What is hreflang x-default in SEO?
Introduction to hreflang and its importance
Let’s say you are a website owner that has a website used in lots of different countries, each with different languages. The challenge then becomes: how does Google know which version of your website to present to a user in France versus a user in the USA? This is what hreflang is for! Hreflang is an HTML attribute used to tell search engines what language and regional URL version of your content to show to users based on their location and language settings.
Hreflang can be a strong SEO signal. It does not directly drive ranking benefit but it means correctly matching the right content to the right user, improving user experience and reducing the bounce rate. Search engines love relevant content, hefts to make sure you deliver it. Hreflang is especially important for international SEO, as wasting users time walking them to the wrong language version will frustrate the user, and it will hurt your conversions.
This set up can be for multiple languages (English, French, Spanish, etc.) in multiple regions (US, UK, CA) but there is one special case when you may want to provide a fallback option — hreflang x-default. Hreflang x-default is not language or region-specific. Rather, it is a catch-all. It tells search engines, “if none of the other language or region tags indicate a match, show this version.
Definition of hreflang x-default
So, what is hreflang=”x-default” exactly?
In technical terms, hreflang="x-default" is a non-region, non-language-specific fallback used in hreflang annotations. It acts as the default landing page for users who don’t match any of the specified languages or regions.
It’s widely used in two cases:
-
Language selector landing pages – Pages that ask users to choose their country or language.
-
Global default pages – Generic pages not tailored to any specific region or language.
For example, a multilingual website might have:
-
en-usfor English-speaking US users -
fr-frfor French users in France -
es-esfor Spanish users in Spain -
And
x-defaultfor users whose language/region is not covered by any of the above.
This avoids confusion and ensures everyone lands somewhere relevant — even if there isn’t a perfect match.
It’s also Google’s recommended practice for sites with language selector pages. If you want to play nice with international SEO and provide a smooth user experience, understanding and using x-default is key.
How hreflang Works in SEO
The purpose of hreflang tags
Hreflang is an indication to search engines to differentiate content across language and location. You can think of it like a road sign that says to Google, “This page is for English readers in Canada,” while a separate road sign says, “This page is for French readers in Belgium.”
The three main functions of hreflang are:
Avoid issues with duplicate content: When you have similar content containing different language versions, hreflang can indicate to Google that you should not be penalised for duplicate content because you are serving different audiences.
Deliver the right content: Hreflang guarantees that a user receives the version of the content relevant to their language and region.
Helping engagement: A French speaking user will stay on a French page a lot more than a German one, and good targeting with hreflang helps keep people on your site longer.
These tags are usually placed in the <head> of your HTML, in HTTP headers, or in your sitemap.
Here’s a basic example:
<link rel=”alternate” hreflang=”en-us” href=”https://example.com/us/” />
<link rel=”alternate” hreflang=”fr-fr” href=”https://example.com/fr/” />
<link rel=”alternate” hreflang=”x-default” href=”https://example.com/” />
Each tag leads to a different version of that page for a different audience.
Examples of basic hreflang implementations
Let’s talk about a fictitious company – a global clothing brand – that sells to customers in three regions, the US, France, and Germany. They may have the following hreflang setup on their homepage:
<link rel=”alternate” hreflang=”en-us” href=”https://clothesworld.com/us/” />
<link rel=”alternate” hreflang=”fr-fr” href=”https://clothesworld.com/fr/” />
<link rel=”alternate” hreflang=”de-de” href=”https://clothesworld.com/de/” />
<link rel=”alternate” hreflang=”x-default” href=”https://clothesworld.com/” />
Here’s how this works:
- Show the users in America the US version
- Direct French users to the French version
- Send German users to the German version
- Send direct others to the main (x-default) page.
This means that the users who are going to bounce immediately because they cannot understand the language in use or because they cannot find any regionally relevant details will not see un-relevant content.
