What Is Hreflang Effective for Multilingual SEO? Setting Methods and Empirical Results Explained
更新日： by Heysho
When I launched my English blog and showed it to an SEO expert friend, they immediately pointed out: "You haven't set up hreflang tags!" So I implemented them right away.
This article documents my experience and research on the topic. Here's what we'll cover:
- What is hreflang?
- Problems that occur without hreflang tags
- How to implement hreflang tags
- WordPress implementation methods
- Results after implementing hreflang (my experience)
Hreflang is a somewhat specialized SEO topic that's particularly valuable for multilingual websites, making it especially useful for SEO professionals working with international companies.
Even if that's not your situation, this information may still serve as a helpful reference.
What Is Hreflang?
Hreflang is a tag that helps search engines understand language variations of the same content. It tells Google "this page is in Japanese" or "this page is in English" when you have the same content available in multiple languages.
Reference What are hreflang tags? | satoyan419.com
Reference Do "hreflang" tags have SEO benefits? | SEO Pack
Problems That Occur Without Hreflang Tags
My blog has both Japanese and English versions, so I decided to test this on my own site.
Since my brand name is "HEYSHO," I want the Japanese site to appear first in search results in Japan, and the English site to appear first when searched from other countries.
When I investigated the current situation, I discovered some issues.
Search Results When Googling "HEYSHO" in the United States
[Image: Search results when Googling "HEYSHO" in the United States]
Reference Search results for "heysho" on Google.com in the United States
The Japanese version ranked 7th, while the English version ranked 8th.
This indicates that the search ranking power for the keyword "heysho" is being split between versions. I believe implementing hreflang tags will help the English site rank higher in English-speaking regions.
You can check Google search results from different countries using the Search Latte website.
How to Implement Hreflang Tags
I'll explain using my own articles as examples.
Here are the two pages I needed to connect:
- Japanese page: How I created a blog with 100,000 monthly pageviews in 4 months [Methods to increase traffic quickly]
- English page: How I made a blog with 100,000 monthly pageviews in 4 months
By implementing hreflang tags for these pages, I'm telling Google that these pages contain the same content in different languages.
To implement this, add the following tags within the <head> section:
<link rel="alternate" href="https://heysho.com/en/how-to-grow-blog-quick/" hreflang="en" />
<link rel="alternate" href="https://heysho.com/how-to-grow-blog-quick/" hreflang="jp" />
WordPress Implementation: Using the "Hreflang Tags Lite" Plugin
Since you need to add these tags to all your articles, it's much more efficient to use a plugin rather than adding them manually.
After testing several options, I found "Hreflang Tags Lite" to be the best WordPress plugin for this purpose.
Here's how to set it up:
Step 1: After Installing the Plugin, Check Posts and Pages in the Settings Screen
[Image: Settings screen after installing the Hreflang Tags Lite plugin]
Step 2: In the Edit Screen of Each Article, Look for the "HREFLANG Tags" Field at the Bottom Where You Can Specify "URL in Other Languages" and "Language"
[Image: HREFLANG Tags settings]
Configure this for each article.
However, I encountered an issue with setting hreflang for the homepage...
Step 3: Edit the Child Theme to Set Hreflang on the Homepage
[Image: HREFLANG Tags settings]
After searching without success for a way to set homepage hreflang with the plugin, I moved the header's PHP file to the child theme and added the following code within the <head> section:
<?php if(is_home() && !is_paged()): ?> <link rel="alternate" href="URL of the top page in another language" hreflang="Language code of another language" /> <?php endif; ?>
For example, here's the code I added to my English site:
<?php if(is_home() && !is_paged()): ?> <link rel="alternate" href="https://heysho.com/" hreflang="ja" /> <?php endif; ?>
Results After Implementing Hreflang Tags
Since I've just implemented these changes, I don't have results to share yet.
I'll update this article in about two weeks with my findings.
Success will be measured by improved rankings for my English site in US search results:
Reference Search results for "heysho" on Google.com in the United States
Additional Note: How Does Hreflang Interact with Canonical Tags?
While researching hreflang, I came across an interesting article suggesting a strategy of "connecting the SEO value of pages in different languages using both hreflang and canonical tags."
Reference How to Implement Hreflang & Canonical Tags Correctly | portent (English)
If this approach works, it would give major global brands a significant advantage. However, when I examined several global websites, I didn't find this implementation in practice.
The effectiveness of this approach remains unclear, but I'll investigate further when time permits.
Thanks for reading.