# An English page and local visibility: what hreflang actually means | Illia BizTech

> Google

Source: https://illia-biztech.de/en/forum/fur-internationale-studierende-wollen-wir-eine-englische-seite-fur-unsere-sprachschule-in-dresden-verwassert-das-unsere-lokale-sichtbarkeit-auf-deutsch

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# We want an English page for international students on our language school's website in Dresden, would that dilute our German local visibility

Google draws a distinction between deliberate country-targeting of a site and plain language alternatives via hreflang, with different consequences for visibility.

* ##### Asked by  
RestlessAnchor131
* ##### Asked on  
October 9, 2026

TU Dresden's own figures put enrollment at around 29,000 students, 18.9% of them from 128 countries. For our language school in Dresden we are considering adding an English version of the site, aimed specifically at international students.

A friend warned that an extra language could weaken our German site's local search standing. Is there anything to that worry?

#### Answers

![Portrait of Illia Belichenko, technical specialist at Illia BizTech](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/small_Illia_Belichenko_author_81f88864f0.png)

##### Illia Belichenko · Founder & Technical Lead

✓ Accepted answer October 9, 2026 

That worry applies to a different setting than the one needed here. Google's Search Central documentation on multilingual and multi-regional sites does describe a trade-off, but only for deliberately country-targeting a page or section, a move that can improve visibility in the target country at the expense of other regions or languages.

That trade-off applies specifically to classic geotargeting configuration, such as a country-code domain or a deliberately country-scoped subdirectory. For hreflang tags, which simply mark language alternates of the same content, Google recommends using them without that caveat.

An additional English page with a correctly set hreflang tag does not automatically weaken the German version. Setting up exactly this kind of link cleanly is what [Illia BizTech](https://illia-biztech.de/en/webdesign-dresden) handles for this language school.

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**Topics** 
* Multilingual website
* hreflang

A language school in Dresden is weighing an English page for international students and worries about its German site. The trade-off Google describes concerns a different technical setting.

Google warns of visibility loss only for deliberate country-targeting. hreflang language alternates of the same content carry no such warning. A correctly configured English page does not automatically weaken the German one.