hreflang tag what it is and how it works

hreflang tags what it is and how it works: the importance of the alt tag attribute for the creation of multilingual web pages for linguistic and geographical audiences.

Il rapido processo di globalizzazione al quale stiamo assistendo ha portato inevitabilmente gli imprenditori e i liberi professionisti a rivolgersi ad un international audience. E per questo motivo è divenuto essenziale have a multilingual website, which can help businesses of all sizes expand their offerings across multiple geographies. A significant advantage, given that it allows your pages to be viewed by people from all over the world, thus increasing the chances of doing business.

At the same time, if you are opening a multilingual site, you must impeccably configure every aspect, starting from the hreflang tag.

What is hreflang tag

The hreflang tag is a tool used by webmasters and developers to indicate to search engines which version of a site or web page is best suited to users based on their geographic location. This is an attribute of the link tag that specifies the language of the content of a web page, showing Google which version of the page you want to view based on the desired language.

In this way, visitors are directed to the correct page (intended for a specific linguistic or geographical audience) and do not view a version of the content that they do not understand. In fact, its use is essential for improve user experience, also allowing you to provide useful information about the version of the content in other countries, preventing the possibility of search engines indexing the wrong elements of the page.

This is a very useful tool if your site is available in multiple languages, and you want content to be displayed in the appropriate language for each country. All this leads to increasing the visibility of your platform, helping to increase incoming traffic.

What are the benefits and elements of an hreflang tag?

This is why proper hreflang tag configuration is so important:

• Ensures that users see the version of the website optimized for their language and location;
• Increases the chances that the site will be displayed in the desired language in the SERPs;
• Reduces the risk of spam activity by users, such as attempting to access the English version of the site from a non-English speaking country.
• It helps search engines recognize the most recent version of content and therefore ensure that it is the one shown to users. This is especially important for sites with a high volume of content, as it reduces the chance of outdated or irrelevant content being displayed.

This element can be inserted into the head of an HTML page and is made up of two parts:

1. The first specifies the language and, possibly, the geographic region for which the page is optimized. For example, “en” for English.
2. The second concerns the URL of the version of the page optimized for the language/region specified in the first part.

Therefore, referring to our country, the attribute value can be a standard linguistic code such as “it” for Italian, or it can be a combination of these codes with additional information, such as “it-IT” for spoken Italian in Italy.

As can be seen from this image, hreflang consists of the link tag attribute located in the head section of the page, and the pages signify the presence of alternative versions (e.g. the Japanese version shown to Japanese users, the English one to Australian users etc.).

What are the common errors related to its use

After seeing what the hreflang tag is we can see how much it is important in terms of SEO positioning. However, many people make mistakes when using it, which can lead to poor site performance in search engines. Among the most common errors we can include:

• Not specifying the language and country values correctly: Must be set precisely to indicate the correct language and country. Otherwise, search engines may not be able to correctly interpret the information provided by the tag, which could lead to poor site performance in the SERP.
• Do not include all versions of the site: If it is available in multiple language versions or for different countries, make sure to include all versions in your hreflang declaration.
• Incorrect use of the self tag: The self tag should only be used in case a page is only available in one language/country and does not need other versions. If it is used when not necessary, it can cause problems with search engines interpreting the tag.
• Invalid URLs: Make sure you always use valid URLs in your statement. Otherwise Google may not be able to correctly interpret the information provided by the tag, which can have a negative impact on the site's performance in search engines.
• Duplicate hreflang declarations: Try not to include duplicate declarations on your page, which can cause problems with search engines' interpretation of the tag and lead to poor SERP performance.

Conclusion

In definitiva, il tag hreflang aiuta a ottimizzare la SEO di un sito web e assicura che gli utenti possano visualizzare contenuti pertinenti, permettendo agli utenti di trovare facilmente le informazioni che stanno cercando nelle loro lingue e nella loro regione di appartenenza. Quindi risulta particolarmente utile per i siti Web che offrono contenuti in più lingue e che desiderano migliorare la SEO internazionale.