Freqo Compass · Guide
Multilingual sites: hreflang and page language
If your site exists in several languages, hreflang tags tell search engines which version to show to whom. They only work if every version links to the others.
Why it matters
- Without hreflang, a visitor searching in German may land on your English page.
- Search engines ignore hreflang tags that are not confirmed by a return link: if page A points to page B, page B must point back to page A.
- The lang attribute of the page tells browsers and screen readers which language the page is written in, for pronunciation and translation offers.
How to check
In the page source, look for the lines <link rel="alternate" hreflang="…" href="…"> and for the lang attribute of the <html> tag. Freqo Compass follows the hreflang tags of every page each week and checks that each one has its return link.
How to fix it
- On each version, list all the language versions, including the page itself.
- Make sure every link goes both ways.
- Use standard codes: fr, de, en, or en-GB and en-US for a language in a given country.
- Add an x-default version for visitors whose language you do not offer.
- Point hreflang tags only to working, indexable pages: no redirect, no error, no noindex.
- Give each page a lang attribute that matches its real language, for example <html lang="fr">.
What Freqo Compass checks
- hreflang tags without a return link
- Pages whose language is not declared
This is one of the 39 checks Freqo Compass runs on your site every week, each with an explanation of how to fix it. Discover Freqo Compass
Other guides
- Broken links and 404 errors
- Page titles and meta descriptions
- Real page speed (Core Web Vitals)
- Sitemap and robots.txt
- Images without alternative text
- Canonical tags
- HTTPS, www and redirects
No tool can guarantee a position in search results, and neither do we.