International SEO and Hreflang Checklist

For sites serving more than one language or country. Use it before launching a new locale, or when the wrong version shows up in search results for a market. Hreflang is easy to get subtly wrong, so work through it in order.

12 checks ~90 min advanced 4 critical
0% 0 of 12 done
  1. critical
    Why and how
    Why it matters
    Mixing structures makes tracking, link equity and maintenance harder, and changing later means a migration.
    How to check or fix it
    Document the choice per market in one place. Subfolders such as /fr/ are usually the simplest to maintain on a single domain.
  2. critical
    Why and how
    Why it matters
    Versions served from the same URL through cookies or scripts cannot be indexed separately.
    How to check or fix it
    Open each version in a private window with cookies cleared and confirm the URL alone loads the right language. Check with Screaming Frog crawling without cookies.
  3. critical
    Why and how
    Why it matters
    Google ignores hreflang pairs that are not confirmed by a return link from the other page.
    How to check or fix it
    In Screaming Frog, open the Hreflang tab and review the Missing Confirmation Links filter. Fix every page flagged as not returning a link.
  4. critical
    Why and how
    Why it matters
    Invalid values such as en-UK (should be en-GB) or eng are ignored.
    How to check or fix it
    Filter the Screaming Frog Hreflang tab for Incorrect Language and Region Codes. Language comes first, region second, for example pt-BR.
  5. important
    Why and how
    Why it matters
    Each page should list itself in the set so the full group of alternates is complete.
    How to check or fix it
    Check the page source or the Screaming Frog Hreflang tab for the Missing Self Reference filter.
  6. important
    Why and how
    Why it matters
    Without it, users whose language you do not target have no designated landing page.
    How to check or fix it
    Add hreflang="x-default" to every page set, pointing to the language selector or your default version.
  7. important
    Why and how
    Why it matters
    A canonical pointing at the English page tells Google to drop the translated page from the index.
    How to check or fix it
    Crawl the site and compare canonical URL to page URL for each locale. Use the Canonicals tab in Screaming Frog.
  8. important
    Why and how
    Why it matters
    Conflicting annotations across methods are hard to debug and can contradict each other.
    How to check or fix it
    For large sites, sitemap annotations keep page weight down. Use HTTP headers for non-HTML files such as PDFs.
  9. important
    Why and how
    Why it matters
    Untranslated or poorly machine-translated pages rarely satisfy local searchers and may be treated as low quality.
    How to check or fix it
    Have a native speaker review key pages. Confirm the html lang attribute matches the page language.
  10. important
    Why and how
    Why it matters
    Googlebot mostly crawls from US IP addresses, so forced redirects can hide other versions from it.
    How to check or fix it
    Show a dismissible banner suggesting the right version instead of redirecting. Test by fetching with a different Accept-Language header.
  11. nice
    Why and how
    Why it matters
    Literal translations often miss the phrases local searchers actually use.
    How to check or fix it
    Run keyword research in Ahrefs or Semrush with the target country database selected and compare against translated terms.
  12. nice
    Why and how
    Why it matters
    Mismatched prices or formats reduce trust and conversions even when rankings are fine.
    How to check or fix it
    Review each locale's templates for hardcoded currency symbols and phone formats. Add local structured data where relevant.

Common questions

Is hreflang a ranking factor?

No. Hreflang helps Google pick which language or regional version to show for a query, but it does not boost rankings by itself. It is a signal for serving the right URL, not for ranking higher.

Do I need hreflang if my site is only in English for several countries?

Only if the English versions differ meaningfully, such as different currency, pricing or spelling for the US and UK. If the pages are identical, hreflang adds maintenance with little benefit.

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