Most generators just fill a template. This one catches the mistakes that actually break hreflang in production.
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Common mistake detection
Flags en-UK vs en-GB, reversed language-region order, and country codes used as language codes.
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Reciprocal link checking
Fetches your live pages and confirms hreflang links point back to each other — the single most common reason hreflang gets silently ignored.
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3 output formats
HTML <link> tags, sitemap XML (xhtml:link), and HTTP Link headers for non-HTML files — generate once, use wherever you need it.
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x-default guidance
Reminds you to set a fallback page for visitors whose locale doesn't match any listed alternate.
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Duplicate & conflict detection
Catches the same hreflang code accidentally pointing to two different URLs.
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100% client-side generation
Building tags never leaves your browser. Live-page validation fetches your own URLs directly or via a CORS proxy chain.
What is hreflang and why does it matter?▾
Hreflang tells search engines which language and regional version of a page to show a searcher, so an English-speaking visitor in the US and one in the UK can be served different but equivalent pages. Getting it wrong can show the wrong-language page in search results or cause search engines to ignore the annotation entirely.
What is reciprocal linking in hreflang and why is it required?▾
If Page A declares an hreflang link to Page B, Page B must also declare a link back to Page A. Google explicitly ignores hreflang annotations that aren't confirmed in both directions, so a one-way link has no effect at all.
What is x-default and do I need it?▾
x-default marks the page to show visitors whose language or region doesn't match any of your listed alternates, such as a language selector page or your default locale. It's optional but recommended whenever you have more than one language version.
Why does the tool flag en-UK as an error?▾
Hreflang region codes follow ISO 3166-1, where the United Kingdom's code is GB, not UK. en-UK is a common but incorrect substitution that search engines won't recognize as intended.
Can hreflang be implemented outside of HTML head tags?▾
Yes. Google also supports hreflang annotations inside an XML sitemap using the xhtml:link element, or as an HTTP Link header for non-HTML files like PDFs — useful when you can't edit page markup directly.