Hreflang: Missing Self Reference

URLs missing their own self referencing rel=”alternate” hreflang annotation.

It was previously a requirement to have a self-referencing hreflang, but Google has updated their guidelines to say this is optional.

It is however good practice and often easier to include a self referencing attribute.

How to Analyse in the SEO Spider

View URLs with this issue in the ‘Hreflang’ tab and ‘Missing Self Reference’ filter, and export all URLs using the ‘Export’ button.

Read our tutorial on ‘How To Audit Hreflang’.

What Triggers This Issue

This issue is triggered when URLs lack their own self-referencing rel=”alternate” hreflang annotation.

For example:

https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/technical-seo/

Should have the hreflang annotation:

<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-gb" href="https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/technical-seo/" />

As well as annotations for other regional variants.

How To Fix

Consider adding a self referencing rel=”alternate” hreflang annotation as Google still describe this as best practice in their documentation.