Hreflang Points to Non-200 URL

What This Means

An hreflang tag on this page references a target URL that does not return an HTTP 200 OK response — either a 4xx error (the page is gone), a 3xx redirect (the page has moved), or a 5xx server error.

Why It Matters for SEO

An hreflang pointing to a dead URL is effectively a broken language reference. Search engines cannot serve a non-existent or unavailable page to users in the target language market. This commonly occurs after site migrations where regional pages are moved or removed without updating the hreflang implementation.

What the Platform Checks

The platform follows each hreflang href and records the HTTP status code. Fires when the hreflang target returns anything other than 200.

How to Fix It

• 404 target: Remove the hreflang tag for that language, or update it to point to the current URL for that language variant.
• 301 target: Update the hreflang href to point to the final destination URL (skip the redirect).
• 5xx target: Fix the server issue causing the error, or temporarily remove the hreflang for that language until the page is accessible.