What is hreflang?
SEO Definition and Examples
Hreflang is an HTML tag that tells Google which language or regional versions of a page exist, avoiding duplicate-content penalties for multilingual sites.
Full Definition: What is hreflang
Hreflang (rel="alternate" hreflang="xx") is a tag that tells Google: "This is the Romanian version. The English version is at this URL. The UK version is at another." It is used for multilingual or multi-regional sites (e.g. site.ro, site.com/en/, site.co.uk). Without hreflang, Google sees duplicate content and penalizes. With hreflang, Google indexes each version separately and ranks them for the right locations/languages. Format: <link rel="alternate" hreflang="en" href="https://site.com/en/article/" />
Why Does Hreflang Matter for SEO?
Multilingual sites without hreflang are penalized for duplicate content. With correct hreflang, each version ranks separately and gets independent credit.
Source: Google — HreflangFrequently Asked Questions about Hreflang
Related Terms
Technical SEO
AdvancedTechnical SEO covers your site's infrastructure — crawlability, indexing, loading speed, HTTPS and data structure — that lets Google find and understand pages.
Duplicate Content
IntermediateDuplicate content = the same (or very similar) content on multiple URLs. Google penalizes pages with internal and external duplicate content.
Canonical URL
IntermediateA canonical URL is the rel="canonical" attribute that tells Google the "true" version of a page when duplicate versions exist (e.g. with and without www).
Core Web Vitals
AdvancedCore Web Vitals are 3 technical Google metrics — LCP, INP and CLS — that measure page user experience and have been official ranking factors since 2021.
Put Hreflang into practice
Explore how to apply this concept to your industry and city.
