hreflang tags invalid or incomplete

Medium priorityOn-page SEO

The page’s hreflang tags use invalid codes, list a language twice, or lack a self-reference or x-default.

What triggers this issue

• Invalid language or region code, like en-UK (should be en-GB) or en_GB (needs a hyphen).
• The same language listed more than once.
• No self-referencing hreflang: the page doesn’t list itself.
• No x-default for visitors who match no version.

Why it matters

hreflang tells Google which language or regional version of a page to show each searcher. Google ignores invalid values, and a set without self-references or return links may be ignored as a whole.

When it fails, your English page may rank in Germany, or your US page in the UK, with the wrong prices and spelling.

How to fix it

1. Use ISO 639-1 language codes, optionally with an ISO 3166-1 region: en, en-GB, es-MX.
2. On every version, list all versions including itself.
3. Add an x-default pointing to your main or language-selector page.
4. Make sure each version’s canonical points to itself, not to another language.

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