Where x-default fits in the hreflang setup
Now you might be asking yourself:
can‘t I just stop there with the language-region tags? Not really. If you leave off the x-default then your users from unsupported languages or regions have no direction and some of those users may end up on a version which is not relevant for them. This can damage your SEO and users experiencing this may be less than happy.
The x-default tag comes in as a safety net. It’s not linked to any country or language, making it the ideal default for:
-
Language selection pages.
-
Generic homepages not associated to any locale.
-
Sites planning to expand globally but not yet localised.
So, while it’s not much essential in all hreflang setups, it’s highly suggested for global brands aiming for polished international SEO.
The Role of x-default in Multilingual SEO
Why x-default is used
When creating a multilingual website, the ultimate goal is to ensure that users from around the world land on the most appropriate version of your site that matches their language and location. However, what happens if users don’t match any of the hreflang values you specified? That’s where x-default comes into play.
x-default is designed to serve those “unmatched” visitors — basically, users who might not speak any of the primary languages you support or whose geographic location is, more or less, not targeted at all by your site. These may be users such as:
- Travelers who are browsing from a hotel in another country.
- Expats who may have their browser settings or font settings set for a language that is non-native.
- Users who are either in the defaults or otherwise unconfigured version of their language settings.
The bottom line is if you don’t have x-default, you may route these users to a version of your site that is not useful to them at all. If users are directed to a version of your site which is not usable or applicable to them, you not only affect user experience, but you may also increase your bounce rates, and thereby also tell Google that your page is not very useful.
From a business perspective, it is like locking the front door, whereby you may have an international customer who could have become a loyal user, if they had landed on the correct version of your site.
When to use x-default tag
You would want to include an x-default tag when you have a language or country selector page. That page will serve as a landing page for your users, a central hub that acts as a decision point for the user to indicate to you what language or region you’d like to use.
Airbnb, Spotify, or Coca-Cola are great examples. Upon visiting the site through a browser without a language tag, they will often first show you a selection screen that presents various options and will not just assume you’re from the UK or Spanish.
Use x-default for:
- You have a language selection landing page.
- You have a default homepage that just serves a generic audience (no country/language-specific)
- You want to instruct unmatched users to a universal experience.
Using an x-default should be part of your international SEO strategy, especially if you’re targeting numerous geographies and methods of content.
Common x-default use cases
Let’s look at a few real world examples of how and when to properly implement the x-default tag for websites.
-
- Language selector PagesThe most common use case. When landing on a language selector page, the site will render links like:
-
“Continue in English”
-
“Parlez-vous Français?”§
-
“Sprichst du Deutsch?”
Here, the x-default tag points to that selector page, ensuring everyone gets a chance to self-direct.
-
- Corporate Sites: Corporations such as Apple or Microsoft might use x-default for a static universal landing page that forwards users to regional subdomains.
- B2B Offerings with Global Availability: A global SaaS platform may offer a non-language specific home page that is an International version (more focused on explaining their offerings in a neutral tone).
- Content Campaigns or Gathering together: For a global campaign, x-default can be used to route users to a hub for the main campaign, that links to localized content. In these instances x-default can be an overall universal fallback, making sure no visitor is stranded without mapping to an appropriate content piece.
- Language selector PagesThe most common use case. When landing on a language selector page, the site will render links like:
Technical Implementation of x-default
Correct syntax of x-default hreflang
Getting the hreflang syntax right is critical, especially because of the x-default attribute. It can take just one mistake – an invalid URL or mismatched language code – to render the entire tag obsolete.
Here’s how to properly implement it in HTML:
<link rel=”alternate” hreflang=”x-default” href=”https://example.com/global/” />
This tag typically appears alongside your other hreflang tags, such as:
<link rel=”alternate” hreflang=”en-us” href=”https://example.com/us/” />
<link rel=”alternate” hreflang=”es-es” href=”https://example.com/es/” />
<link rel=”alternate” hreflang=”fr-fr” href=”https://example.com/fr/” />
<link rel=”alternate” hreflang=”x-default” href=”https://example.com/global/” />
Alternatively, if you’re using XML sitemaps to define hreflang, the x-default would look like this:
<xhtml:link rel=”alternate” hreflang=”x-default” href=”https://example.com/global/” />
Make sure:
-
The URLs are absolute, not relative.
