Do your language alternatives link back?
It checks reciprocal hreflang declarations between pages the crawl successfully read.
What Check Engine measures
At least 2 successful pages with hreflang are needed. Source and target addresses are compared without trailing slashes. Self-links and targets not in the successful crawl set are skipped. For each remaining declaration, the target must declare the source in return. A missing return relationship enters the finding. It is not inferred for an alternate URL whose page was never available to compare. For example, with 2 successful alternate pages, each can be checked for a return link to the other.
The check compares alternate-language declarations on successful pages. Targets that could not be loaded are skipped. No missing return link is claimed for those unchecked pages.
How to read the result
Missing return links are high severity. The result names a source and target pair, while incomplete target coverage limits which relationships the audit can judge.
Why it matters
An alternate-language relationship is meant to connect versions of content. Comparing both directions reveals a partial template update that looking at either page in isolation can miss.
How to fix it
Open the source and target declarations together. Add the intended reciprocal link with the correct language code and final URL, then check the rest of the same group for consistency. Keep the self-reference where appropriate. Crawl the target before treating a relationship outside the measured page set as confirmed broken or confirmed complete.
How to fix hreflang return tags
What we found in field audits
Problems in Crawlability & indexing were found on 12 of the 14 sites we audited. These are area totals. Read the field-audit method.
Method note
backend/seo_engine/checks/international.py, hreflang_return_tags, revision 0bb8e8d3.
Common questions
How many pages are needed to check alternate-language return links?
At least 2 successful pages carrying hreflang are needed. Both sides must be available for the relationship to be judged.
Can an uncrawled translation be called missing a hreflang return link?
No. A target outside the successful crawl set is left unchecked. Its return declaration cannot be inferred from an unavailable page.
How serious is a confirmed missing hreflang return link?
It has high severity. Review the reported source and target together before updating the alternate declarations.