"Your site has no hreflang tags." [Google Webmastertools - International Targeting]. How to fix this error?

Question

I don't know if it's the right place to ask, but on the Google forum there is no reaction. I'm getting this error even though I made the sitemap.xml as it is should be. Or am I wrong?

The domain is: www.szerelemguru.ro and the sitemap.xml to it is the following:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"
  xmlns:xhtml="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
  <url>
    <loc>http://szerelemguru.ro/de/</loc>
    <xhtml:link rel="x-default" hreflang="de-de" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/de/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="ro-ro" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/ro/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-gb" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/en/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-us" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/en/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="fr-fr" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/fr/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="it-it" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/it/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="hu-hu" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/" />
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>http://szerelemguru.ro/ro/</loc>
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="de-de" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/de/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="x-default" hreflang="ro-ro" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/ro/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-gb" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/en/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-us" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/en/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="fr-fr" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/fr/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="it-it" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/it/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="hu-hu" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/" />
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>http://szerelemguru.ro/en/</loc>
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="de-de" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/de/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="ro-ro" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/ro/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="x-default" hreflang="en-gb" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/en/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-us" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/en/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="fr-fr" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/fr/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="it-it" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/it/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="hu-hu" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/" />
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>http://szerelemguru.ro/fr/</loc>
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="de-de" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/de/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="ro-ro" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/ro/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-gb" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/en/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-us" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/en/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="x-default" hreflang="fr-fr" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/fr/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="it-it" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/it/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="hu-hu" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/" />
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>http://szerelemguru.ro/it/</loc>
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="de-de" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/de/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="ro-ro" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/ro/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-gb" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/en/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="fr-fr" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/fr/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="x-default" hreflang="it-it" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/it/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="hu-hu" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/" />
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>http://szerelemguru.ro/</loc>
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="de-de" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/de/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="ro-ro" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/ro/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-gb" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/en/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-us" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/en/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="fr-fr" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/fr/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="it-it" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/it/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="x-default" hreflang="hu-hu" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/" />
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>http://szerelemguru.ro/en/</loc>
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="de-de" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/de/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="ro-ro" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/ro/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-gb" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/en/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="x-default" hreflang="en-us" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/en/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="fr-fr" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/fr/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="it-it" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/it/" />
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="hu-hu" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/" />
  </url>
</urlset>

Why is this error? What am I missing? Any help is welcome! Thank you in advance!

Answer 1

I can detect two errors in your configuration:

1. You have put the x-default value in the rel parameter and it should be a value for the hreflang parameter.

2. You are specifying a different x-default value for each location.

According to Webmasters blog from Google:

The new x-default hreflang attribute value signals to our algorithms that this page doesn’t target any specific language or locale and is the default page when no other page is better suited.

In your case, it looks that your default page is http://szerelemguru.ro/ and such url should be the one with hreflang="x-default".

Below is the correct code that you should use for your sitemap.

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    <urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9" xmlns:xhtml="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
    <url>
        <loc>http://szerelemguru.ro/de/</loc>
        <xhtml:link rel="alernate" hreflang="de-de" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/de/" />
        <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="ro-ro" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/ro/" />
        <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-gb" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/en/" />
        <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-us" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/en/" />
        <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="fr-fr" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/fr/" />
        <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="it-it" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/it/" />
        <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/" />
    </url>
    <url>
        <loc>http://szerelemguru.ro/ro/</loc>
        <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="de-de" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/de/" />
        <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="ro-ro" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/ro/" />
        <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-gb" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/en/" />
        <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-us" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/en/" />
        <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="fr-fr" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/fr/" />
        <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="it-it" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/it/" />
        <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/" />
    </url>
    <url>
       <loc>http://szerelemguru.ro/en/</loc>
       <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="de-de" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/de/" />
       <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="ro-ro" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/ro/" />
       <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-gb" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/en/" />
       <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-us" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/en/" />
       <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="fr-fr" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/fr/" />
       <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="it-it" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/it/" />
       <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/" />
    </url>
    <url>
        <loc>http://szerelemguru.ro/fr/</loc>
        <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="de-de" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/de/" />
        <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="ro-ro" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/ro/" />
        <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-gb" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/en/" />
        <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-us" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/en/" />
        <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="fr-fr" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/fr/" />
        <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="it-it" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/it/" />
        <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/" />
    </url>
    <url>
        <loc>http://szerelemguru.ro/it/</loc>
        <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="de-de" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/de/" />
        <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="ro-ro" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/ro/" />
        <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-gb" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/en/" />
        <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="fr-fr" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/fr/" />
        <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="it-it" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/it/" />
        <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/" />
    </url>
    <url>
        <loc>http://szerelemguru.ro/</loc>
        <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="de-de" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/de/" />
        <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="ro-ro" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/ro/" />
        <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-gb" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/en/" />
        <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-us" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/en/" />
        <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="fr-fr" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/fr/" />
        <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="it-it" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/it/" />
        <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="http://szerelemguru.ro/" />
    </url>
</urlset>

Answer 2

I guess google webmaster tools checks HTML head structure only to report hreflang errors (not sitemap). Try to implement hreflang: <link rel="alternate" hreflang="es" href="http://es.example.com/" /> in HTML as it's described here: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/189077?hl=en