Glossary
Hreflang
An HTML attribute that tells search engines which language and geographical targeting a specific page has, helping serve the right content to users based on their location and language preferences.
Hreflang is a critical technical SEO element that helps search engines understand language and regional variations of your content. Implemented as an HTML attribute in your page's head section or via XML sitemaps, hreflang signals to search engines which version of your content to show users based on their language and geographic location. Correct implementation requires specifying both language codes (like "en" for English) and optional country codes (like "en-us" for American English). Each page variation must contain reciprocal hreflang tags pointing to all other language versions and itself. This prevents duplicate content issues and ensures users see the most relevant version of your content in search results. Common hreflang implementation mistakes include incomplete tag sets, incorrect language/region codes, and missing self-referential tags. When properly configured, hreflang helps international websites maintain appropriate visibility across different markets, improves user experience by serving locally relevant content, and prevents ranking dilution that can occur when similar content targets multiple regions.