-
Each hreflang tag is reciprocal, meaning every tagged page must also reference all others (including itself and x-default).
Best practices for implementing x-default
Following these best practices will make sure your x-default hreflang implementation is in tip-top shape:
- Use consistent URLs
Be sure you don’t mix HTTP and HTTPS, or www and non-www. Pick one format.
- Ensure reciprocity
If page A points to page B using hreflang, then page B must point back to page A.
- Include all variants
Your list should have all the regional/language versions and the x-default.
- Test regularly
Use Google Search Console or any other hreflang testing tool to find broken links or errors.
- Place tags appropriately
Ensure hreflang tags are identified within the
section of your HTML, or it’s appropriate in your sitemap or HTTP headers.
- Minimize Javascript dependency
Like any implementation based on javascript, Google won’t always render the hreflang correctly. Whenever possible use static HTML tags.
By correctly implementing x-default, not only will your SEO improve, you’ll reduce internationalization errors that can reduce user satisfaction.
Mistakes to avoid when using x-default
Although it’s a simple concept, a lot of sites get their x-default wrong. Here is an example of what not to do:
- Missing self-reference hreflang
You must include a hreflang tag pointing to itself on every page listed — including the x-default URL. - Incorrect or missing URLs
A tag like this is pointless:
<link rel=”alternate” hreflang=”x-default” href=”” />
- Using x-default only
The x-default tag should not be by itself on a page. The x-default tag must be part of a larger set. - Hreflang that is not consistent across pages
Every page that is in a language set (including the x-default page) must have the same hreflang tags. Omitting one will confuse search engines. - Pointing to irrelevant pages
Your x-default page should point to, at the very least, funneled fallback – not a broken page or a language in the middle of nowhere. - Not testing changes
Many teams make one change to hreflang at launch and forget. Definitely recheck when you are redesigning a page or launching new languages.
Navigating these headaches ensures your global SEO infrastructure is working properly and Google understands your content the way you want it to.
x-default and User Experience
How x-default helps global users
User experience (UX) is not just about having beautiful designs or fast-loading websites. It is also about providing relevant content to the right person at the right time. In the case of international websites, x-default is very important in achieving that.
For example, imagine a user from South Africa visits your website. You have an English version for US, a UK English version, a French version for France, and a Spanish version for Spain — but nothing for South Africa. Without x-default, you could be sending that user to a US version or another version that is not geotargeted to them.
But, if that user sees your x-default setup to a language selector or even to a generic version of the website, you would be giving them a good direction of where to go. Instead of getting frustrated or confused by content that was not meant for them, and quite possibly irrelevant, they can simply choose what was best for them.
In summary, here is how getting x-default correct will impact UX:
- There is less confusion and frustration as the users get a logical starting point;
- Engagement is higher, as the bounce rate from irrelevant pages on the website is lower;
- Trust is improved as the user feels that the brand is socially aware of their global citizenship, and inclusive; and
- Mobile UX support is much, as the user may be browsing from an unknown location due to roaming.
If your website is your store front, x-default is the friendly greeter who makes sure everyone knows how to find their aisle – regardless of where they are coming from.
Connection between x-default and geotargeting
Geotargeting is all about delivering content to a user that’s based on a user’s geo-location. However, geotargeting is only as good as its capability to determine a user’s location, and that’s why you should always combine geotargeting with x-default whenever possible.
For example, let’s consider a user from India leveraging a VPN in the UK; geotargeting will identify the user as a UK visitor, and serve them content in UK English. But what if that user wants to read the content in Hindi or browse local Indian offers ?
This is exactly why x-default is so useful; it serves as the neutral safe zone for a content publisher. When a geotargeted experience fails or lacks precision, x-default pages assist in funneling users towards the general page destination that allows the user to make the ultimate decision.
