Hreflang Checker

Q: Does this check reciprocal hreflang links?

No. It inspects only the supplied page. Open each alternate separately and confirm its HTML links back to the original page and lists the intended language set.

Q: Why is a relative URL flagged?

The report resolves relative href values using the first valid head base declaration or the source page URL. Replace relative hreflang URLs with fully qualified HTTP or HTTPS URLs before publishing.

Q: Is x-default required?

No. It can identify a fallback page for visitors whose language is not explicitly covered, such as a language selector. Its absence is shown as context, not an automatic error.

Q: Does this include HTTP headers or sitemap hreflang?

No. This report covers HTML link elements only. An empty report does not prove that a page has no alternate declarations through other channels.

Q: What if the public URL check fails?

Public servers can block inspection. The helper also limits response size, redirects and request time. Retry later or paste source HTML with its page URL. Pasted HTML stays in this browser and does not prove what a live server serves.

Inspect a page’s language alternates, spot conflicting targets and review self-reference in its HTML source.

Your declaration report

Check a URL to list languages, targets and issues. Return links are not checked.

Declaration review

Read the declarations before fixing the cluster

This checker lists HTML link alternates from one public URL or pasted document. It checks code shape and browser-recognized codes, duplicate targets, head placement and self-reference. A clean report is not confirmation that Google uses the annotations.

Language and region

Review the original code alongside its lowercase comparison form. Code recognition uses the browser’s locale data, not a full ISO registry audit.

Target conflicts

Find repeated codes that point to different pages. Relative targets are resolved for review but flagged for replacement with absolute URLs.

Self-reference

Check whether a language declaration points to the inspected URL. Redirected URL checks use the final page URL.

Evidence boundaries

No alternate pages are fetched. Return links, target status, canonicals and indexing remain separate checks.

Work through a bilingual cluster

For an English page at /en/ and its French equivalent at /fr/, inspect both pages. Each needs an en declaration pointing to the English URL and a fr declaration pointing to the French URL. A shared selector can be the x-default target.

Actual checker output for the supplied bilingual example: three declarations with reciprocal links explicitly unverified. — Worked example from this checker using example.com source text. No live site or return links were inspected.

Compare the target sets. Inspect each translation and verify that it lists itself and its counterpart. Fix missing return links at the destination.
Check the page intent. Language variants should represent equivalent content. A country homepage is not automatically the alternate for every translated article.
Review canonicals separately. Confirm declared canonicals match your intended indexable language versions. This report does not read canonical signals or show Google’s selected canonical.
Recheck after changes. Fetch the published source again. JavaScript-generated tags and authenticated content are outside this checker’s view.

Technical reference: Google’s localized page guidance.

Continue the inspection

Use the Sitemap Analyzer to review sitemap URLs, then the Internal Links Checker to inspect navigation paths between pages.