Hreflang: The ultimate guide for seo success

If you’re an online marketer, you’ve probably heard of hreflang tags, which are an important part of your SEO Adelaide strategy. But what are they? What are their benefits? How do they work? 

Here’s everything you need to know about hreflang tags, including how to use them correctly and the key points to watch out for when it comes to coding them properly and getting them accepted by search engines.

Do you need hreflang tags?

Hreflang, or language links, is a markup language that indicates to search engines where content is localised. In essence, it lets search engines know when you have identical content on multiple domains and helps them select what they think will be most relevant to users in their region. 

Since not all search engines have implemented hreflang support yet, there has been a lot of debate about whether it should be used at all; but it can be an important element of your seo Adelaide strategy. And if you are planning to use hreflang tags, here’s what you need to know.

What are hreflang tags for?

Hreflang tags (or rel=alternate hreflang=x annotations) are a little-known but useful part of Google’s language targeting. They tell Google whether and how different versions of your page should be shown to users in specific regions and languages. 

Hreflang tags can be used to serve up content in different languages and nationalities, as well as to keep some content out of certain countries. 

This post will break down what you need to know about hreflang tags—what they are, why they exist, when they’re appropriate to use, and how you can use them on your own site. Read on to learn more!

Should you use hreflang?

In short, yes, if you want to get ranked higher in Google. Hreflang is a set of codes used to specify language and region variants of a webpage. You might use it to target multiple regions with specific content or to make sure that your Spanish-speaking users are served your site in Spanish instead of an English version translated by Google (which isn’t as good). 

Having hreflang on your website is like having one link to all languages and regions rather than several links. It’s another signal that tells Google that you’re targeting multiple regions with a localised version of your content.

What’s the SEO benefit of hreflang?

If you’re targeting users in different countries, different languages or both, hreflang markup can be a useful addition to your seo Adelaide strategy. But before we explain what it is and how it works, let’s make sure we understand exactly why you might want to use it. 

One of Google’s major webmaster trends for 2018 was an increase in international site owners optimising their sites for multiple languages and regions. This isn’t something new – many companies have always had localised landing pages and supporting local sales teams. 

However, with more business than ever crossing international borders, it makes sense to optimise your site for international audiences too if you don’t know whether your potential audience speaks English as their first language – or if they speak at all!

Conclusion

Hreflang, short for language link, is a relatively new addition to Google’s search algorithm. It is utilised greatly by the seo Adelaide services providers. It works by assigning language codes to websites, then determining which version of those pages should appear based on geo-targeting parameters and links.