Consider the following components for why x-default complements geotargeting:
– Functions as a backup if the detection of location fails.
– Provides a passive alternative that allows for self-selection.
– Improves localization by putting the control back in the user’s hands.
When thinking about SEO, you never want to be entirely reliant geotargeting. When this model is layered with an hreflang feature, and then modifies it with x-default, you’ll be able to create a user management experience that is also tolerant of error.
Examples of improving UX with x-default
Let’s break it down with real-world stylized examples:
- Adobe’s Global Site
Adobe, for example, builds its experience around an x-default landing page with a country /language selector before moving the users to region-specific subdomain URLs. This allows the creative professional in Italy or India to always start at a known, global, all-inclusive starting point. - LinkedIn
Although LinkedIn tends to rely on the user’s browser settings and cookie info for localization (mostly), the homepage uses an x-default version to route unmatched users to a more neutral-looking login/signup page, since some user content will be rendered without error across different traffic. - Airbnb
Airbnb’s x-default is often to one level/version of its homepage with universal/only available content in English, giving the user an opportunity to select their language and currency after they engage. It falls somewhere in the middle of the gap between localization and global.
These companies value the user experience (UX), knowing that personalization may not work out every time. Instead, they can use x-default as a “universal gatekeeper,” which makes their UX better/smarter.
SEO Benefits of hreflang x-default
How x-default affects search rankings
While x-default won’t give you a direct boost with regard to your rankings like backlinks and page speed would, it is an important part of SEO hygiene; especially as it relates to international sites.
Search engines, especially Google, like clarity. They want to know what page is for which audience. Without x-default, your setup may look incomplete or unclear to Google. It can then either completely ignore your hreflang setup or misread your setup completely.
If it’s done correctly x-default helps with;
- Providing clarity to site structure. Google knows which page to show when there is no regional alternative.
- Decreasing bounce rate. If a user lands on relevant or selectable content, they will be more inclined to engage.
- Increasing session length. Particularly to global traffic, users will be inclined to engage more deeply when the content is relevant to them.
- Reducing cases of accidental keyword cannibalisation between regional variations.
So, while this is not a ranking factor, x-default allows for your broader objective — to make your website more understandable and user friendly to search engines, which it many cases, translates to improved SERP performance.
Preventing duplicate content issues
When you have many different regional versions of the same page, you could be considered duplicate content. This is where hreflang – and x-default by extension – can save the day for your SEO.
Let’s say you have 5 versions of a landing page:
- English (US)
- English (UK)
- French
- German
- Spanish
These pages likely look very similar — apart from language or currency. Google could easily see this as duplicate content and start taking pages out of its index. But, with hreflang tags (and x-default) you’re telling Google, “Yes, these pages look similar – but they are intended for different users.”
X-default tells Google that a specific page is supposed to be neutral – indicating no locale. It’s a clear representation of your intent and helps prevent:
- Index bloat of duplicated pages.
- Ranking penalisation for duplicates.
- Keyword confusion among global pages.
So, x-default is more than a safety net. It’s your insurance policy in the multilingual content space for SEO.
Enhancing site visibility and CTR
Let’s discuss click-through rates (CTR). Users are more likely to select your content when it appears in search results that match both the user’s language and the region. This has been proven behavior.
What happens to the user when they see a page title or snippet in the wrong language? They skip it, hurting your CTR. As time passes, Google will ultimately assess that page as being irrelevant and people will see it in a lower ranking.
Here’s how indirectly utilizing x-default adds to your CTR:
- Directs unmatched users to self-select to a lesser degree of irrelevant impressions.
- Accurately improves the snippet by aligning the users hreflang intent with the regional indexing.
- Encourages user control thus creating brand trust and loyalty.
This small tag is massive. Just by existing in nature, x-default allows for the search intent to meet and match with the delivery of content, and is one of the most undervalued approaches to improve organic performance.
