Hreflang Points to Non-Canonical URL

What This Means

An hreflang tag points to a URL whose canonical tag references a different (preferred) URL. The hreflang is not using the canonically preferred version of the target language page.

Why It Matters for SEO

This is a notice rather than a warning because search engines can sometimes resolve the canonical chain. However, using the canonical URL directly in hreflang is the correct implementation — it reduces ambiguity and ensures hreflang and canonical signals reinforce each other rather than creating a chain that must be resolved.

What the Platform Checks

Checks whether each hreflang target URL is itself self-canonical (i.e., the target page's canonical tag matches the hreflang href). Fires when the target canonicalizes to a different URL (the target is not self-canonical relative to the hreflang href).

How to Fix It

• Update hreflang hrefs to point to the canonical version of each language page.
• Follow the canonical chain from each hreflang target to its final canonical URL and use that URL in the hreflang tag.