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I recently implemented hreflang tags in my website to tell search engines about content translations in several languages. I was very surprised to find that a self-referencing hreflang is required...
#1: Initial revision
by
Stephen Ostermillerâ€
·
2023-06-17T11:23:32Z (over 1 year ago)
Why is a self-referencing hreflang required?
I recently implemented `hreflang` tags in my website to tell search engines about content translations in several languages. I was very surprised to find that a self-referencing hreflang is required. Pretty much every guide I looked at had that advice. For example, [A Guide to Understanding Self-Referencing Hreflang Tags - SEO Clarity](https://www.seoclarity.net/blog/self-referencing-hreflang) says: > To be even more clear, your site should contain self-referencing hreflang tags for every translated version of that page *and* itself. [Localized Versions of your Pages - Google Search Central](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/specialty/international/localized-versions) says: > Each language version must list itself **as well as** all other language versions. This makes little sense to me. I'm not sure why search engines need to know about the current page in the context of `hreflang`. This doesn't seem to provide any additonal information to them that isn't readily available in the page already. Why do search engines need this self-referencing `hreflang`?