hreflang
The hreflang attribute is a technical identifier in the HTML code that tells search engines which language or country version of a page belongs to which target group.
Each language version of a website receives a reference in its head section to all other versions, including a reference to itself. This reference consists of a language code such as "de" or a combination of language and country, such as "de-at" for Austria. If a version lacks a backlink to another, the tag is considered faulty and is ignored by Google. The Google Search Console displays detected hreflang tags and errors under "International Targeting."
Example: A provider with German, Austrian, and Swiss versions of the same website correctly uses hreflang tags for "de-de", "de-at", and "de-ch" in each version. Users from Austria then automatically see the appropriate version with local prices in Swiss francs instead of the German version, and the bounce rate from Austria drops by 18 percent.
Only use hreflang tags on genuinely multilingual or country-specific websites and regularly check their implementation in Search Console. On WordPress , plugins like WPML automatically handle the technical generation of these tags.
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