Check 12 of 23 · Can AI read the page?

The page says what language it is in

One small tag at the top of your page tells AI which language you write in. Without it, the engine guesses. Most platforms set it for you.

  • Who fixes itYou, or your web person
  • TimeAbout 5 minutes
  • Worth2 of 100 points
  • How sure we areLikely

What this is

At the very top of every web page there is a line that looks like this:

<html lang="en">

The lang part says what language the page is written in. “en” means English. “es” means Spanish. “en-US” means American English.

That is the whole tag: one word, once per page.

Why it matters to you

This is a 2-point check, so it is a small courtesy, not a big deal. When the tag is there, an engine does not have to guess your language. The guess is usually right for a plain English page. It gets shaky when a page mixes languages, or when you serve more than one market (say, English and Spanish pages on the same site).

The tag also helps screen readers say your words with the right accent, so it is good for accessibility too.

What we look for

We read the <html> tag at the top of your homepage.

  • Pass: it has a lang attribute with a value. Full points. The result shows what we found.
  • Warn: there is no lang attribute. Zero points.

There is no fail state for this check.

Whether you can fix this yourself

Yes, usually, and you may not need to. WordPress, Squarespace, Wix and Shopify all write this tag for you based on the site language you chose when you set up. If you are on one of those and got a warning, the fix is in your site’s language setting, not in code.

On a custom site it is one word added to one file, and a web person will do it in five minutes.

How to fix it

WordPress

Settings, then General, then “Site Language”. Pick your language and save. WordPress writes the tag from that setting.

Squarespace or Wix

Both set the tag from the site language. Search your platform’s help for “site language” to find the setting for your version. Make sure a language is selected.

Shopify

Settings, then Languages. The default language is written into the tag.

Your own site or a developer

Add the attribute to the opening html tag in your layout or template:

<html lang="en">

Use the code for your language. If you serve more than one language, each page should carry its own.

How to check it worked

Right-click your homepage, choose “View page source”, and look at the first few lines for <html lang=. Then run the free check again.

Do not worry about

Whether the value is “en” or “en-US” or “en-GB”. We only check that a value is there. Any real language code passes.