I have put together a list of codes (values) which you can use for creating Hreflang header attributes for your multi-lingual or multi-regional website.
Select Language or Country Codes in the tabs below
Hreflang Language Codes
Hreflang Country Codes
Language Codes
| Language | Hreflang Code |
|---|---|
| Abkhazian | ab |
| Afrikaans | af |
| Aragonese | an |
| Arabic | ar |
| Assamese | as |
| Azerbaijani | az |
| Belarusian | be |
| Bulgarian | bg |
| Bengali | bn |
| Tibetan | bo |
| Breton | br |
| Bosnian | bs |
| Catalan / Valencian | ca |
| Chechen | ce |
| Corsican | co |
| Czech | cs |
| Church Slavic | cu |
| Welsh | cy |
| Danish | da |
| German | de |
| Greek | el |
| English | en |
| Esperanto | eo |
| Spanish / Castilian | es |
| Estonian | et |
| Basque | eu |
| Persian | fa |
| Finnish | fi |
| Fijian | fj |
| Faroese | fo |
| French | fr |
| Western Frisian | fy |
| Irish | ga |
| Gaelic / Scottish Gaelic | gd |
| Galician | gl |
| Manx | gv |
| Hebrew | he |
| Hindi | hi |
| Croatian | hr |
| Haitian; Haitian Creole | ht |
| Hungarian | hu |
| Armenian | hy |
| Indonesian | id |
| Icelandic | is |
| Italian | it |
| Japanese | ja |
| Javanese | jv |
| Georgian | ka |
| Kongo | kg |
| Korean | ko |
| Kurdish | ku |
| Cornish | kw |
| Kirghiz | ky |
| Latin | la |
| Luxembourgish; Letzeburgesch | lb |
| Limburgan; Limburger; Limburgish | li |
| Lingala | ln |
| Lithuanian | lt |
| Latvian | lv |
| Malagasy | mg |
| Macedonian | mk |
| Mongolian | mn |
| Moldavian | mo |
| Malay | ms |
| Maltese | mt |
| Burmese | my |
| Norwegian (Bokmål) | nb |
| Nepali | ne |
| Dutch | nl |
| Norwegian (Nynorsk) | nn |
| Norwegian | no |
| Occitan (post 1500); Provençal | oc |
| Polish | pl |
| Portuguese | pt |
| Raeto-Romance | rm |
| Romanian | ro |
| Russian | ru |
| Sardinian | sc |
| Northern Sami | se |
| Slovak | sk |
| Slovenian | sl |
| Somali | so |
| Albanian | sq |
| Serbian | sr |
| Swedish | sv |
| Swahili | sw |
| Turkmen | tk |
| Turkish | tr |
| Tahitian | ty |
| Ukrainian | uk |
| Urdu | ur |
| Uzbek | uz |
| Vietnamese | vi |
| Volapük | vo |
| Yiddish | yi |
| Chinese (simplified) | zh-hans |
| Thai | th |
Country Codes
| Country | Hreflang Code |
|---|---|
| Afghanistan | AF |
| Aland Islands | AX |
| Albania | AL |
| Algeria | DZ |
| American Samoa | AS |
| Andorra | AD |
| Angola | AO |
| Anguilla | AI |
| Antarctica | AQ |
| Antigua and Barbuda | AG |
| Argentina | AR |
| Armenia | AM |
| Aruba | AW |
| Australia | AU |
| Austria | AT |
| Azerbaijan | AZ |
| Bahamas | BS |
| Bahrain | BH |
| Bangladesh | BD |
| Barbados | BB |
| Belarus | BY |
| Belgium | BE |
| Belize | BZ |
| Benin | BJ |
| Bermuda | BM |
| Bhutan | BT |
| Bolivia, Plurinational State of | BO |
| Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba | BQ |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | BA |
| Botswana | BW |
| Bouvet Island | BV |
| Brazil | BR |
| British Indian Ocean Territory | IO |
| Brunei Darussalam | BN |
| Bulgaria | BG |
| Burkina Faso | BF |
| Burundi | BI |
| Cambodia | KH |
| Cameroon | CM |
| Canada | CA |
| Cape Verde | CV |
| Cayman Islands | KY |
| Central African Republic | CF |
| Chad | TD |
| Chile | CL |
| China | CN |
| Christmas Island | CX |
| Cocos (Keeling) Islands | CC |
| Colombia | CO |
| Comoros | KM |
| Congo | CG |
