BYTETOOLS

Hreflang Validator

Paste hreflang link tags to validate ISO language and region codes, find duplicates, missing x-default and broken return links across pages. Runs locally.

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Hreflang tags
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Pages
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Errors
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Warnings

Single-page mode — return-link reciprocity needs at least two pages. Paste each page URL on its own line followed by that page's tags to enable it.

No hreflang issues found.

What is the Hreflang Validator?

The Hreflang Validator checks a pasted set of hreflang annotations for the errors that silently break international SEO: invalid ISO 639-1 language or ISO 3166-1 region codes (en-UK instead of en-GB is the classic), relative URLs, duplicate language entries, and a missing x-default fallback.

  • Validates ISO 639-1 language and ISO 3166-1 region codes
  • Return-link reciprocity check across multiple pasted pages
  • Flags missing x-default, duplicate hreflang values and relative URLs
  • Self-reference check against the page's own URL
  • Catches en-UK, en-EU and other classic invalid codes with fix hints
  • 100% client-side — paste markup, nothing is fetched or uploaded

How to use the Hreflang Validator

  1. 1

    Copy the hreflang <link> tags from your page's <head> and paste them in.

  2. 2

    Optionally enter the page's own URL to enable the self-reference check.

  3. 3

    To audit return links, paste each page URL on its own line followed by that page's tags.

  4. 4

    Review errors and warnings, fix your markup, and re-paste to confirm.

About the Hreflang Validator

The Hreflang Validator checks a pasted set of hreflang annotations for the errors that silently break international SEO: invalid ISO 639-1 language or ISO 3166-1 region codes (en-UK instead of en-GB is the classic), relative URLs, duplicate language entries, and a missing x-default fallback.

It can also check return-link reciprocity. Paste each page's URL on its own line followed by that page's link tags, and the validator confirms every alternate points back — Google ignores hreflang clusters whose return links do not reciprocate, so this is the check that matters most.

Paste tags from your page source or CMS templates — this tool analyzes pasted markup only and never crawls URLs. Everything runs 100% locally in your browser and nothing you paste is uploaded.

Frequently asked questions

What are hreflang return links and why do they matter?

If page A lists page B as an alternate, page B must list page A back — that mutual reference is the return link. Google treats missing return links as a broken cluster and may ignore the annotations entirely, which is why 'no return tags' is the most common hreflang error in Search Console.

Is en-UK a valid hreflang code?

No. The United Kingdom's ISO 3166-1 code is GB, so the correct value is en-GB. hreflang uses ISO 639-1 for language and ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 for region — en-UK and en-EU look plausible but are invalid, and this validator flags both with the correct replacement.

Do I need an x-default hreflang tag?

It is optional but strongly recommended. x-default tells search engines which URL to show users who match none of your language versions — typically your language selector or your primary market's page. Google specifically recommends including it, so the validator warns when it is missing.

Should each page include an hreflang tag pointing to itself?

Yes. Google's guidelines say every page in the cluster should carry a full set of annotations including one pointing to itself. Enter the page's URL in the optional field and the validator confirms a self-referencing entry exists.

Can hreflang values use scripts like zh-Hans?

Yes — an optional ISO 15924 script subtag can sit between language and region, as in zh-Hans or zh-Hant-TW. The validator accepts a four-letter script subtag and still validates the language and region parts around it.

Why can't this tool crawl my site to check hreflang?

It runs entirely in your browser, and browsers cannot fetch other domains' pages. Pasting the head block from each page works around that and is fast in practice: view-source, copy the link tags, paste. For return-link checks, paste each page's URL line followed by its tags.

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