Hreflang Language and Region Codes Reference

Hreflang codes follow a specific format: language code alone, or language code combined with a region code. Using the wrong code -- or making up a plausible-sounding one -- means Google ignores your tag entirely. For a complete walkthrough of hreflang from basics to validation, see our comprehensive hreflang guide.

Here's what you need to know, plus a reference table for the most common codes.

How the codes work

Hreflang uses two separate standards, combined according to RFC 5646:

• Language codes follow ISO 639-1 -- two-letter lowercase codes like en, fr, de
• Region codes follow ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 -- two-letter codes like US, GB, AU

When you combine them, language comes first, separated by a hyphen: en-GB, es-MX, zh-CN. The region code is case-insensitive in practice -- en-gb and en-GB are both valid -- but uppercase is the standard convention for region codes.

You can use language alone (hreflang="es") or language plus region (hreflang="es-MX"). You cannot use region alone.

Common language codes

Common combined language + region codes

Common code confusions

uk is not English. uk is the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code for Ukraine. English in the UK is en-GB. Using hreflang="uk" targets a language that doesn't exist in ISO 639-1 -- Google will ignore it. This is one of the most frequent hreflang mistakes.

sp is not Spanish. The correct code for Spanish is es. There's no sp in ISO 639-1.

en vs. en-US -- which to use? Use en if your English content isn't targeted at a specific country. Use en-US or en-GB only when your content genuinely differs between those markets. Using region-specific codes when the content is the same creates unnecessary complexity. See do you need hreflang for a single language for guidance on when regional codes are worth the effort.

es vs. es-ES -- Similarly, es means "Spanish for all Spanish speakers." es-ES specifically targets Spain. If your Spanish content is the same for all Spanish-speaking countries, use es. If you have Mexico-specific pricing or content, use es-MX.

Chinese needs clarification. zh alone isn't enough for most sites. Chinese speakers in mainland China use Simplified characters (zh-CN); those in Taiwan use Traditional (zh-TW); Hong Kong (zh-HK) also uses Traditional with local variations. These are meaningfully different audiences.

Invalid codes Google rejects

The x-default special value

x-default is not a language code -- it's a special hreflang value that designates the fallback page for users whose language isn't matched by any other tag. It doesn't map to any ISO standard. Read the full x-default guide for implementation details.

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

Finding codes for less common languages

For languages not in the table above, the definitive references are:

• ISO 639-1 language codes: loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/php/code_list.php
• ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes: iso.org/iso-3166-country-codes.html
• RFC 5646 (language tag format): datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc5646

Use the two-letter ISO 639-1 codes for languages, not the three-letter ISO 639-2 codes. Both exist, but hreflang requires the two-letter variant. See hreflang HTML examples for how these codes are used in practice.

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References

• Google Search Central: Localized Versions
• RFC 5646: Tags for Identifying Languages
• ISO 639-1 Language Codes
• ISO 3166-1 Alpha-2 Country Codes