Connect alternate market and language versions
A language or market alternate must be a genuine equivalent, rather than any page available in that country. Canonicalization addresses preferred URLs among duplicates; hreflang describes relationships between audience versions. Those signals need to agree with the actual pages instead of being assigned indiscriminately across an entire site.
Illustrative store: /en-us/products/travel-cup/ and /fr-fr/produits/tasse-voyage/ describe the same cup for different language and market audiences. Their annotation sets include both pages and themselves, with reciprocal references. The French collection homepage is not substituted when the French product page is missing, because it answers a different task. The market’s actual product, price and delivery information still need review.
Check reciprocal references and genuine equivalent pages
Correct annotations do not make untranslated or inaccurate regional content useful. Missing return references, invalid codes or unavailable destinations can undermine the relationship. Hreflang is not a guarantee that a specific version will always appear, and it does not replace visible language or market controls.
Next, map one equivalent product across its actual language versions. Check each URL, reciprocal set and page content, then record missing equivalents before rolling the pattern out to the whole catalog.
Website field guide · Plan language and region URLs for an online store · Canonical URL
Reference: Google Search Central: localized page versions. Checked November 4, 2026.