Soap
Localization

Missing hreflang x-default

hreflang tells search engines which language or regional version to show. The x-default entry names the fallback for everyone who matches none of them.

What it is

This check flags pages that declare hreflang alternates but omit an x-default entry.

Why it matters for SEO

Without x-default, users whose language or region is not explicitly targeted may be served the wrong version — or engines may pick arbitrarily — hurting relevance and conversions for international visitors.

Example

<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en" href="https://example.com/en/">
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="fr" href="https://example.com/fr/">
<!-- missing x-default -->

How to fix

  1. Add an x-default alternate pointing to your generic or language-selector page: <link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://example.com/">.
  2. Include it in every page of the hreflang set, alongside the language entries.
  3. Keep all alternates reciprocal and self-referencing.
  4. Re-crawl to confirm the set is complete.

Related checks

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