Control automatic hreflang tags in Shopify

When we audit multilingual Shopify stores, one problem turns up again and again. Two sets of hreflang tags on the same page. One from Shopify, one from an SEO app or a snippet someone added to the theme years ago. They rarely agree.

Shopify now gives you control. Since the 10th of July 2026, you can turn automatic hreflang tags on or off in your admin. The setting is on by default and generates tags from your Markets language and domain settings. Most stores should leave it on. If you manage hreflang yourself, turning Shopify's version off stops the duplicates.

What changed on the 10th of July?

Shopify's changelog entry adds one setting. You'll find it under Online Store > Preferences, in the Social sharing and SEO section.

By default, Shopify creates hreflang tags automatically based on how you've set up languages and domains in Markets. That hasn't changed. What's new is the option to switch it off, so merchants who manage hreflang another way can avoid duplicate tags.

What does hreflang do?

In Shopify's words, hreflang tags "tell search engines which language or region version of a page to serve to which visitors".

A store selling in French, Dutch and English has three versions of each page. Hreflang tags link those versions together. They help search engines show the French page to a French speaker and the Dutch page to a Dutch speaker. Without them, the versions can look like competing copies.

That's why this matters so much for stores like the ones we build in Belgium. Our guide to running a French, Dutch and English store from Belgium covers the wider setup. Hreflang is one small part of it, but a part that quietly breaks.

Should you turn automatic hreflang off?

For most stores, no. If your languages and domains are set up properly in Markets, Shopify's tags reflect that setup. They also update when you add a language or market.

Turning it off makes sense when you're managing hreflang yourself. The cases we see most often are these.

• An SEO app that already outputs hreflang tags and can't be told to stop.
• Custom theme code that someone added before Markets handled this, and that the team relies on.
• A setup with separate stores for different countries, where you link the stores to each other yourself.

In each case, the choice is which source to keep. Two sources on the same page is the one option to avoid.

How do you check your store for duplicates?

You don't need an SEO tool to spot the problem. Start with a product page in one of your languages.

1. Open the page in your browser and view the page source.
2. Search for "hreflang".
3. Count the tags. You'd expect one per language or region version, plus perhaps an x-default.
4. If each language appears twice, or the URLs in two sets don't match, you have duplicates.
5. Repeat on a collection page and the homepage. Apps sometimes add tags to some templates and not others.

A site crawl gives you the full picture across every page. Search Console helps too, especially if a language version isn't being indexed or shown where you'd expect.

Then find the source of the extra set. Check installed SEO apps, the theme's layout file and any snippets with "hreflang" in them. Shopify builds its set from your Markets languages and domains, so compare each set against those settings. The one that doesn't follow them is usually the extra.

What should you do before switching it off?

Decide what replaces it. Turning Shopify's tags off without another source leaves search engines with no language signals at all.

• Confirm the replacement covers every template and every language.
• Check the replacement updates when you add a language or market. Hard-coded tags often don't.
• Make the change at a quiet time and recheck the page source straight after.
• Watch Search Console over the following weeks for pages showing in the wrong language.

If you're also customising the storefront by market, keep the two in step. Shopify's option to customise your theme and checkout for each market changes what each market sees. Hreflang should point each visitor to that version.

A migration is the other moment to get this right. When URLs change, hreflang links have to change with them. Our guide to keeping your Google rankings through a migration covers the redirect side.

Where parallel helps

We build multilingual Shopify stores from Belgium, where French, Dutch and English on one store is normal. Language, markets and SEO settings are part of every Shopify design and build we deliver, and we check for duplicate tags as part of launch.

If you're not sure what your store is telling search engines, send us your store and we'll check it for you.