Hreflang: A Newbie's Information to Language and Area Orientation
Attracting new audiences is an incredibly effective way to increase your website traffic.
As you grow your business worldwide, you may have already considered translating your website into different languages. This can be a great way to monetize your content or sell it to people outside your region.
It's an exciting thought, but it's not that easy to hire someone to translate the pages of your website. Some of the translated pages are likely to resemble the content of your existing pages, so you run the risk of being penalized by search engines for duplicate content.
Also take into account your reader's experience. Imagine how quickly they would leave a website that offers pricing and shipping details in the wrong currency or language.
There is a great opportunity to grow your business by attracting people in different geographic or language areas. However, there is a special way to attract new users to your website.
The best way to access these new audiences is to use HTML attribute tags from hreflang.
What is Hreflang Day?
Hreflang is an HTML language attribute or code that tells search engines important information about your content by providing language codes and country codes for each content. This code tells search engines what language and region you are targeting with the content.
Here are new audiences you could attract with hreflang:
- Visitors in the same country speaking different languages
- Visitors from different countries who speak other languages
- Visitors from different countries speaking the same language
Using hreflang can improve organic search engine optimization (SEO) on your website and increase your digital marketing reach to new audiences without costing you domain authority or reducing user experience.
Why are hreflang tags important?
With Hreflang, you can tell search engines which pages to display to which users, so that audiences can see the pages you created just for them. It also gives search engines a clear indication that the content of these pages has not been duplicated but has been adapted for different people.
For example, let's say your website is entirely in English with your local currency for products listed. However, other English speakers in different geographic regions may benefit from your content and offers.
What if you could show them an alternate version of your website that automatically mirrors their daily currency?
Let's go one step further. What if you could also translate your content into different languages and then somehow ensure that search engines show your target audience the correct search result?
You can, and while it takes a bit of work to set up, the value of showing visitors what they want to see can improve your ranking significantly.
Would you like to learn more about how you can attract international visitors to your content? Watch this video:
Who should use hreflang code attributes?
You should use these tags if you want to serve the right version of your website to groups that you can identify and separate by language or geographic region.
This can include translating all of your website content into different languages, translating only parts of it, or having alternative versions of your website with other currencies.
For example, Canadian, American, and British English are the same language but have different currencies.
This tactic is best for companies that have good reason to gain access to international markets. For example, you can monetize traffic, sell directly to these visitors, or create a global brand.
If this sounds like your business, it may be time to invest in creating a global SEO strategy.
SEO and More: Benefits of Using Hreflang Tags Properly
Your website can benefit from hreflang tags in three main ways:
- Improve your organic SEO by lowering bounce rates, increasing rankings, and improving click and conversion rates.
- Your user experience (UX) will be improved for readers outside of your region.
- It can protect you from being penalized for duplicate content.
The world is full of people who may not share your native language but are still valuable readers of your content. What about Spanish, Hindi, or Mandarin speaking users?
There is a sizable global audience that you could reach. To do this, however, you need to find ways to offer them versions of your content that is optimized for their experience.
When these readers can access a personalized version of your content, they are more likely to stay on your site longer and read more pages, which will reduce your overall bounce rate.
However, you need to be careful every time you create similar content, even in a different language. Use hreflang to tailor the right content to what the user wants to see.
What does a hreflang tag look like?
A valid hreflang attribute could look like this:
link rel = "alternative" href = "http://example.com" hreflang = "en-us" />
How to implement hreflang tags
What does a successful implementation look like? There are a few things to keep in mind when setting up hreflang for your website content. If any of these steps are not completed, your tags will not work.
Create a table of contents and a plan
First, do a site audit to find out what you've already done to target new languages or regions. Add your existing content and any pages you've already translated.
Next, check your analytics and see who else is visiting your website, where they are from and what language settings are in their browsers. If you make decisions based on the audience already finding your site, your changes will have more impact.
Decide if you want your entire site to be displayed in other languages. Would it be enough if your homepage was changed or just your contact information and footer? This can help you decide where to focus your time and resources.
Language and country codes
Next, you need to choose the right codes to create your tags. There are established language codes and country codes. So make sure you check this out on the go.
When creating codes, keep in mind that you will need a language or country code. This means that you can simply select a language code, but never have just one country code to yourself.
Keep in mind that you may not know every country to target. Therefore it is also good to have only one language code. This allows you to offer French content to people in France and a French version to capture French-speaking users from other countries.
Relationship between tags
You need to make sure that you are showing the correct relationship between tags. This means that you understand self-referential and bidirectional hreflang attribute references.
- Self-referencing tags means that each language version should reference itself and all other versions.
- Bidirectional means that each day should be paired with a day on the alternative content. For example, if side A points to side B, side B must point back to side A. (This also ensures that no one can create a disposable tag pointing to an external source and affecting your traffic.)
- X standard Creates a default version of a page that doesn't target a specific language or that prompts users to select a language when they land on a page. This should capture anyone whose language is not set in their browser settings or whose IP address does not match any of the languages on your website. This would be your standard x tag:
Choose an implementation method
You can implement valid hreflang attributes in three ways:
- Implement the hreflang attribute in link elements in the Section of each page.
- Implement the hreflang attribute in HTTP headers for PDFs and other non-HTML pages or files.
- Implement the hreflang attribute in your sitemap XML markup (so you don't have to edit multiple HTML documents each time you edit or delete a page. Direct access to the sitemap file can make this even easier.)
Resources for the successful implementation of hreflang tags
There are some useful resources for addressing hreflang tags in your website content. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but you will find it useful as you continue. Remember that different platforms have specific instructions for implementation. So refer to these before you begin.
- Hreflang Tags Generator Tool
- Google search console
- XML sitemap tool for hreflang tags
- Hreflang Tag Checker
- Learn more about setting up international SEO before you start the project
Should I use hreflang with canonical tags?
Yes, they should be used together as they perform different functions. Canonical tags tell search engines which URL is the official or canonical version of a page and which page to index. Hreflang tags tell search engines what language and region a page is targeting.
Common pitfalls in implementing hreflang tags
Common mistakes include using the wrong language code or country code, trying to use a code for a region that is too large (e.g. using the EU instead of GBR), forgetting to make versions self-referential, or forgetting that Pages must be bidirectional.
Another challenge is to keep valid hreflang attributes after setting up. Whenever content is added or removed from the website, or redirects are created within your existing content, the hreflang tags need to be updated.
Hreflang code attributes are a search engine guide and are not a guaranteed function. All you can do is suggest which pages search engines should display based on a user's browser settings.
While it works with Google and Yandex, it doesn't work for others like Bing and Baidu. So check out the options and instructions for each one.
Conclusion
Hreflang can be a useful tool for telling search engines what language your website is written in and what region you are targeting with certain content.
By implementing hreflang tags, you can reach an international audience with content or offers. Need help deciding if Hreflang could work for you? It may be time to get help with your digital marketing strategy.
Hreflang isn't easy to implement, but it can expand your reach and boost your organic SEO way beyond what your website is doing today.
Remember to create a plan to avoid common pitfalls and to check your tags after implementation and every few months.
Which language or region would you target first with hreflang attributes?