In the first episode of the International Web Effectiveness Podcast, we go in-depth on international SEO and tackle the notorious headache inducing topic of hreflang tags. Bill Scully and Bill Hunt share their experiences and reveal why these seemingly simple HTML attributes have become a source of endless frustration.
Key Takeaways
- HREFLang is a powerful tool for international SEO, but it can be challenging to implement correctly.
- Common frustrations include website infrastructure chaos, rigidity of the syntax, and invalid language/country tags.
- Breaking down the implementation into phases and focusing on prioritization can help overcome these challenges.
- Understanding the purpose and correct usage of X-default can improve international website effectiveness.
Challenges of HREFLang implementation:
- Website infrastructure chaos
- Rigidity of the syntax
- Invalid language/country tags
- Misunderstanding of X-default
Strategies for overcoming challenges:
- Break down implementation into phases
- Focus on prioritization
- Use XML sitemaps for faster verification
- Leverage Google Search Console data
Importance of understanding the purpose of HREFLang and X-default:
- HREFLang helps Google understand your website’s target markets and languages.
- X-default helps Google serve the most relevant version of your website to users based on their location and language preferences.
Benefits of correct HREFLang implementation:
- Improved international SEO performance
- Enhanced user experience
- Increased website traffic and conversions
Catch the Full Episode
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neGPZafHcxY&list=PLRDwX6rjd63J_tzG8F0NpKT23naJE1_Fq
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4KPdYGECf6z5SJE01Rid2V?si=iKVWiozdSYyDYO-uuUWl1w
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-1-hreflang-frustration/id1755789311?i=1000661261624
Transcript
Bill Scully: Welcome to the first episode of the International Web Effectiveness Podcast. The goal of this podcast is to have serious discussions on understanding why you need to do something rather than just doing it. Bill Hunt and I will delve into the concepts of international web effectiveness. It’s not just about having a localized website; it’s about ensuring that it serves all stakeholders—customers, business units, partners—on a global scale.
In this first episode, we’re diving deep into the world of International SEO and exploring the notorious, headache-inducing topic of Hreflang. So, Bill, how are you doing?
Bill Hunt: I’m good! Looking forward to this and cracking the code on international SEO.
Bill Scully: Good, good—me too. You’ve been writing a lot lately about the challenges and frustrations of Hreflang tags. In one of your articles, you listed several challenges. Why don’t you tell us why you wrote it and what’s in it?
Bill Hunt: Yeah, I wrote that because Gary Illyes from Google had mentioned at a conference that people were still complaining about Hreflang. He suggested that we might need to find another solution, and my first thought was, why not just fix what we have? So, I wrote two back-to-back articles. The first one listed six reasons why Hreflang is frustrating, and I’ve since added a seventh.
The challenges I identified include misunderstandings about what Hreflang does, how it works, and its purpose. Then there’s web infrastructure chaos, organizational issues, the rigidity of the syntax itself, CMS challenges, and lack of data. The last challenge—hopefully, we’ll have time to discuss it—is perfection paralysis, where people refuse to deploy Hreflang unless it’s absolutely perfect. Each of these points explains why SEOs struggle with Hreflang and why some want to eliminate it. Interestingly, besides some AI functionality, Hreflang is one of the few things Google has released that SEOs actively want to get rid of. The reason? It’s hard to implement correctly, hard to audit, and hard to fix. That’s why we started looking for better ways to help people beyond just providing basic information about domains and localization.
Bill Scully: Yeah, over the years, we’ve commiserated about all the implementation attempts—some successful, some not. One thing you touched on is that you don’t have to get it perfect right away. It doesn’t hurt to start small. What do you think about that?
Bill Hunt: Oh, totally! That’s exactly it—start small. We’ve talked to so many people about phasing this in. The first question is always: Where does it hurt the most? If you fall off a mountain bike, do you worry about your head, your back, or your arm first? You deal with the most painful issue first. I always tell people to start where a manager is complaining—maybe someone in the UK is saying that the US is stealing their traffic, or you’re seeing cannibalization. Fix that first as a proof of concept.
Hreflang is flexible. You can implement it in different ways, relatively quickly. Despite its complexity, you can put something in place and test it. For example, if the US site is cannibalizing UK traffic, and fixing it stops the complaints from the UK team, that’s a win. Then, you can apply the same fix to four or five more markets.
Bill Scully: I just realized—I’ve probably known you for more than fifteen years. I remember reaching out back when I wasn’t an expert in Hreflang. I had a client where the US site was dominating every English-speaking market. We tried adding Hreflang tags to the homepage, and within three days, the problem was fixed.
