What is hreflang?
Hreflangis a piece of code that tells search engines which language and region a page is intended for.It ensures that Google shows the correct language version of your page to the right visitor.For websites with multiple languages or country versions, hreflang is indispensable to avoid confusion and duplicate content.What is hreflang for?For example, if you have a Dutch
and a Belgian version of the same page, hreflang helps Google
to send the visitor to the correct version.Without hreflang, the wrong language version may appear or search engines may see the versions as competing, duplicate content.Hreflang and duplicate contentSimilar pages in different languages or for different regions
may look similar.Correct
hreflang annotations make it clear that they are language or region variants, not duplicates.This is part of technical SEO.Common mistakesCommon issues include missing back-references between versions, incorrecttechnical SEOand
hreflang pointing
to non-indexable pages.Check the implementation carefully, because errors are difficult to see but harmful.Do Iindexingif you offer content in multiple languages or for multiple regions.It is not necessary for a monolingual site.Where do you put hreflang?In the page header, the HTTP
header, or the
sitemap.One consistent method is most important.