SKILL.md
Hreflang & International SEO
Validate existing hreflang implementations or generate correct hreflang tags
for multi-language and multi-region sites. Supports HTML, HTTP header, and
XML sitemap implementations.
Validation Checks
1. Self-Referencing Tags
- Every page must include an hreflang tag pointing to itself
- The self-referencing URL must exactly match the page's canonical URL
- Missing self-referencing tags cause Google to ignore the entire hreflang set
2. Return Tags
- If page A links to page B with hreflang, page B must link back to page A
- Every hreflang relationship must be bidirectional (A→B and B→A)
- Missing return tags invalidate the hreflang signal for both pages
- Check all language versions reference each other (full mesh)
3. x-default Tag
- Required: designates the fallback page for unmatched languages/regions
- Typically points to the language selector page or English version
- Only one x-default per set of alternates
- Must also have return tags from all other language versions
4. Language Code Validation
- Must use ISO 639-1 two-letter codes (e.g.,
en,fr,de,ja)
- Common errors:
enginstead ofen(ISO 639-2, not valid for hreflang)
jpinstead ofja(incorrect code for Japanese)
zhwithout region qualifier (ambiguous; usezh-Hansorzh-Hant)
5. Region Code Validation
- Optional region qualifier uses ISO 3166-1 Alpha-2 (e.g.,
en-US,en-GB,pt-BR)
- Format:
language-REGION(lowercase language, uppercase region)
- Common errors:
en-ukinstead ofen-GB(UK is not a valid ISO 3166-1 code)
es-LA(Latin America is not a country; use specific countries)
- Region without language prefix
6. Canonical URL Alignment
- Hreflang tags must only appear on canonical URLs
- If a page has
rel=canonicalpointing elsewhere, hreflang on that page is ignored
- The canonical URL and hreflang URL must match exactly (including trailing slashes)
- Non-canonical pages should not be in any hreflang set
7. Protocol Consistency
- All URLs in an hreflang set must use the same protocol (HTTPS or HTTP)
- Mixed HTTP/HTTPS in hreflang sets causes validation failures
- After HTTPS migration, update all hreflang tags to HTTPS
8. Cross-Domain Support
- Hreflang works across different domains (e.g., example.com and example.de)
- Cross-domain hreflang requires return tags on both domains
- Verify both domains are verified in Google Search Console
- Sitemap-based implementation recommended for cross-domain setups
Common Mistakes
Issue
Severity
Fix
Missing self-referencing tag
Critical
Add hreflang pointing to same page URL
Missing return tags (A→B but no B→A)
Critical
Add matching return tags on all alternates
Missing x-default
High
Add x-default pointing to fallback/selector page
Invalid language code (e.g., eng)
High
Use ISO 639-1 two-letter codes
Invalid region code (e.g., en-uk)
High
Use ISO 3166-1 Alpha-2 codes
Hreflang on non-canonical URL
High
Move hreflang to canonical URL only
HTTP/HTTPS mismatch in URLs
Medium
Standardize all URLs to HTTPS
Trailing slash inconsistency
Medium
Match canonical URL format exactly
Hreflang in both HTML and sitemap
Low
Choose one method (sitemap preferred for large sites)
Language without region when needed
Low
Add region qualifier for geo-targeted content
Implementation Methods
Method 1: HTML Link Tags
Best for: Sites with <50 language/region variants per page.
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-US" href="https://example.com/page" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-GB" href="https://example.co.uk/page" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="fr" href="https://example.com/fr/page" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://example.com/page" />Place in <head> section. Every page must include all alternates including itself.
Method 2: HTTP Headers
Best for: Non-HTML files (PDFs, documents).
Link: <https://example.com/page>; rel="alternate"; hreflang="en-US",
<https://example.com/fr/page>; rel="alternate"; hreflang="fr",
<https://example.com/page>; rel="alternate"; hreflang="x-default"Set via server configuration or CDN rules.
Method 3: XML Sitemap (Recommended for large sites)
Best for: Sites with many language variants, cross-domain setups, or 50+ pages.
See Hreflang Sitemap Generation section below.
