13 Best Practices for Hreflang Tags & International SEO
Managing hreflang tags and international SEO can be complex, but implementing the right strategies makes all the difference for global websites. This article breaks down 13 essential best practices that help search engines understand and serve the correct regional content to users. The insights shared here come from experts in the field who have successfully tackled multilingual and multi-regional SEO challenges.
Enforce Reciprocal Return Tags And X Default
My experience using hreflang tags for international SEO: it requires consistency and correctness.
Hreflang is reciprocal, meaning that the alternate pages must confirm their relationship through a return link. This is something that often gets missed when people are using hreflang.
For example, if Page A (UK version) points to Page B (US version) with hreflang, then Page B must also point back to Page A. See below:
https://www.mywebsite.com/mycategory/
Has the hreflang annotations:
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-gb" href="https://www.mywebsite.com/mycategory/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-us" href="https://www.mywebsite.com/us/mycategory/" />
But https://www.mywebsite.com/us/mycategory/ only has the US version:
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-us" href="https://www.mywebsite.com/us/mycategory/" />
When there's no return links, the hreflang tags may get ignored, leading to duplicate content issue.
Additional tip: If you have pages targeting multiple regions with the same language (e.g., en-GB, en-US, en-AU), don't forget to include a x-default version. It helps Google route users correctly when no exact language/region match exists.
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://www.mywebsite.com/mycategory/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-gb" href="https://www.mywebsite.com/mycategory/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-us" href="https://www.mywebsite.com/us/mycategory/" />
Pair Self Canonicals With Country Variants
The simple rule for hreflang tags is that every country variant URL needs a self-referencing canonical tag, plus hreflang variants.
There's honestly not much more to it than that.
Along with hreflang, you'll need multi-country sitemap files and closer monitor indexation coverage and potential SERP cannibalisation.
Set Exact Codes And Disable Forced Redirects
In my experience, DEFINING LANGUAGE REGION CODES precisely saves time down the road. For example, use "en US" and not "en UK" incorrectly, or "es ES" vs "es MX" when appropriate. Mistakes in these codes mean search engines may serve the wrong version or ignore the tags, which can lead to users landing on content that does not match their language or location. I have seen this happen on sites that assumed close enough was safe, and it always creates confusion in reporting, weakens engagement signals, and forces extra cleanup later.
Another tip is to AVOID AUTOMATIC REDIRECTS based solely on IP or geo location for international versions. This can prevent proper crawling and indexing of each variant, especially if search engines get redirected before they can see the actual content. I always make sure every localized page stays accessible without forced redirection so crawlers and real users can reach the right version naturally. It keeps the site easier to maintain, improves indexing stability, and avoids accidental issues where Google never sees the full set of language pages you worked hard to build.
Differentiate Regional Pages To Stop Cannibalization
Our experience with hreflang tags has taught us one big lesson: they matter most when your international pages look too similar. We once worked with a client who kept wondering why their U.S. and U.K. pages were fighting each other in Google results. To users, the pages felt identical, but Google couldn't tell who each one was truly meant for.
Adding hreflang tags was the thing that finally cleared it up. Instead of Google guessing, we explicitly told it, "This one is for U.S. visitors, and this one is for U.K. visitors." Within a few weeks, their cannibalization issue dropped, and each page started ranking in the right country.
The best tip we give people now is simple: don't just set the hreflang tag, make sure each version has at least one or two small differences that make sense for that region. It could be spelling (color vs colour), currency, shipping info, or even a local example. Those small touches make the hreflang tags work better because Google can actually see the difference.
It doesn't have to be perfect. It just has to clearly tell Google that these pages belong to different audiences.
Audit Counterparts With Regular Crawl Simulations
We used hreflang tags to align global Shopify stores with country pricing. Engines often displayed wrong product versions before implementation. Hreflang clarified which store matched each currency and region. This improved both accuracy and conversion across international traffic.
A best practice is performing regular crawl simulations across each language variation. Crawlers reveal missing or broken pairs that disrupt targeting strategy. Fixing issues early preserves ranking stability across regions. This creates smoother experiences for every international visitor.
List Every Version On Each Resource
I've handled hreflang tags for different country sites, and one thing that always helps is this:
Make sure each page has all its country versions listed in one place.
For example, if you have a page for the UK, US, and UAE, then each of those pages should include hreflang tags for all three, not just one or two. When everything is linked properly, Google understands which version to show in each region.
A simple tip:
Create a small sheet with all your URLs and their country codes before you start. It keeps things organized and avoids missing tags.
Confirm Bidirectional Signals And Global Fallback
A Simple Hreflang Strategy That Prevented Major Cannibalization Issues
One of the most valuable lessons I've learned with hreflang implementation is that accuracy matters more than quantity. We handled international SEO for a client targeting India, UAE, and Australia. Initially, their pages competed with each other as Google couldn't determine which to rank. Implementing accurately matched hreflang and x-default tags resolved the issue immediately.
