Hreflang tag generator

Short answer: add one row per language or country version of a page, pick the language and optional region from the lists, paste each URL, and copy the output. You get the full, reciprocal set of hreflang annotations as HTML <link> tags, sitemap entries or an HTTP header. Paste the same set on every version.

What this hreflang generator does

If your site has the same page in several languages, or versions for different countries, hreflang tells Google which one to show each searcher. Without it, a German searcher may land on your English page, or Google may treat your UK and US pages as duplicates. The hreflang tag generator builds the full, reciprocal set of annotations for a page and checks the codes as you type.

The three ways to add hreflang

Google documents all three as equivalent (Google Search Central). Use one method per page; mixing them makes errors harder to find.

Rules that make hreflang work

1. Every version lists every version, including itself. The generator outputs the full set; paste the same block on each version.
2. Return links are required. If A references B, B must reference A.
3. Language codes are ISO 639-1 (en, de, pt). Optional region codes are ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 (GB, US, BR).
4. Absolute URLs only, with the protocol.
5. Each version canonicalises to itself.

The most common hreflang mistakes

Worked example

The tool opens with three versions filled in: English at https://example.com/, German at /de/ and Mexican Spanish at /es-mx/. Add https://example.com/ as the x-default and the HTML output is:

<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en" href="https://example.com/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="de" href="https://example.com/de/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="es-MX" href="https://example.com/es-mx/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://example.com/" />

One warning stays: Spanish is targeted only with a region, so Spanish speakers outside Mexico have no match. Add a plain es row (or accept that they'll get the x-default) and the warning clears. Those four or five lines go into the <head> of all three pages, unchanged.

Language vs. region targeting

Target a language (es) when one version serves all speakers. Add a region (es-MX, es-ES) only when versions differ by country: prices, spelling, legal text. A good pattern is regional versions plus a generic language fallback: es-MX, es-ES and es for every other Spanish speaker.

What it doesn't do

• It doesn't crawl your site. It can't confirm the URLs load, return 200, or carry the matching tags. Check that in Search Console or a crawler after you deploy.
• It builds the set for one page at a time. For a whole site, template the same logic in your CMS or generate the sitemap from your database.
• The language list covers 35 common languages and 49 regions. For anything else, or a script subtag like zh-Hant, edit the output by hand.
• In the sitemap format, the x-default URL is listed as an alternate but doesn't get its own <url> block. If your x-default is a separate page (a language picker, say), add a <url> entry for it with the same set.

What the warnings mean

• "… is listed twice." Two rows have the same language-region code. Google can't pick between them; keep one.
• "… is used for both …" Two codes point to the same URL. Usually a copy-paste slip. If one page really serves both, use the plain language code instead.
• "… isn't an absolute URL." Add https:// and the domain.
• "Some URLs use http and others https." Use the protocol your canonical tags use.
• "No x-default." Optional. Add one if you have a sensible page for everyone else.

Related tools

Once the tags are live, check how each version's title and description will look in results with the SERP snippet preview. The schema generator writes JSON-LD for the same pages, the robots.txt tester confirms the language folders aren't blocked, and the llms.txt generator covers AI crawlers.

Privacy

Everything is generated in your browser; nothing is uploaded.

Last checked and updated: 1 November 2026. Everything on this page runs in your browser; nothing you enter is sent anywhere.