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Google Treats Hreflang in Sitemaps and HTML the Same

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There are multiple ways to add hreflang annotations for webpages, but are any of the ways treated differently by Google?  Is one way processed faster than another?

The question came up on Twitter, and John Mueller from Google confirmed that Google treats each hreflang application the same, regardless of whether it is in HTML or added in a sitemap.

Someone else then made a comment that it seems one way of adding hreflang – via HTML – is processed faster than hreflang in sitemaps.  But Mueller debunked this.

Instead, it seems that as long as your CMS is pinging with sitemap changes, Google should pick up hreflang in sitemaps just as quickly.

As for the recommended way to implement hreflang, Google does recommend sitemaps.   This is because it is easier to update changes, and it reduces the changes of implementation failure when adding the annotations into the HTML of a page.

But either method works, and Google doesn’t treat them differently depending on which way you implement it, so use the implementation that works best for you.

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Jennifer Slegg

Founder & Editor at The SEM Post
Jennifer Slegg is a longtime speaker and expert in search engine marketing, working in the industry for almost 20 years. When she isn't sitting at her desk writing and working, she can be found grabbing a latte at her local Starbucks or planning her next trip to Disneyland. She regularly speaks at Pubcon, SMX, State of Search, Brighton SEO and more, and has been presenting at conferences for over a decade.

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