SEO
SEO is making sure people find you when they search for what you do. What it covers, what it costs and how long it takes.
Read more →What is hreflang?
Hreflang tells Google which language version belongs to which visitor. Without it your own pages compete with each other.
What it is
Hreflang is a snippet in the head of each page saying: this page also exists in English, at that address. That is how Google knows your Dutch and English pages are not two competing pages but two versions of the same one.
Every language version has to point to all the others, and to itself. There is also x-default: the version somebody gets whose language you do not serve.
Why it might matter to you
- Without hreflang Google may show the wrong language, or treat both versions as duplicates so neither ranks properly.
- The references have to be reciprocal. If A points to B but B does not point back, Google ignores the whole declaration.
- Self-reference is the most commonly forgotten part and it is required.
- It is exactly the kind of thing that goes wrong by hand, because every new page has to exist in both languages and point both ways.
How we handle it
On this site that is not manual work. The build refuses to run if a page exists in one language and not the other, precisely because hreflang would then point at a 404. The references, the self-reference and the x-default are generated, and the audit checks every page for reciprocity.
Related terms
Sitemap
A sitemap is the list of every page you want indexed. Why it exists and why it is so often wrong.
Read more →Canonical URL
A canonical points out which address is the real one when the same page is reachable through several.
Read more →Not sure which way to go?
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