Hreflang x-default Explained: What It Is and When to Use It

The x-default value in hreflang marks the page to show when none of your language or region versions match the visitor. It is a fallback, often a global homepage or a language selector. It is not required, but it is useful for sites with many versions and visitors from places you have not targeted.

What it looks like

<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-gb" href="https://example.com/uk/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="fr-fr" href="https://example.com/fr/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://example.com/" />

When to use it

• You have a language or country selector page.
• You have a general international page for everyone else.
• Visitors arrive from regions you do not specifically serve.

What to point it at

Choose a page that works for any visitor: a global version, or a page that lets people choose a version. It should be indexable, return a 200 status and belong in the same set of annotations as the other versions.

Common mistakes

• Pointing x-default at a page not listed in the other tags.
• Using it on only some of the pages in a set.
• Redirecting visitors automatically by location, which can block search engines.

Build and check your tags

Create a full set with my free hreflang tag generator and checker. For the basics, read what hreflang is, and for multi-country planning see multi-country website SEO.

Keep the set consistent

Every version must reference the others and itself, as described in hreflang return tag errors.

Frequently asked questions

Next steps

If you are setting up an international site, contact me here.