Hreflang Not Using Canonical URL

What This Means

An hreflang tag references a URL that does not match the canonical URL declared by the target page. The hreflang is pointing to a non-canonical variant rather than the page's declared canonical.

Why It Matters for SEO

Hreflang URLs and canonical URLs must be consistent — both should reference the same preferred URL. If hreflang points to a URL that canonicalizes to a different URL, the signals conflict. Google's guidance is explicit: hreflang should use the same URLs as the canonical tags.

What the Platform Checks

The platform follows each hreflang href to the target URL and checks that the target page's canonical tag points to itself (i.e., the URL referenced by hreflang is itself canonical). Fires when the hreflang URL and the target's canonical URL differ.

How to Fix It

• Update hreflang tags to reference the canonical URL of each language variant.
• Fetch the target page, check its <link rel="canonical">, and update the hreflang href to match.
• Ensure your hreflang generation uses the same URL logic as your canonical tag generation.