Hreflang and canonical checker
Check the language versions of one page and whether they point back to each other.
What you get
- Every hreflang code, named in plain English
- Return links from each alternate
- x-default and the self reference
- Canonical tags on every version
Fallback
x-default explained
x-default names the page for visitors whose language matches none of your alternates. It is optional, and Google recommends it. In this example the set lists en, de and fr, plus x-default for a language picker at /.
| Browser language | Page shown | Why |
|---|---|---|
| German | /de/ | An exact match for de. |
| English (Australia) | /en/ | There is no en-AU version, so the language-only en version matches. |
| Spanish | / | Nothing matches, so search engines can show the x-default page. |
Every page in the set lists the same alternates, including x-default and itself.
Language codes
Codes that look right but are not
hreflang takes an ISO 639-1 language code, optionally followed by an ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 region. Some mistakes pass a format check, so read the codes yourself.
| Written | Use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| en-UK | en-GB | The region code for the United Kingdom is GB. |
| uk | en-GB | uk is valid but means Ukrainian. |
| jp | ja | JP is the country; Japanese is ja. |
| cz | cs | CZ is the country; Czech is cs. |
| dk | da | DK is the country; Danish is da. |
| se | sv | se is Northern Sami; Swedish is sv. |
| GB | en-GB | A region needs a language in front of it. |
What this tool checks
- The hreflang set Every <link rel="alternate" hreflang> in the page, the language code format, duplicates, the self reference and x-default.
- Return links We open up to 20 alternates and check that each one links back to the page you entered.
- Canonical consistency The page and every alternate should name themselves as canonical. A canonical that points to another language cancels the hreflang.
How to fix common problems
- Missing return link
- Google ignores a pair unless both pages link to each other. Generate the full set in one template so every language lists all the others.
- Canonical points to the main language
- Each language version should be its own canonical. Point the canonical of /de/ to /de/, not to /en/.
- Invalid code
- Use ISO 639-1 language codes with an optional ISO 3166-1 region: en, en-GB, pt-BR. “uk” is Ukrainian, not the United Kingdom.
Do I need x-default?
It is optional but recommended. It tells search engines which page to show when no language matches, usually a language picker or the main version.
My hreflang is in the sitemap, not the HTML. Does the tool see it?
No. The tool reads the HTML of the page. Hreflang in an XML sitemap or HTTP headers is valid, but it is not checked here.
Is this tool free?
Yes. You do not need an account. Each IP address can run 10 checks a minute and 100 a day, and a website can be checked 10 times in 10 minutes across all visitors so the tool is never used to flood a site.
Do you store the URL or the results?
The result is kept for 10 minutes so a repeated check is instant, then it is deleted. We do not log the URLs you check or the content of the page.
Start monitoring your website
Add your address, pick the pages and approve the first scan as your baseline.
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