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Google Clarifies That Hreflang Alternate URLs Aren't Indexed Like Regular Pages

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TLDR

Gary Illyes clarified that hreflang alternate URLs are stored as variants rather than indexed pages in the traditional sense.

SEOFOMO News reports that Google's Gary Illyes distinguished between how hreflang URLs are treated versus standard indexing: hreflang alternates are retained by Google as alternate URLs to the main page rather than indexed independently. This means the hreflang URL itself isn't what gets indexed—it functions as a reference to an alternative version of the primary page URL.
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Topics:SEO News & Algorithm Updates
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