| Congo, the Democratic Republic of the | CD |
| Cook Islands | CK |
| Costa Rica | CR |
| Côte d’Ivoire | CI |
| Croatia | HR |
| Cuba | CU |
| Curaçao | CW |
| Cyprus | CY |
| Czech Republic | CZ |
| Denmark | DK |
| Djibouti | DJ |
| Dominica | DM |
| Dominican Republic | DO |
| Ecuador | EC |
| Egypt | EG |
| El Salvador | SV |
| Equatorial Guinea | GQ |
| Eritrea | ER |
| Estonia | EE |
| Ethiopia | ET |
| Falkland Islands (Malvinas) | FK |
| Faroe Islands | FO |
| Fiji | FJ |
| Finland | FI |
| France | FR |
| French Guiana | GF |
| French Polynesia | PF |
| French Southern Territories | TF |
| Gabon | GA |
| Gambia | GM |
| Georgia | GE |
| Germany | DE |
| Ghana | GH |
| Gibraltar | GI |
| Greece | GR |
| Greenland | GL |
| Grenada | GD |
| Guadeloupe | GP |
| Guam | GU |
| Guatemala | GT |
| Guernsey | GG |
| Guinea | GN |
| Guinea-Bissau | GW |
| Guyana | GY |
| Haiti | HT |
| Heard Island and McDonald Islands | HM |
| Holy See (Vatican City State) | VA |
| Honduras | HN |
| Hong Kong | HK |
| Hungary | HU |
| Iceland | IS |
| India | IN |
| Indonesia | ID |
| Iran, Islamic Republic of | IR |
| Iraq | IQ |
| Ireland | IE |
| Isle of Man | IM |
| Israel | IL |
| Italy | IT |
| Jamaica | JM |
| Japan | JP |
| Jersey | JE |
| Jordan | JO |
| Kazakhstan | KZ |
| Kenya | KE |
| Kiribati | KI |
| Korea, Democratic People’s Republic of | KP |
| Korea, Republic of | KR |
| Kuwait | KW |
| Kyrgyzstan | KG |
| Lao People’s Democratic Republic | LA |
| Latvia | LV |
| Lebanon | LB |
| Lesotho | LS |
| Liberia | LR |
| Libya | LY |
| Liechtenstein | LI |
| Lithuania | LT |
| Luxembourg | LU |
| Macao | MO |
| Macedonia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of | MK |
| Madagascar | MG |
| Malawi | MW |
| Malaysia | MY |
| Maldives | MV |
| Mali | ML |
| Malta | MT |
| Marshall Islands | MH |
| Martinique | MQ |
| Mauritania | MR |
| Mauritius | MU |
| Mayotte | YT |
| Mexico | MX |
| Micronesia, Federated States of | FM |
| Moldova, Republic of | MD |
| Monaco | MC |
| Mongolia | MN |
| Montenegro | ME |
| Montserrat | MS |
| Morocco | MA |
| Mozambique | MZ |
| Myanmar | MM |
| Namibia | NA |
| Nauru | NR |
| Nepal | NP |
| Netherlands | NL |
| New Caledonia | NC |
| New Zealand | NZ |
| Nicaragua | NI |
| Niger | NE |
| Nigeria | NG |
| Niue | NU |
| Norfolk Island | NF |
| Northern Mariana Islands | MP |
| Norway | NO |
| Oman | OM |
| Pakistan | PK |
| Palau | PW |
| Palestine, State of | PS |
| Panama | PA |
| Papua New Guinea | PG |
| Paraguay | PY |
| Peru | PE |
| Philippines | PH |
| Pitcairn | PN |
| Poland | PL |
| Portugal | PT |
| Puerto Rico | PR |
| Qatar | QA |
| Réunion | RE |
| Romania | RO |
| Russian Federation | RU |
| Rwanda | RW |
| Saint Barthélemy | BL |
| Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha | SH |
| Saint Kitts and Nevis | KN |
| Saint Lucia | LC |
| Saint Martin (French part) | MF |
| Saint Pierre and Miquelon | PM |
| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | VC |
| Samoa | WS |
| San Marino | SM |
| Sao Tome and Principe | ST |
| Saudi Arabia | SA |
| Senegal | SN |
| Serbia | RS |
| Seychelles | SC |
| Sierra Leone | SL |
| Singapore | SG |
| Sint Maarten (Dutch part) | SX |
| Slovakia | SK |
| Slovenia | SI |
| Solomon Islands | SB |
| Somalia | SO |
| South Africa | ZA |
