The wrong country version ranks despite correct hreflang
hreflang helps Google pick between versions it has already indexed. The annotations do not force a choice, and Google overrides them when other signals disagree. A correct cluster still shows the US page in the UK when the UK page is missing from the index, looks like a duplicate, or has far weaker links.
Near-identical pages are the most common cause. Two English versions differing only in currency often get folded together, and Google then shows one canonical for both. Localised prices, contact details, shipping information and spelling help Google keep the versions apart. Search Console shows which URL Google chose as canonical for each version.
Geo-redirects make the problem worse. Googlebot crawls mostly from the United States, so a site redirecting visitors by location shows Googlebot only the US version. The geo tab in every report fetches the start URL from five countries to catch such redirects.
Check a cluster against every rule in this guide.