Hreflang Tag Generator

About this tool

Incorrect hreflang tags are one of the most common international SEO mistakes — sending French users to the Spanish site or serving UK content to Australian searchers. The Hreflang Tag Generator turns rows of URL and language-region code pairs into <link rel="alternate" hreflang="…" href="…"> tags for the <head>. Each row has a URL field and a free-text code field (en, en-GB, fr-CA, x-default); the output lists one tag per complete row, in row order, and updates as you type. The starter rows include an x-default fallback, and the output ends with a reminder comment to keep one. Because hreflang must be reciprocal, paste the same block into the <head> of every page in the group. Codes are used exactly as typed — the tool does not validate ISO 639-1 language or ISO 3166-1 region codes, and it outputs HTML link tags only (no sitemap XML or HTTP Link header format). Everything runs in your browser.

Why use it

• Fast Tag Assembly: Each complete row becomes a <link rel="alternate" hreflang="…" href="…"> line, in row order, ready to paste into a <head>.

• Same Set for Every Page: Hreflang only works when every page in the group lists all the others, including itself. Build the list once and paste the identical block into each page's <head>.

• x-default Reminder: The first starter row is set to x-default and the output ends with a reminder comment, so the fallback page is hard to forget.

• Multi-Regional Language Handling: Rows accept language-only codes (en, fr, de) and language-region codes (en-US, en-GB, fr-CA) in the same set, which suits sites targeting one language in several countries.

• Private by Default: Everything runs in your browser; the URLs you enter are not sent anywhere.

How to use

1. Edit the starter rows or click + Add row; each row takes a URL and a code typed as text (e.g. en, en-GB, x-default)
2. Keep one row with the code x-default for your fallback page — the first starter row uses it
3. Watch the link tags update as you type, or click Generate to rebuild them
4. Click Copy, then paste the same set into the <head> of every page in the group
5. Double-check each code yourself — the tool does not validate language or region codes
6. After deployment, confirm the tags with a hreflang testing tool or a crawl of the live pages

When it helps

• When launching a multilingual site with separate URLs for each language version
• When running a multi-regional site that serves the same language differently for different countries (e.g., en-US and en-GB)
• When Search Console or a crawler reports hreflang errors and you need to rebuild the tag set for a page group
• When adding a new language or region to an existing international site and needing to update all existing page sets
• When drafting hreflang tags for one page group to hand to a developer or CMS editor
• When migrating a site to a new URL structure and needing to rebuild hreflang annotations for the new URLs

Examples

Rows: https://example.com/en-us/ (en-US), https://example.com/en-gb/ (en-GB), https://example.com/fr/ (fr), https://example.com/en-us/ (x-default)

<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-US" href="https://example.com/en-us/">
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-GB" href="https://example.com/en-gb/">
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="fr" href="https://example.com/fr/">
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://example.com/en-us/">

<!-- include one x-default URL for global fallback -->

Rows: https://example.com/ (x-default), https://example.com/en/ (en)

<link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://example.com/">
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en" href="https://example.com/en/">

<!-- include one x-default URL for global fallback -->

Rows: https://example.co.uk/ (en-UK)

<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-UK" href="https://example.co.uk/">

<!-- include one x-default URL for global fallback -->

Tips

• Use absolute URLs (including https:// and the full domain) in all hreflang tags — relative URLs are not valid and will be ignored by Google
• If you use a CDN or proxy that rewrites URLs, verify the hreflang tags reflect the final canonical URL that Google sees, not the internal URL before rewriting
• For large sites with many language variants, implement hreflang in the sitemap rather than every HTML page to reduce template complexity and risk of missing reciprocal links
• Re-validate after any URL restructuring — hreflang references to old URLs that redirect rather than resolve directly may cause Google to ignore the annotations
• Use the same protocol (https vs http) in all hreflang URLs as in your canonical tags to avoid canonical/hreflang mismatches that confuse crawlers

Frequently Asked Questions

Glossary

hreflang

An HTML attribute on <link rel="alternate"> tags that specifies the language and optional region of an alternate page URL, telling search engines which version to serve to which users.

x-default

A special hreflang value indicating the fallback page to show users whose language or region does not match any other annotated variant in the set.

Reciprocal Annotation

The requirement that every page in a hreflang set must reference all other pages in the set, including itself. Missing reciprocal links cause Google to ignore the annotations.

ISO 639-1

The international standard for two-letter language codes used in hreflang attributes, such as en for English, fr for French, and de for German.

ISO 3166-1 alpha-2

The international standard for two-letter country codes used in the region portion of hreflang values, such as US, GB, FR, and AU.

International Targeting

A former Google Search Console report, retired in 2022, that showed hreflang errors and country-targeting settings for a site.