Hreflang tags tell search engines which language or regional version of a page to serve a given visitor. On a multilingual or multi-regional WordPress site, getting this right avoids duplicate-content confusion and serves the correct version to the correct audience. A plugin handles this without touching code directly.
Using a Plugin to Add Hreflang Tags
Step 1: Choose and Install a Plugin
1. Yoast SEO: Hreflang support is part of the premium version.
Configuring it:
- Once Yoast SEO Premium is active, go to SEO > Search Appearance.
- Check the Content Types or Taxonomies tab, depending on where hreflang is needed.
- Yoast generates hreflang tags automatically based on your existing language/region content.
2. WPML: Built specifically for multilingual sites, with hreflang support included.
Configuring it:
- After activation, go to WPML > Languages.
- Confirm your site’s languages are configured correctly.
- WPML generates hreflang tags automatically from your language setup and translated content.
Step 2: Verify the Tags Are Actually There
- Check Page Source: View a page’s source in your browser and look for hreflang tags in the
<head>section. - Use SEO Tools: Screaming Frog SEO Spider or Google Search Console will confirm whether hreflang tags are being recognized and indexed correctly, not just present in the source.
Step 3: Monitor and Update
Recheck periodically, especially after adding a new language or regional version, hreflang configuration doesn’t always update itself when the underlying content structure changes.
A plugin handles the mechanics here reliably; the part that actually needs ongoing attention is verifying the tags are correct after every content or language change, not just trusting they were set up right once.