Hreflang & Canonical Checker

How it works

What we check

• Canonical tag presence — Confirms the page has a rel="canonical" link in its head. The canonical tells search engines which URL is the master version when the same or similar content is reachable at multiple addresses — without one, you risk duplicate-content dilution.
• Self-referencing canonical — Checks whether the canonical points back to the page's own URL. A self-referencing canonical is the correct default for a unique page; it confirms 'this is the original' and absorbs URL variations like tracking parameters into one indexed address.
• Canonical pointing elsewhere — Flags when the canonical points to a different URL. That's intentional and correct on a duplicate (telling Google to credit the original instead), but a mistake when it accidentally de-indexes a page that should rank on its own — so we surface the target for you to confirm.
• Hreflang annotations — Lists every rel="alternate" hreflang tag on the page. Each one maps a language (and optional region) to the URL serving that version, so Google can show a French visitor the French page and a UK visitor the UK page of the same content.
• Language & region code validity — Hreflang values use an ISO 639-1 language code (en, es, de), optionally followed by an ISO 3166-1 Alpha-2 region code (en-us, es-mx, pt-br). The format is language first, then region — a common mistake is putting a country code alone (like 'uk' or 'en-uk' instead of 'en-gb').
• x-default fallback — Checks for an hreflang="x-default" entry, which tells search engines which page to serve when none of your language/region versions matches the visitor — a language selector or your primary-market page. It's recommended whenever you run multiple hreflang versions.

Common issues we catch

• Missing canonical tag — A page with no canonical leaves Google to guess the master version when the same content is reachable via tracking parameters, trailing slashes, or http/https variants. Add a self-referencing canonical to every indexable page so signals consolidate on one address.
• Canonical accidentally pointing to the wrong page — A template that hardcodes the canonical to the homepage — or copies it from another page — quietly tells Google to ignore the current page and index something else instead. The page stops ranking on its own and no one notices because it 'works' in a browser.
• Wrong order in hreflang codes — Hreflang is language-then-region: en-us, not us-en. Reversing them, or using a region where a language belongs, makes Google ignore the annotation. The language part is required; the region part is optional but must follow, not lead.
• Invalid region codes — Common errors include 'en-uk' (the UK's ISO country code is GB, so it must be 'en-gb'), or using a made-up code like 'en-eu' (there's no EU country code). Region values must be valid ISO 3166-1 Alpha-2 country codes, not informal abbreviations.
• Non-reciprocal hreflang tags — Hreflang must be bidirectional: if the English page lists the Spanish page, the Spanish page must list the English page back. If page B doesn't return the reference, Google may ignore the entire cluster. One-way annotations are a frequent, hard-to-spot failure.
• Missing x-default — Without an x-default, a visitor whose language and region don't match any of your versions gets whatever Google guesses. Adding x-default pointing to a language selector or your main market gives that fallback an explicit, intended target.
• Hreflang and canonical contradicting each other — Each language version must self-canonicalize. If the German page canonicalizes to the English page while also being listed as the German hreflang alternate, the two tags conflict — and Google typically trusts the canonical, dropping the German page from its index.

Where this matters

• Google Search — Honors the canonical as a strong (not absolute) hint for choosing the indexed URL, and uses reciprocal, valid hreflang to serve the right language/region version. Google ignores hreflang clusters that aren't bidirectional or that fight the canonical.
• Bing & Yandex — Both respect canonical tags. Bing has stated it largely ignores hreflang and relies on other localization signals, while Yandex uses its own region-targeting — so canonical is the universally honored tag and hreflang is primarily a Google play.
• WordPress & multilingual plugins — SEO plugins add a self-referencing canonical automatically, and multilingual plugins generate hreflang clusters across translated pages. Misconfiguration usually comes from mixing two plugins or manual overrides — exactly the conflicts this checker surfaces.
• Shopify & hosted platforms — Markets and locale features can emit hreflang and canonical tags for you, but template edits and duplicate apps can produce wrong codes or pages that canonicalize away their own ranking. Verify what's actually in the rendered head, not just the settings panel.
• Single-language sites — Most sites need only a self-referencing canonical and no hreflang at all — hreflang is solely for serving the same content in multiple languages or regions. Adding hreflang to a single-language site adds risk with no benefit; this tool confirms the canonical is enough.