Hreflang Tag Checker

This tool fetches a page once, reads every hreflang tag on it, and checks the rules search engines actually rely on: that the page lists itself among its own alternates, that every language code is a real one, that no code is duplicated across different addresses, and that an x-default is present. It then fetches a limited number of the listed alternate addresses to confirm each one links back to the original page, since hreflang that is not reciprocal in both directions can be ignored by search engines entirely. To keep this fast and avoid placing load on the site being checked, reciprocity is confirmed for a capped number of alternates per scan, any beyond that are listed but not individually checked.

One thing this tool does not check, and it is worth knowing separately: hreflang can conflict with a page's own canonical tag. If a page's canonical points somewhere other than itself while its hreflang set treats it as the correct version for a language or region, search engines get a mixed signal about which URL should actually be indexed. The safest pattern is for every page in a hreflang set to be self-canonical, pointing its canonical tag at itself, not at one "main" language version. This tool reads hreflang tags only, so checking a page's canonical tag against its hreflang set is a separate, manual step worth doing alongside this scan, not something replaced by it.