Bill Hunt: Exactly. Homepage tags are easy to implement if your CMS allows it. In WordPress, for example, you can just paste them in. If you can’t put tags on your pages, then use XML sitemaps. You don’t need a fancy tool—you can build one in Notepad. Take four or five key pages that are being cannibalized, put them in an XML sitemap, upload it, and go from there.
Bill Scully: That’s a great point. At the time, I hadn’t thought of using a simple sitemap. So, for everyone listening, you can create an XML sitemap specifically for Hreflang alongside your standard sitemap.
Bill Hunt: Absolutely. You can even reference it in your robots.txt file or submit it directly to Google. Bing doesn’t process Hreflang, so you only need to submit it to Google. What’s great about Hreflang XML sitemaps is that they serve double duty—they can function as a standard XML sitemap while also handling Hreflang annotations.
Bill Scully: I think a lot of people don’t realize that Hreflang has to be bidirectional. If Google isn’t indexing all your pages, you could run into issues. Can you explain that?
Bill Hunt: Yeah, this is a big misconception. Some people think it’s enough to just implement Hreflang tags on their US site, but that’s not how it works. This is why I love XML sitemaps—bidirectional relationships are automatically established in a single file. Google needs to see that if Page A links to Page B, then Page B must also link back to Page A. Many assume this isn’t necessary, especially if they’re using subfolders instead of separate domains. But with distinct top-level domains, Google doesn’t inherently know they’re both yours—it requires verification. Without that, Google won’t accept the Hreflang pairing.
For me, the beauty of XML sitemaps is that they allow Google to see the bidirectional relationships at scale. For a homepage, Google might process the change in three to four days, but internal product pages could take longer. Google needs time to validate everything. XML makes that process faster.
Bill Scully: So, when you see pages marked as Crawled but Not Indexed, it could be breaking the Hreflang reciprocation?
Bill Hunt: Exactly. Google hasn’t processed it yet. If Hreflang isn’t working, check whether Google has visited those pages. Use the “last fetched” parameter from Screaming Frog with the Search Console API. If you implemented in-page Hreflang last Monday and Google hasn’t visited 90% of those pages in the past month, it doesn’t know the reciprocation exists. You may need to submit key pages to speed up Google’s fetch and render. Clean up Search Console to make your site more crawl-friendly, especially when using in-page tags.
Bill Scully: That makes sense. A lot of people assume that just implementing Hreflang means Google will immediately recognize it, but if it hasn’t crawled the page, it’s basically invisible.
Bill Hunt: Exactly. Hreflang can solve problems if Google crawls the sitemap. Google doesn’t see duplicate pages—it sees them as connected. You declare that the U.S. version corresponds to these pages, and in the reciprocal block, the U.K. pages link back to the U.S. pages. This setup can be within a single sitemap or separate ones. When you submit the sitemap, Search Console will show how many URLs it found, verifying that Google has seen them.
Bill Scully: So, if someone wanted to test which approach works better, how would they do it?
Bill Hunt: A good test is to take ten pages and implement in-page Hreflang tags. Then take another ten pages and put them in an XML sitemap. Check which set Google visits more frequently. In all cases, the XML sitemap performs better. John Mueller recommends using XML when launching a new site, refreshing content, or entering a new market—it helps Google understand the context of Hreflang across all pages.
If you see pages being crawled but not indexed, it breaks the reciprocation. That means Google hasn’t fully processed the setup. Again, check if Google has visited those pages. If not, you may need to resubmit key pages to encourage indexing. Keeping Search Console clean and ensuring proper implementation of in-page tags can make a big difference.
Bill Scully: So, XML sitemaps are the way to go if you want to make sure Google picks up the right signals?
Bill Hunt: Exactly. Hreflang works best when Google crawls the sitemap and understands the relationships between pages. When configured correctly, the U.S. version points to its equivalents, and the U.K. version reciprocates. Whether in a single sitemap or separate files, submitting to Search Console allows you to verify how many URLs Google has detected. Testing repeatedly shows that XML sitemaps result in faster recognition and indexing. That’s why John Mueller consistently recommends them for launching new sites, refreshing content, or entering new markets.
Before we wrap up, let’s quickly define Hreflang again. Google crawls the sitemap, identifies connected pages, and ensures the right version appears in search results. Properly configured, U.S. pages will point to their international counterparts, and vice versa. Again, XML sitemaps help streamline this process.
Bill Scully: We’re just about out of time, but before we go, let’s talk about what’s next.
Bill Hunt: We have a few ideas for our next episode, but we’d love to hear from you. What topics would you like us to cover? We’re considering global link building, managing content translation, and improving international mobile-friendliness. Let us know your thoughts on LinkedIn or Twitter.
Bill Scully: Thanks for joining us—we’ll see you next time!