Hreflang Tags Extractor - International SEO Audit Data

Extract hreflang alternate tags from public web pages and return a clean international SEO dataset. The actor finds <link rel="alternate" hreflang="..."> tags, resolves relative URLs, counts languages, detects x-default, and returns one structured result per input URL. Export to JSON/CSV/Excel, run on a schedule, call via API, or connect to Make, Zapier or n8n.

What is the Hreflang Tags Extractor?

The Hreflang Tags Extractor is a focused SEO utility for websites that serve multiple languages, regions, or country-specific versions. Hreflang mistakes are common: missing alternates, wrong language codes, broken regional URLs, duplicate declarations, or missing x-default. This actor gives SEO teams and agencies a quick way to collect the raw hreflang map from any URL list so it can be checked, compared, enriched, or monitored.

The actor uses direct HTTP requests and parses the returned HTML. It does not need a browser, account, proxy, or external API key. That makes it fast and suitable for scheduled audits across many landing pages, localized product pages, documentation hubs, and international homepages.

The output keeps the complete list of alternate URLs together with each audited page. That makes it easy to compare declared markets against your expected language matrix, check whether regional versions point at the right URLs, and detect whether important markets are missing from templates.

What data does it extract?

• Input URL and final redirected URL
• Domain and HTTP status code
• Total hreflang tag count
• Unique language and regional codes
• Whether x-default exists
• Full list of hreflang declarations
• Absolute resolved href for each alternate URL

Input

Field	Type	Description
urls	array	Pages to scan for hreflang alternate link tags.

Example input

{
  "urls": [
    "https://www.apple.com/",
    "https://www.example.com/de/"
  ]
}

Output

{
  "input": "https://www.apple.com/",
  "url": "https://www.apple.com/",
  "final_url": "https://www.apple.com/",
  "domain": "www.apple.com",
  "status_code": 200,
  "hreflang_count": 137,
  "languages": ["ar-AE", "de-DE", "en-US", "x-default"],
  "hreflang_tags": [
    {
      "hreflang": "en-US",
      "href": "https://www.apple.com/"
    }
  ],
  "has_x_default": true
}

Use cases

• International SEO audits: collect hreflang declarations from all important country and language pages.
• Migration QA: verify hreflang tags before and after a redesign, domain move, or CMS migration.
• Agency reporting: export language coverage for clients without manually opening every page.
• Monitoring: schedule recurring checks so missing alternate links are caught quickly.

Practical tips

Run the actor against representative pages from each template type: homepage, category pages, product pages, blog pages, documentation pages, and major landing pages. Many sites implement hreflang correctly on one template but forget it on another. The languages, hreflang_count, and has_x_default fields give a quick first-pass signal, while hreflang_tags provides the full evidence for deeper QA.

For larger audits, combine this actor with a sitemap extractor. First collect the URLs from XML sitemaps, then sample or filter the list and run this actor against the pages where hreflang matters most. Export the dataset to CSV and compare it with your expected country and language matrix.

The actor is also useful for competitor research. Run it against major competitors' international pages to see which markets they target, how they structure regional URLs, and whether their fallback experience differs from yours. That information is often useful before expanding into a new language or country.

Reliability and performance

The actor is intentionally lightweight: it fetches public HTML, follows redirects, parses <link> tags, and resolves relative URLs. It does not render JavaScript, which is usually the right tradeoff for hreflang because search engines expect these tags to be available in crawlable HTML or sitemaps.

FAQ

Does it validate language codes? The actor extracts and normalizes the declarations. You can validate codes downstream or compare them with your expected market list.

Does it find hreflang tags in sitemaps? This actor scans page HTML. Use a sitemap actor first if you need to discover URLs.

Does it use a browser? No. It uses direct HTTP for speed and reliability.

Will it work on JavaScript-rendered tags? Only if the tags are present in the HTML response. Most SEO-critical hreflang tags are server-rendered.

Can I audit many pages? Yes. Paste a URL list or call the actor via API.

What is x-default? It is a fallback alternate used when no language or region-specific page is the best match.

Is it legal? The actor reads public HTML. You are responsible for respecting website terms, robots directives, and applicable rules.

How is billing calculated? Pay-per-event billing charges per URL result pushed to the dataset.

Can I export to spreadsheets? Yes. Apify datasets export to JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, and RSS.

Does it check reciprocal hreflang links? This actor extracts declarations from each input URL. You can verify reciprocal relationships downstream by joining the output by URL.

Does it check canonical tags too? No. Use a meta tags or canonical URL actor for canonical checks.

Can agencies use this for client reporting? Yes. The output is structured and easy to export, making it useful for recurring technical SEO reports.

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