An essential piece of advice: always verify that reciprocal hreflang tags are in place across every version. If your UAE page references the India page, the India page must reference the UAE page back. We achieved a 31% decrease in URL mismatches in Search Console and a boost in region-specific impressions after making this fix. Correct hreflang signals protect your rankings and make sure the right users see the right content.
Prefer Sitemap Annotations Over Onsite Markup
In my experience handling international SEO for hundreds of clients in our agency, sitemap-based hreflang has proven far more reliable than on-page annotations. Sitemaps prevent the silent conflicts that often occur without warning when hreflang is not properly implemented.
Across a large client base, the majority of implementations succeed when the sitemap lists every language URL and confirmation is mirrored across all variants. This avoids the mismatched return tags and template errors that frequently occur when teams rely on on-page markup alone.
Most issues arise not from Google but from incomplete mapping or missing alternates, which is why a single maintained source almost always performs better. When teams update URLs, redirects, or content, the sitemap becomes the only place that guarantees alignment. International targeting is stable when every language version tells the same story in one place.
Correct ISO Pairs And Align Internal Links
In my experience, most hreflang issues don't come from technical implementation, but from small inconsistencies in language-region codes and internal linking.
A simple best practice:
Double check that every hreflang value uses the correct ISO language code first (e.g., "de"), and then the correct country code (e.g., "CH" or "AT").
I often see sites mixing them up, for example:
using "de-AT" on a page meant for Germany or "en-EU" (which isn't valid at all).
These mistakes break the entire cluster.
Another tip:
Make sure all your internal links actually point to the translated versions of the page.
If your DE page links back to the EN version, Google will follow that signal more strongly than your hreflang tags.
Combine Technical Cues With Real Localization
I implemented hreflang tags for a B2B software client targeting Latin American markets using a subdirectory approach. The key best practice I learned is that hreflang tags work best when paired with truly localized content, not just translations. For this project, we used hreflang to signal the relationship between English and Spanish pages, but the real success came from adapting the content culturally, including local currency, regional case studies, and appropriate tone. This careful implementation resulted in a 300% increase in traffic from Mexico and Argentina within six months.
Stick To One Method And Cross Reference
At PPC & Co, most of our day-to-day clients don't need international SEO. But we've worked with a small group of adult-industry clients for more than 15 years, and international traffic is a huge part of their revenue. That's where we cut our teeth on hreflang and learned what actually works (and what breaks things fast).
If you're just getting started with hreflang, pick one implementation method and stick to it. You can put the tags in the HTML head, set them in HTTP headers, or manage everything through your XML sitemap. Mixing methods technically works, but in the real world it creates conflicts and makes troubleshooting miserable.
One thing that's always held true. Every page has to reference itself and every alternate version. If your English page points to your French page, the French page has to point back. Missing return links are one of the most common issues we see, and Google will usually ignore the entire set if the signals don't match.
Use an x-default URL when you have a global or fallback page. It gives search engines a clear option when a visitor doesn't fit any of your targeted languages or regions.
Double-check your language and region codes. They follow ISO standards, and a lot of people assume the wrong ones. For example, the United Kingdom uses "GB," not "UK." Small detail, but if the code is wrong, Google simply ignores it.
And finally, audit regularly. Tools like Screaming Frog or dedicated hreflang testers make it easy to spot missing tags, wrong codes, or broken return links before they turn into bigger problems.
Once you get hreflang set up correctly, it quietly does its job in the background. The challenge is getting the implementation right.
Expect Single Index With URL Swaps
One thing people misunderstand about international page variants (especially once hreflang tags are properly set up on a site) is that Google will only be indexing one version of your page, normally the x-default value. Google uses this single indexed version for ranking calculations in various markets. Then, when someone searches in a different country where the page is eligible to rank, Google will simply swap out the URL of this indexed page depending on the hreflang setup. Where this can get really confusing is in the Google Search Console indexing report. Your x-default country will show the page as indexed and visible on Google, the other countries will show not indexed with "Google selected a different canonical" or "Not eligible to show on Google". This makes people think their tags are not working when they actually are.
Map Equivalents And Validate Site Health
We've used hreflang extensively on multi-country and multi-language sites, and the biggest lesson is this: hreflang only works when every version of the URL returns a clean, crawlable, indexable page. Most issues people blame on "incorrect hreflang" are actually caused by canonical conflicts, noindex tags, or mismatched URL structures across regions.
Practical tip:
Always build a full hreflang map before implementation.
List each page, its international equivalents, and its canonical target in a simple spreadsheet. This catches 90% of errors before they go live — especially missing return tags, language-region mismatches (e.g., en-IE vs en-GB), and cases where a URL doesn't truly have a regional equivalent.
Once implemented, test with:
* Google Search Console's "International Targeting" report
* Site-specific searches like site:example.com inurl=/fr
* And a crawl restricted to hreflang attributes to spot loops or broken chains
The result is far cleaner international indexing and fewer cases of Google choosing the wrong regional page.
