Worked example
A Hreflang Return-Link Failure, Step by Step
A controlled hreflang example: a translated page loads but has no return annotation. See what to change and what a repeat check can confirm.
By Starry Research Labs · Published and reviewed
What the test reproduces
This is a controlled example from our checker tests, run on October 17, 2026. Synthetic HTML represents an English page and a translated equivalent. It does not describe a customer's website or its search performance.
The English page links to the translated equivalent with a language alternate annotation. The translated page returns HTTP 200 but has no alternate link back to the English URL. The checker records a missing return link. A successful HTTP response alone does not settle the annotation problem.
What changes in the corrected version
The translated page adds an alternate annotation pointing back to the original English URL. Both equivalent pages include the intended language set and their own language entry. Each canonical continues to identify the preferred URL for its own content.
In the corrected test response, the checker records the return link as found. This confirms the annotation in the sampled HTML. It does not establish that a search engine has accepted the language grouping.
How to repeat it on your site
Run the hreflang checker on one public language page. Review the actual alternate destination, final response and return annotation for each sampled equivalent. If a page cannot be fetched, its return-link result is unknown.
Our free check samples up to six alternate URLs. Inspect the rest of a larger language set separately. After editing the template, run a fresh check and compare the evidence with the saved report.
Sources and method
External references were reviewed for this guide. Examples and tool workflows are our own. The launch audit records our public website observations, with no ranking or citation claim.