Method Comparison
Method
Best For
Pros
Cons
HTML link tags
Small sites (<50 variants)
Easy to implement, visible in source
Bloats <head>, hard to maintain at scale
HTTP headers
Non-HTML files
Works for PDFs, images
Complex server config, not visible in HTML
XML sitemap
Large sites, cross-domain
Scalable, centralized management
Not visible on page, requires sitemap maintenance
Hreflang Generation
Process
- Detect languages: Scan site for language indicators (URL path, subdomain, TLD, HTML lang attribute)
- Map page equivalents: Match corresponding pages across languages/regions
- Validate language codes: Verify all codes against ISO 639-1 and ISO 3166-1
- Generate tags: Create hreflang tags for each page including self-referencing
- Verify return tags: Confirm all relationships are bidirectional
- Add x-default: Set fallback for each page set
- Output: Generate implementation code (HTML, HTTP headers, or sitemap XML)
Hreflang Sitemap Generation
Sitemap with Hreflang
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"
xmlns:xhtml="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<url>
<loc>https://example.com/page</loc>
<xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-US" href="https://example.com/page" />
<xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="fr" href="https://example.com/fr/page" />
<xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="de" href="https://example.de/page" />
<xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://example.com/page" />
</url>
<url>
<loc>https://example.com/fr/page</loc>
<xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-US" href="https://example.com/page" />
<xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="fr" href="https://example.com/fr/page" />
<xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="de" href="https://example.de/page" />
<xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://example.com/page" />
</url>
</urlset>Key rules:
- Include the
xmlns:xhtmlnamespace declaration
- Every
<url>entry must include ALL language alternates (including itself)
- Each alternate must appear as a separate
<url>entry with its own full set
- Split at 50,000 URLs per sitemap file
Output
Hreflang Validation Report
#### Summary
- Total pages scanned: XX
- Language variants detected: XX
- Issues found: XX (Critical: X, High: X, Medium: X, Low: X)
#### Validation Results
Language
URL
Self-Ref
Return Tags
x-default
Status
en-US
https://...
✅
✅
✅
✅
fr
https://...
❌
⚠️
✅
❌
de
https://...
✅
❌
✅
❌
Generated Hreflang Tags
- HTML
<link>tags (if HTML method chosen)
- HTTP header values (if header method chosen)
hreflang-sitemap.xml(if sitemap method chosen)
Recommendations
- Missing implementations to add
- Incorrect codes to fix
- Method migration suggestions (e.g., HTML to sitemap for scale)
Cultural Adaptation Assessment
When analyzing a multi-language site, go beyond technical hreflang validation to assess
whether the content is culturally adapted for each target market.
Load references/cultural-profiles.md for pre-built profiles (DACH, Francophone, Hispanic, Japanese).
Assessment steps:
- Identify all language versions and their target markets
- Load the relevant cultural profile(s)
- Check CTAs match cultural expectations (direct vs indirect)
- Check trust signals are locale-appropriate (certifications, legal pages)
- Check for foreign brand references on localized pages
- Check number/date/currency formatting consistency
- Flag cultural adaptation issues as Medium severity
Output: Cultural Adaptation Score per language version (0-100) with specific findings.
Content Parity Audit
Command: /seo hreflang audit <directory-or-url>
Audit content parity across all language versions of a site or local content directory.
Load references/content-parity.md for the full parity matrix and scoring methodology.
What it checks:
- Page existence across all declared languages
- Section structure equivalence (H2/H3 count)
- SEO element parity (title, meta, schema localization)
- Word count ratio validation (DE should be 25-35% longer than EN, JA 10-25% shorter)
- Freshness tracking (stale translations detected via timestamps)
- Cultural marker scanning (foreign brands, wrong legal references, untranslated elements)
Output: Parity matrix table with per-page scores and prioritized action items.
Locale Format Validation
Load references/locale-formats.md for number, date, currency, address, and phone format
reference tables per locale.
Checks:
- Number format consistency (e.g., "1,000.00" should be "1.000,00" on de-DE pages)
- Date format matches locale expectations
- Currency symbols and placement correct for target market
- Phone numbers use international format with correct country code
Reference Files
Load on-demand as needed (do NOT load all at startup):
references/cultural-profiles.md: DACH, Francophone, Hispanic, Japanese cultural adaptation profiles
references/locale-formats.md: Number, date, currency, address, phone format tables per locale
references/content-parity.md: Content parity audit methodology and scoring
Error Handling
Scenario
Action
URL unreachable (DNS failure, connection refused)
Report the error clearly. Do not guess site structure. Suggest the user verify the URL and try again.
No hreflang tags found
Report the absence. Check for other internationalization signals (subdirectories, subdomains, ccTLDs) and recommend the appropriate hreflang implementation method.
Invalid language/region codes detected
List each invalid code with the correct replacement. Provide a corrected hreflang tag set ready to implement.
Cultural profile not available for language
Use the Default Profile checklist from cultural-profiles.md. Note that assessment is based on general guidelines, not a pre-built profile.
Content parity directory empty
Report that no content files were found. Suggest verifying the directory path or providing a URL for live site analysis.