Common Errors in hreflang x-default Implementation
Missing self-referencing tags
One of the major mistakes in hreflang setups — including x-default — is forgetting self-referencing hreflang tags. This means every page in your hreflang group should have an hreflang tag back to itself.
To give an example of how that will look, on the UK version of a page, you’d have:
<link rel=”alternate” hreflang=”en-gb” href=”https://example.com/uk/” />
This would tell google, “This page is the English version for the UK i.e. audience.” If that page only points to other versions, and has no self-referencing tag, it could really throw off Google‘s understanding of your intent. Now take this and apply it to x-default If you had an x-default page (say a language selector or universal home page) that did not point to itself with:
<link rel=”alternate” hreflang=”x-default” href=”https://example.com/” />
then the system is incomplete, and Google may ignore your setup.
Avoid this at all costs. Every hreflang entry must be fully reciprocal and include self-links to maintain consistency and trust in the eyes of search engines.
Incorrect URL targeting
This is another blunder — linking hreflang tags to the wrong pages.
Let’s say your x-default tag points to a page that doesn’t actually serve as a fallback or selector — that’s confusing to both users and search engines. Or maybe it leads to a broken link, outdated content, or redirects elsewhere — all of which weaken your SEO.
Here’s how to prevent this:
-
Audit your URLs regularly to ensure they’re live, accessible, and accurate.
-
Check page content to confirm it aligns with the x-default purpose (neutral, selector, or fallback).
-
Avoid redirect chains — if your x-default page redirects too often, it may dilute SEO effectiveness.
A mismatched or broken x-default tag not only ruins user experience but also wastes crawl budget and reduces indexing efficiency.
Incorrect URL targeting
This is another mistake – wrong pages for hreflang tags.
Imagine your x-default tag pointing to a page that does not really provide a fallback or selector – quite confusing for both users and search engines. Or it is a broken link, or outdated content, or redirects to something – all these options dilute your SEO.
Here is how you can avoid this:
- Make it part of your workflow to take stock of your URLs regularly to ensure they are live, accessible and correct.
- Review the page content to ensure it matches the x-default goal (neutral, selector, or fallback).
- Do not have redirect chains – if your x-default page does too many redirects it will no longer serve its purpose effectively.
A x-default tag that doesn’t match or is broken is not only a bad user experience it also eats your crawl budget and reduces indexing efficiency.
Using x-default without other hreflang tags
By definition, x-default is never intended to be left alone.
It can only ever make sense if it is part of a larger hreflang structure. If you simply drop an x-default tag on your homepage but then don’t have en-us, fr-fr, or any other variants — what on earth is it defaulting ??
The problem this creates is that it creates conflicting signals to GOOGLE, and you could potentially end up with;
- Regional pages which have not been indexed by search engines because they didn’t know what they were for.
- Global discoverability has been compromised because there was no multilingual structure.
- Technical effort allocating time that yielding basically nothing in ROI.
The rule here is quite simple – x-default goes with a complete set of hreflang tags that express all your language and region options.
Tools to Validate hreflang x-default Setup
Google Search Console insights
Google Search Console (GSC) is the first and trusted tool to check the implementation of hreflang (including x-default).
In GSC, this can be found under:
Enhancements > International Targeting > Language tab
Here you will get to see if:
- Your hreflang tags are visible.
- If there are any errors (missing return links, incorrect URLs).
- If Google crawls and indexes properly for regional variants.
It is especially useful to identify gaps across large scale deployments and test whether x-default is correlated as it should be.
Chrome extensions and plugins
To perform quick on-page checks, use browser extensions such as:
Ayima Redirect Path: to find redirect issues in hreflangs pages
SEO META in 1 CLICK: to show hreflang tags all in one click
Web Developer Tools: will expose meta and header level hreflang implementations
All of these extensions are ideal for spot-checking a few pages, and confirming whether your x-default tag displays correctly in the HTML .
Third-party SEO tools
If you’re overseeing an abundance of localized pages, you’ll want a solution that scales. These tools provide a look into how well your hreflang is performing.
