Hreflang Tag Generator

What the Hreflang Tag Generator Does

Hreflang tags map the language and region versions of a page to each other so search engines serve the right one — French speakers get the French URL, and so on. Type your base URL and the codes you support, and the tool outputs an alternate tag for each, finished with an x-default tag for everyone else.

Honest caveat baked in: it generates the alternate addresses as your-url?lang=fr, your-url?lang=de and so on. That suits a site that switches language by query parameter, but many sites use subdirectories, subdomains or country domains instead — in which case you should replace those hrefs with your real localized URLs before shipping.

How It Works

For each code you enter, the tool writes a link element with rel alternate, the hreflang attribute set to that code, and an href pointing at your base URL with a lang query parameter appended (joined onto the existing query string if there already is one). It then adds a final tag with hreflang x-default as the catch-all version.

Language codes follow ISO 639-1 (en, fr, de), optionally with an ISO 3166-1 region (en-US, en-GB, pt-BR). The tool takes your codes as-is, so it is on you to use valid ones — an invalid code makes Google ignore that annotation.

Generation algorithm

1. Read the inputs. Take the base URL and the comma-separated language codes.
2. Build each alternate. For every code, write a rel=alternate tag with that hreflang and an href of your URL plus a lang parameter.
3. Add x-default. Append a tag with hreflang x-default pointing at the base URL as the fallback.
4. Output live. Join them into one block to copy into the head; it refreshes as you type.

Tags it generates

The ?lang=CODE href is an assumption about your URL structure — replace it with your real localized URLs (for example /fr/ or a country domain) if they differ. Codes are used as typed; use valid ISO 639-1 (plus optional ISO 3166-1 region).

Technical Details

Standards & references

• hreflang codes — language in ISO 639-1 (en, fr, de), optionally a region in ISO 3166-1 Alpha-2 (en-US, pt-BR); an invalid code is ignored.
• x-default — the fallback version shown when no language or region matches the user; the tool always adds it.
• Reciprocal return tags — every language version must link back to all the others — if page A lists B but B does not list A, Google ignores the whole set.

Accuracy & Limitations

The big one: the generated hrefs use a ?lang= query parameter on your base URL. If your translations actually live at /fr/ paths, fr. subdomains or country domains, replace each href with the real URL — otherwise the tags point at addresses that do not exist.

Hreflang must be reciprocal. Every page in the set has to list every version, including itself, and each target must link back. If the return tags are missing, Google ignores the annotations entirely — so the same complete set belongs in the head of each language version, with its own self-reference.

It does not validate your codes. Use real ISO 639-1 language codes (and ISO 3166-1 regions where needed); a typo like en-UK (the correct region is GB) silently breaks that entry.

hreflang is for language and region variants of the same content, not for unrelated pages. It guides which version to show; it is not a ranking boost and it does not replace translating the page properly.

The tool generates one page's tags. You will paste a complete, matching set into each localized page, or move them to an XML sitemap or HTTP headers for large sites.

Real-World Use Cases

When to use it — and when not to

Different URL structure? Keep the codes but swap the hrefs for your real localized URLs. Big site? Put hreflang in an XML sitemap or HTTP headers instead of the head.

Frequently Asked Questions

References

• Localized versions of your pages (Google Search Central)
• hreflang tags — international SEO guide (SEO Sherpa)
• List of ISO 639-1 language codes (Wikipedia)

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