What is a hreflang tag?
The hreflang tag is a piece of code widely used within SEO, or search engine optimization. It helps search engines such as Google understand what language and country a specific page is intended for. This is especially useful for websites that offer content in multiple languages or target different countries. Imagine you have a Web site that is available in both Dutch and English. By adding the hreflang tag, you can specify which version of the page should be shown to visitors in the Netherlands and which version should be shown to people in, say, the United States. This helps prevent visitors from seeing the wrong language version of the site, which could worsen their experience and negatively affect your SEO performance.
The hreflang tag is important because search engines like Google try to show the most relevant results to their users. If your Web site has multiple language versions and you don't use this tag, Google may not know which version of the page should appear in search results. This can lead to user confusion and possibly even lower rankings in search results. With the right hreflang tags, Google can show the right language version to the right people, providing a better user experience and possibly more visitors to your website.
In practice, the hreflang tag is often used by companies and websites that operate internationally and have multiple language versions of their pages. In addition to specifying the language and country versions of a page, you can also use a so-called x-default setting. This setting specifies which version of the page should be shown to users when no specific language or country preference is known. For example, if you have a page that serves as the general homepage for users worldwide, you can tag it as x-default. Setting these tags correctly, including the x-default, helps to accurately tailor website content to the user's language and location, which can ultimately lead to better search engine rankings and higher customer satisfaction.