| South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands | GS |
| South Sudan | SS |
| Spain | ES |
| Sri Lanka | LK |
| Sudan | SD |
| Suriname | SR |
| Svalbard and Jan Mayen | SJ |
| Swaziland | SZ |
| Sweden | SE |
| Switzerland | CH |
| Syrian Arab Republic | SY |
| Taiwan, Province of China | TW |
| Tajikistan | TJ |
| Tanzania, United Republic of | TZ |
| Thailand | TH |
| Timor-Leste | TL |
| Togo | TG |
| Tokelau | TK |
| Tonga | TO |
| Trinidad and Tobago | TT |
| Tunisia | TN |
| Turkey | TR |
| Turkmenistan | TM |
| Turks and Caicos Islands | TC |
| Tuvalu | TV |
| Uganda | UG |
| Ukraine | UA |
| United Arab Emirates | AE |
| United Kingdom | GB |
| United States | US |
| United States Minor Outlying Islands | UM |
| Uruguay | UY |
| Uzbekistan | UZ |
| Vanuatu | VU |
| Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of | VE |
| Viet Nam | VN |
| Virgin Islands, British | VG |
| Virgin Islands, U.S. | VI |
| Wallis and Futuna | WF |
| Western Sahara | EH |
| Yemen | YE |
| Zambia | ZM |
| Zimbabwe | ZW |
Special Cases
Europe
Europe or EU is not a country, so it’s not in the list of countries. You can either target European users using language targeting only (e.g. English/EN) or target individual countries in Europe (e.g. en-GB). There should be, however, one website version per targeting.
UK / Great Britain
Country code for the UK is not “UK” as it stands for Ukrainian. Correct country code for the UK is “GB”.
ES-ES
This language-country code targets Spanish speaking users in Spain. If you want to target Spanish speakers worldwide, just use the language code “es” solely.
AR-AR
This targets Arabic speakers in Argentina. If you want to target Arabic speakers worldwide, just use the sole language code “ar”. If you target Arabic speakers in Saudi Arabia, you need to use this code: “ar-SA”.
Hreflang Header Code Generator
Here’s how to use the Hreflang Generator tool:
- Go to this URL address of the file – DO NOT REQUEST EDIT ACCESS! (Sorry, but there are still a lot of people who simply don’t get it)
- File > Make a Copy
- Save to your Drive and here you go.
Frequent Errors
- Putting Country code before Language code – should be other way round
- Using a dash (–) instead of a hyphen (-)
- Using wrong quotation marks (“ ”) instead of (” “)
- Using a relative URL e.g. /usa/ instead of showing a full URL
- Using country code only: language code is mandatory, country code is optional
- Missing self-referencing Hreflang: there should be one Hreflang tag pointing to the page you’re on
- Multiple Hreflang tags for a signle page
- Hreflang and Canonical tags in conflict: Hreflang and Canonicals are not supposed to be combined
Hreflang Q&A
Are Hreflang values case sensitive?
Capitalization (lowercase vs. uppercase) does not matter, however it is recommended by ISO 3166 convention that language codes are lowercase and country codes are uppercase.
Do I need to implement Hreflang attributes site-wide?
Yes. For each equivalent page including the source page, there should be an Hreflang tag implemented. You can also use a Hreflang sitemap if there are too many versions.
Does it matter which order the attributes are in?
No.
Martin Kura
A multi-cultural nerd, digital marketer and SEO/content enthusiast. Likes good beer, dry wine, loves to cook and sing (sometimes all at once).