hreflang Checker
Audit the hreflang tags on any live URL — reciprocity, x-default, and duplicates.
Enter a live URL to see its hreflang annotations, x-default, and common mistakes.
What a healthy hreflang setup looks like
For a page that exists in several languages, search engines expect a complete, consistent set of annotations. This checker fetches a live URL and reports what it finds so you can verify the essentials:
- Every version is listed, including a self-reference to the page itself.
- x-default is present for users who match no specific version.
- No duplicate codes — each hreflang value should appear once.
- Valid codes — see the language-code reference.
Reciprocity is the rule people miss
hreflang only works when it's reciprocal: if your English page references the German one, the German page must reference the English one back. One-way annotations are silently ignored. Because this tool reads a single page, check a few of the referenced URLs too and confirm they point back.
Fixing and preventing errors
Build a correct set with the hreflang generator, then re-run this check. To stop maintaining tags by hand entirely, a plugin like Gloty emits reciprocal hreflang, canonicals, and translated meta for every page automatically — compare it to Weglot.
Frequently asked questions
- How do I check if hreflang is set up correctly?
- Load the page and read its <link rel="alternate" hreflang="…"> tags. Confirm each language version is listed (including a self-reference and x-default), the codes are valid, there are no duplicates, and every alternate references back. This tool surfaces the tags, x-default, and duplicates for a single URL.
- Why are my hreflang tags being ignored?
- The most common cause is missing reciprocity — if page A points to B but B doesn't point back to A, Google ignores the annotation. Other causes: invalid language/region codes, missing self-reference, or a missing x-default.
- Does this check reciprocity across all pages?
- It reads one URL at a time and reports that page's tags. Reciprocity is a cross-page property, so check a couple of the referenced URLs too — each should list the others back.
Gloty generates correct, reciprocal hreflang for every page automatically — so audits like this come back clean.