English (United States)
- fr-CA: French (Canada)
- x-default: Use the x-default value to specify a default page for users whose language or region does not match any of the specified versions. This is a good practice to avoid errors and improve the user experience.
<link rel="alternate" href="https://www.example.com/en/page" hreflang="x-default" />
3. Hreflang Completeness
For a hreflang set to be effective, it must be complete and consistent across all alternate pages. Each alternate page must reference all other versions, including itself.
- Bidirectional Implementation: If page A points to page B with hreflang, page B must also point to page A (and all other alternates) with hreflang.
- Complete Set: All language or regional versions of a page must be listed in the hreflang tags of every page in the set.
4. Main Content Language Match
The language declared in the hreflang tag must match the actual language of the page's main content. A mismatch can confuse search engines and affect rankings.
- Language Check: Ensure that the language of the page's main textual content matches the language code specified in the hreflang attribute.
- Avoid Machine Translations: While machine translation tools are helpful, translated content should be reviewed by a native speaker to ensure quality and cultural relevance, which is essential for generative AI engines.
5. Tag Positioning
The correct positioning of hreflang tags is crucial for their recognition by search engines.
- In the <head> only: hreflang tags should be placed exclusively in the <head> section of the HTML document. Tags placed elsewhere (e.g., in the <body>) will be ignored by search engines.
- Alternative for Sitemaps: For sites with a large number of pages, it is also possible to specify hreflang tags in the XML sitemap file. This can simplify management, but the HTML method is often preferred for its simplicity on medium-sized sites.
Resources & useful links
- Ahrefs - Hreflang Tag: the complete guide: detailed guide on implementing hreflang
- Moz - Hreflang Tag for SEO: clear explanation of the hreflang tag
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