Hreflang uses relative URL — the fix
One or more hreflang annotations use relative URLs instead of absolute URLs. Google requires hreflang href values to be fully qualified absolute URLs.
Where this fits: indexability in SEO
Indexability is whether a crawled page is allowed into the search index at all. A page can be perfectly reachable and still tell Google to ignore it — through a noindex directive, a conflicting canonical, or an X-Robots-Tag header set by the server. These directives are absolute: one stray meta tag removes a page from search entirely. Indexability issues are the most binary in SEO — the page either can rank or it cannot — which is why they sit at the top of every serious audit.
Why hreflang uses relative url hurts your rankings
Google explicitly states that hreflang URLs must be fully qualified, including the protocol. Relative URLs in hreflang annotations will be ignored, breaking your international SEO targeting and potentially causing the wrong language version to be served to users.
This is a medium-severity issue: individually modest, but it compounds — dozens of medium issues across hundreds of pages add up to a real quality deficit in how search engines assess the site.
How to fix it
Update all hreflang href values to use absolute URLs including https:// and the full domain name.
Indexability best practices
- Audit noindex directives after every deploy — one templating mistake can deindex a section overnight.
- Give every indexable page exactly one self-referencing canonical URL.
- Never mix signals: a page should not be canonicalised away AND noindexed AND in the sitemap.
- Use hreflang pairs that reciprocate; a one-way hreflang is ignored.
- Check the HTTP layer too — X-Robots-Tag headers override what you see in the HTML.
The full library: SEO best practices, by category.
Frequently asked questions
What does "Hreflang uses relative URL" mean?
One or more hreflang annotations use relative URLs instead of absolute URLs. Google requires hreflang href values to be fully qualified absolute URLs.
Why does hreflang uses relative url matter for SEO?
Google explicitly states that hreflang URLs must be fully qualified, including the protocol. Relative URLs in hreflang annotations will be ignored, breaking your international SEO targeting and potentially causing the wrong language version to be served to users.
How do I fix hreflang uses relative url?
Update all hreflang href values to use absolute URLs including https:// and the full domain name.
How serious is this issue?
This is a medium-severity issue: individually modest, but it compounds — dozens of medium issues across hundreds of pages add up to a real quality deficit in how search engines assess the site. It belongs to the indexability family of checks.
How do I find every page affected by this on my site?
Run a free Dr Urls audit: it crawls your site, detects hreflang uses relative url on every affected page, shows example URLs, and generates a ready-to-use fix task. Re-scan after fixing to verify the issue is gone.
Does your site have this issue?
A free Dr Urls audit crawls your site, finds every page affected by hreflang uses relative url, and hands you a ready-made fix task.
Check my site free