- Screaming Frog SEO Spider: Crawl your entire site and export various listed hreflang issues.
- Ahrefs Site Audit: Highlights hreflang issues in its ‘International SEO’ section.
- SEMrush Site Audit: Monitors (and provides information on) hreflang conflicts while highlighting any gaps in implementation.
These solutions even notify you when your hreflang issues (including any x-default misconfigurations) arise after a site update or migration so you are not completely lost when tracking international domain and translation implementation.
.
Case Studies on Effective Use of x-default
Example from global e-commerce site
Let’s look at Zara, a fashion retailer with customers across the globe. Zara has x-default set up on its homepage to direct non-localized traffic to a region selector where the user can pick their country and language.
This ensures:
- Shopping experiences are seamless, no matter where the customer is.
- If a user’s locale is not included in the localised sites, search engines will send them to the region selector.
- Bounce rates are low (assuming users will be engaged as they can self-select their storefront).
That’s a fantastic example of how to implement x-default correctly in a global B2C context.
Success story from SaaS company
A cloud software company, we will call them SoftServe Pro, was having issues with duplicate content flags because they had multiple English language versions for US, UK, and AU implementations. After implementing a correct hreflang setup with an x-default directing to a generic overview page for the product, they:
– Resolved the duplicate content issues.
– Gain organic rankings for all decision pages.
– Improved CTR by 23% where previously the decision pages didn’t match.
Their x-default page acted as a “software explainer” for those users not targeted and guided them to select the correct plan for where they were located.
Lessons learned from x-default missteps
Any company might not get it right on their first attempt. This international news site (anonymised for privacy reasons) misimplemented x-default in two ways:
- They linked it to a broken page.
- They omitted it from other hreflang chains.
The impact? A 17% loss in international organic traffic in just 2 months! After fixing their implementation, testing it out in Search Console, traffic bounced back – and engagement metrics improved across the board, by double digits.
Takeaway: Don’t treat x-default as an add-on or afterthought in your international SEO strategy – it is a key element of a well-polished international SEO strategy.
Conclusion
Hreflang x-default isn’t just another fancy technical perspective on SEO; it’s your brand’s commitment to delivering a meaningful experience to all global users. Whether you’re the landing on a selector page or you are directing users to a universal fallback page – when there are geotargeting issues or language mismatch – x-default is the blank canvas you lay over the top. This is important to improve user experience, help search engines understand your site architecture to not serve them irrelevant content, and avoid content duplication worries – all of which are essential for your worldwide success.
When used correctly, and coupled with the full hrfelang structure, and regular testing with x-default, you can improve the user experience and efficiency for search engines making useful suggestions to users.
If you are serious about multilingual SEO, considering global countries and languages, x-default is an essential part of your multilingual SEO toolbox. Set it up in the right way, and your reach at a global scale will be even more effective, efficient and search engine optimized for all your users.
FAQs about hreflang x-default
1. Does x-default work for every website?
Nope, not every website. If your site has international traffic or if your site has different language/region versions (subdomain or sub-directory sites), you’ll almost certainly want to include x-default. If you have a language selector page, or you generally serve international traffic, you should be using x-default!
2. Can I add multiple x-default tags on one page?
Nope! You need to only have one x-default tag on your page. If you use more than one, you risk confusing the search engines, therefore invalidating your x-default setup.
3. What is likely to happen if I do not include the x-default tag?
If you do not include x-default, and if your page does not support the region of the user, a user may get routed to a random language version that is not relevant to their region. This will reduce user interaction and increase bounce rates.
4. Is x-default a requirement for SEO compliance?
Not quite, but it is likely a recommended best practice from Google for multilingual sites. x-default completes the hreflang setup and optimizes the overall SEO deliverables.
5. Can I x-default to improve my bounce rate?
Absolutely! If you already have x-default in place that points to a relevant (or selectable) page, you are unlikely to have users landing to irrelevant pages quickly before leaving/engaging with your site.
