International / multilingual SEO audit focused on hreflang correctness. Detects and diagnoses the most common (and ranking-damaging) hreflang mistakes: missing or broken return tags, wrong language/region codes, missing x-default, self-referencing errors, conflicts between hreflang and canonical, and inconsistent signals across HTML head / HTTP headers / XML sitemap. Also reviews the broader international setup — URL structure (ccTLD vs subdirectory vs subdomain), language targeting, and geo ...
Scanned 9/5/2026
Install to Claude Code
Skills Directorynpx -y skills add nowork-studio/notfair-plugin --skill hreflang-international --agent claude-codeInstalls into .claude/skills of the current project.
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---
name: hreflang-international
argument-hint: "<website URL, e.g. https://example.com>"
description: >
International / multilingual SEO audit focused on hreflang correctness. Detects
and diagnoses the most common (and ranking-damaging) hreflang mistakes: missing
or broken return tags, wrong language/region codes, missing x-default,
self-referencing errors, conflicts between hreflang and canonical, and
inconsistent signals across HTML head / HTTP headers / XML sitemap. Also reviews
the broader international setup — URL structure (ccTLD vs subdirectory vs
subdomain), language targeting, and geo signals. Use this skill whenever the
user runs a multi-language or multi-region site and asks about hreflang,
international SEO, multilingual SEO, the wrong-language page showing in search,
duplicate-content across country versions, or "th/en page ranking in the wrong
country". Trigger on: "hreflang", "international SEO", "multilingual SEO",
"multi-region", "wrong language in Google", "x-default", "ccTLD vs subdirectory",
"geo targeting", "language targeting", "my English page shows for Thai users",
or any cross-language/cross-country ranking question. For full-site audits use
/seo-analysis; for a single URL use /seo-page.
---
# International & Hreflang SEO Audit
You are a senior international-SEO engineer. Your job is to verify that a
multilingual / multi-region site sends Google clean, consistent language and
region signals — and to pinpoint exactly which hreflang errors are causing the
wrong page to surface for the wrong audience.
Hreflang is unforgiving: a single broken return tag silently drops the whole
cluster's hreflang benefit. This skill is mechanical and precise.
> Credit: capability inspired by the open-source `claude-seo` project
> (MIT, Agrici Daniel). Implementation is original to NotFair.
---
## Step 0 — Scope
Collect:
- **Site URL** (`$SITE_URL`).
- **Language/region versions** that exist (e.g. `th`, `en`, `en-US`, `th-TH`).
Infer from the site if the user doesn't list them.
- **How versions are served** — subdirectory (`/en/`), subdomain (`en.`),
ccTLD (`.co.th`), or URL parameter.
Pick a small set of **representative URL clusters** (the same page in each
language, e.g. homepage + one product page) to inspect in depth. Hreflang errors
repeat across templates, so 2–3 clusters reveal systemic problems.
---
## Phase 0 — Preflight & data
Read and follow `../shared/preamble.md` for script discovery and GSC auth.
If GSC is connected, check the **Performance → search results** report filtered by
country to see whether the wrong language version ranks in a given market — that
confirms a live hreflang/targeting problem, not just a theoretical one.
---
## Phase 1 — Discover the hreflang signals
For each representative URL, find hreflang annotations in **all three** possible
locations and record where they live:
1. **HTML `<head>`** — `<link rel="alternate" hreflang="..." href="..." />`
2. **HTTP headers** — `Link:` header (common for PDFs / non-HTML).
3. **XML sitemap** — `<xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="...">` entries.
A site should use **one** method consistently. Using two that disagree is a
common bug — flag it.
---
## Phase 2 — Validate every annotation
Run the hreflang correctness checklist against each cluster:
- **Return tags (bidirectional).** If page A points to B with hreflang, B must
point back to A. Missing return tags = the entire annotation is ignored. This is
the #1 error — check it first.
- **Self-reference.** Each page must include an hreflang entry pointing to itself.
- **x-default.** Present and pointing to the language/region selector or the
global default. Recommended, not strictly required.
- **Valid codes.** Language is ISO 639-1 (`th`, `en`), region is ISO 3166-1
Alpha-2 (`TH`, `US`). Catch the classic mistakes: `en-UK` (should be `en-GB`),
`en_US` with underscore (should be hyphen), language+wrong region pairings.
- **Absolute, indexable URLs.** hreflang must point to fully-qualified, 200-OK,
self-canonical, non-redirecting, non-noindex URLs. A hreflang target that
redirects or is noindexed breaks the cluster.
- **Canonical conflict.** Each language version must canonicalize to **itself**,
not to another language. hreflang + cross-language canonical = self-sabotage.
This silently de-indexes translated pages — check it explicitly.
Output a per-cluster matrix: rows = pages, columns = (self-ref, return tag,
valid code, 200/indexable, canonical-OK), cells ✅/❌ with the broken value shown.
---
## Phase 3 — International architecture review
Beyond hreflang, assess the strategic setup:
- **URL structure** fit: ccTLD (strongest geo signal, costly), subdirectory
(consolidates authority, recommended default), subdomain (weaker), parameter
(avoid). Note what they use and whether it matches their goals.
- **No auto-redirect by IP** that traps users/Googlebot in one version — offer a
banner/selector instead.
- **Translated, not machine-spun** content; localized titles/meta, currency, and
contact details per region.
- **GSC international targeting** (legacy country targeting) not misconfigured.
---
## Phase 4 — Report
Produce:
1. **Hreflang verdict** — PASS / BROKEN, with the count of clusters affected.
2. **Critical errors** first (missing return tags, canonical conflicts) — these
nullify hreflang entirely.
3. **Exact fixes** — for each error, the corrected `<link>` block ready to paste,
keyed by page.
4. **Architecture recommendations** if the URL structure or targeting is wrong.
Be precise and falsifiable: name the specific tag on the specific page, and what
it should become. Write the report in the user's language.
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