# International SEO
> Validates hreflang tags, multi-language configuration, regional targeting, and internationalisation best practices. Use when auditing sites with multiple languages, regions, or localised content.
- Skill: `thisisahsaniqbal/international-seo` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add thisisahsaniqbal/international-seo`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/thisisahsaniqbal/international-seo/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Marketing & Growth
- License: MIT
- Author: thisisAhsanIqbal (https://skillmd.com/u/thisisahsaniqbal)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/thisisahsaniqbal/international-seo
---
# International SEO
Audit the page for multi-language and regional targeting issues.
> **When to activate**: Only relevant if the site serves multiple languages, regions, or has localised content. If a page is monolingual with no internationalisation signals, report ✅ PASS "No internationalisation issues (single-language site)".
## 1. Hreflang tags
Look for `` in ``:
| Check | Status |
|---|---|
| No hreflang tags on a multi-language site | ❌ FAIL "Add hreflang tags to indicate language/region variants" |
| Hreflang tags present | ✅ PASS — list all language-region codes found |
### Hreflang validation rules
| Rule | Violation = |
|---|---|
| Self-referencing hreflang missing (page must include itself) | ❌ FAIL |
| `x-default` fallback missing | ⚠️ WARN "Add `hreflang=\"x-default\"` for the default/fallback page" |
| Invalid language code (must be ISO 639-1, e.g. `en`, `fr`, `de`) | ❌ FAIL |
| Invalid region code (must be ISO 3166-1 alpha-2, e.g. `en-US`, `fr-CA`) | ⚠️ WARN |
| Hreflang URLs return 4xx or 5xx | ❌ FAIL "Hreflang points to broken URL" |
| Duplicate hreflang entries for same language-region | ⚠️ WARN |
## 2. HTML lang attribute
| Check | Status |
|---|---|
| `` missing | ❌ FAIL |
| `lang` value doesn't match hreflang self-reference | ⚠️ WARN "Mismatch between html lang and hreflang" |
| Properly set | ✅ PASS |
## 3. Content-Language header (meta)
- `` → check if present
- If present, verify it matches the `lang` attribute → ⚠️ WARN if mismatch
## 4. URL structure for internationalisation
Detect URL pattern used:
| Pattern | Example | Assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Subdirectory | `/en/`, `/fr/`, `/de/` | ✅ Recommended |
| Subdomain | `en.example.com` | ✅ Acceptable |
| ccTLD | `example.fr`, `example.de` | ✅ Strong geo-targeting |
| URL parameter | `?lang=en` | ⚠️ WARN "Not recommended — search engines may ignore parameters" |
## 5. Translated content checks
| Check | Status |
|---|---|
| Page has `lang="en"` but content appears in another language | ⚠️ WARN "Language mismatch detected" |
| `` and `<meta description>` not translated (same across language variants) | ⚠️ WARN |
| Images with alt text not translated | ⚠️ WARN |
## 6. Regional targeting
- Check for `<meta name="geo.region">`, `<meta name="geo.placename">`, `<meta name="geo.position">` → ✅ PASS if present
- Google Search Console geographic targeting hint: check for `<link rel="canonical">` pointing to regional variant
## Edge cases
- A monolingual site with no internationalisation signals → skip all checks, report "Not applicable"
- A site with `hreflang` on some pages but not others → flag inconsistency
- Right-to-left languages (Arabic, Hebrew) → check for `dir="rtl"` attribute on `<html>` or `<body>`