Hreflang Errors: How to Find and Fix Every Common Mistake
Missing return links, invalid codes, redirecting alternates and canonical conflicts: how Google reads hreflang and how to find and fix every common error.
Hreflang Validator
Validate language and region annotations across your site — codes, return links and self-references.
What this tool does
Collects hreflang annotations from HTML link tags, HTTP Link headers and sitemaps across a bounded crawl, then checks language and region codes, self-references, x-default, return links between every pair of alternates, and whether alternates resolve, are canonical and indexable.
What you get
- Language cluster map with missing return links highlighted
- Code validation (ISO 639-1 language, ISO 3166-1 region)
- Alternate status, canonical and indexability checks
Scope
Same website, up to 40 pages reached through hreflang alternates and links.
Pages are fetched politely by BacklnkBot, robots.txt is respected, and only public websites can be audited. Every finding shows the evidence it is based on and when it was measured.
Limitations
- • A bounded crawl sees only the alternates it reaches; very large international sites need several runs.
- • Search engines treat hreflang as a hint, not a directive.
Frequently asked questions
- Do I need x-default?
- It is optional. Google documents x-default for a page that serves users whose language does not match any alternate, such as a language picker.
Guides
Learn the topic behind the hreflang check
More free tools
- llms.txt Generator & ValidatorDraft an llms.txt from your real pages, or check an existing file against the published proposal.
- Entity Signal & Schema CheckerSee the entities your JSON-LD describes — Organization, Person, FAQPage and their sameAs links.
- Answer Snippet ExtractorFind the definitions, steps, lists, tables and summaries a reader — or an answer engine — could quote.
Learn more: Technical SEO guides