You launched your brand in Europe. You set up a localized domain or subfolder and translated the content but without Shopify Hreflang Tags, search engines may still send users to the wrong version.
Then you check your analytics.
Traffic is flat. German users are bouncing. And when you Google your brand from Berlin, you see… the US version of your homepage.
This is an International SEO Disaster.
When Google serves the wrong country version of your site to a user, it’s not just an annoyance; it’s a revenue killer. German users don’t want to see prices in USD, and they certainly don’t want to pay international shipping duties.
The culprit is almost always broken Hreflang Tags.
While Shopify Markets has made going global easier, its automated handling of these critical SEO tags often breaks when you add translation apps or custom domains into the mix.
Here is why your international SEO is failing and the theme.liquid code fix to resolve it.
The Hreflang “Handshake” Explained
Hreflang tags are a signal to Google that says: “Hey, this page is the German version of that US page.”
For these tags to work, there must be a Bidirectional Handshake.
The US page must point to the German page.
The German page must point back to the US page.
If Page A links to Page B, but Page B doesn’t link back, Google ignores the signal completely. It assumes it’s a mistake. This is where most Shopify stores fail.
Where Shopify Markets Messes Up
Shopify Markets attempts to generate these tags automatically. However, three common scenarios cause it to fail:
1. The “App Conflict”
If you use a third-party translation app (like Langify or Weglot) alongside Shopify Markets, you often end up with duplicate hreflang tags.
Shopify injects one set.
The App injects another set.
Result: Google sees conflicting instructions and ignores both.
2. The Canonical Contradiction
This is a silent killer. Even if your hreflang tags are perfect, they will break if your Canonical Tag is wrong.
If your German page (
/de/product-a) has a canonical tag pointing to the US page (/product-a), you have told Google: “This German page is a duplicate. Ignore it.”You cannot have Hreflang pointing to a non-canonical URL.
3. The Missing x-default
You must define a “default” version for users who don’t match any specific language (e.g., a user from Japan visiting your US/EU store). Without a clear x-default tag, Google guesses and often guesses wrong.
(This level of technical conflict is why we often warn about the complexities of app integrations, similar to the issues seen with Shopify custom app deprecation).
The Solution: Programmatic Hreflang in Liquid
If Shopify’s native settings aren’t cutting it, you need to take manual control.
We disable the app’s automatic insertion and the theme’s default logic, and we write a custom loop in theme.liquid (inside the <head> section).
The Logic We Need: We need to loop through every available market/locale and print a clean link.
Code snippet
{% comment %} Datronix Tech Custom Hreflang Logic {% endcomment %}
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="{{ canonical_url | replace: shop.domain, 'yourbrand.com' }}" />
{% for locale in shop.published_locales %}
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="{{ locale.iso_code }}" href="{{ canonical_url | replace: shop.domain, locale.primary_domain_url }}" />
{% endfor %}
Note: This is a simplified logic. In a real production environment, we often have to write complex if/else statements to handle specific currency folders (e.g., ensuring en-gb points to the UK domain and en-us points to the global domain).
Validating the Fix
Once the code is deployed, you cannot just “hope” it works. You must validate it.
View Source: Right-click your homepage. Do you see the tags? Are the URLs absolute (containing
https://)?Google Search Console: Check the “International Targeting” report (if available) or the “Indexing” tab for errors.
Hreflang Testing Tools: Use a third-party crawler to verify the bidirectional return links.
Why This Matters for Organic Traffic
We have discussed the role of SEO in driving organic traffic before, but nowhere is it more tangible than international expansion.
If you fix this tag, you don’t just get “better rankings.” You get:
Lower Bounce Rate: Users land on the language they can read.
Higher Conversion: Users see the currency they pay in.
Correct Indexing: Your German site actually starts appearing in Google.de.
Conclusion: Don’t Let Code Kill Your Expansion
Expanding to a new country is expensive. Logistics, marketing, legal it adds up. Don’t let a few lines of code in your header ruin the investment.
If your international traffic is flatlining, stop blaming the market. Blame the tags.
Is Google ignoring your international sites? 👉 Get a Global SEO Technical Audit We will crawl your site and pinpoint exactly where your Hreflang tags are conflicting.
