Hreflang
Hreflang identifies related language or regional versions of a page for search engines.
Link language alternatives together
Hreflang is markup for language and, where applicable, regional alternatives of web pages. In a fictional example, the same guide exists in full in German and Turkish. The references connect the corresponding versions; they should not point indiscriminately to language home pages.
For Google, versions must reference themselves and their respective alternatives. Use appropriate language codes and complete, reachable URLs. The markup does not translate text or itself determine the detected language. It is not a visitor redirect either. Recheck the relationships after address changes; a correct code with a wrong destination does not help select the appropriate page.
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Related terms
- Canonical URLA canonical URL is the preferred address for identical or very similar content; search engines assess several signals when choosing it.
- XML sitemapAn XML sitemap gives search engines selected URLs from a website and may include additional information about them.
- IndexingDuring indexing, a search engine analyses content and adds information about it to its search index.
- Crawl budgetCrawl budget describes which URLs Google can and wants to fetch. Server capacity and crawl demand work together.
- Robots directiveRobots directives give indexing or presentation rules to search engines that support them. The crawler and the delivery route also matter.
- NoindexNoindex controls inclusion in search engines that support the instruction. The crawler must be able to read it; it does not replace access protection.
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