hreflangxdefault

hreflangxdefault is a term used to describe the use of the hreflang attribute value x-default in link rel="alternate" annotations across a multilingual site. It designates the default page to show when no language or regional match exists for a user’s query or locale.

In practice, x-default is not a language code; it is a special value recognized by search engines. It marks the page that should be displayed to users who do not fall into any specified language or regional category, typically serving as a language selector or a general homepage.

Implementation involves including, on each set of language pages, an x-default link alongside reciprocal hreflang entries for each targeted language or region. An example on a site with English, French, and Spanish variants might include a primary x-default link such as <link rel="alternate" href="https://example.com/" hreflang="x-default" />, plus corresponding entries on each page like <link rel="alternate" href="https://example.com/en/" hreflang="en" />, <link rel="alternate" href="https://example.com/fr/" hreflang="fr" />, and <link rel="alternate" href="https://example.com/es/" hreflang="es" />.

Best practices encourage using x-default for the main landing page or a language selector page, and including it on every page that has alternate language versions. Do not use x-default to target a specific language; ensure the default page content is suitable for users who do not specify a language.

SEO considerations note that major search engines, including Google, support hreflang with x-default and use it to guide what to serve to non-targeted queries. Proper, consistent implementation helps avoid indexing issues, while misconfiguration can lead to duplicates or misrouted traffic.

Historically, x-default was introduced to provide a non-targeted option within multilingual markup, and the term hreflangxdefault is an informal shorthand used in discussions to refer to this practice.