Orphan pages are website pages with nary interior links pointing to them. This makes them inaccessible done the site’s mean navigation, meaning users and hunt engines can’t find them by browsing oregon crawling your website.

However, users and hunt engines tin inactive find them done outer links oregon nonstop URL access. This means Google tin inactive scale them (more connected that soon).

You tin extremity up with orphan pages for tons of reasons, but the astir communal ones include:

• Poor internal linking: Forgetting to nexus caller pages from existing content
• Site migrations: Losing pages during tract moves (or immoderate different URL changes without putting redirects successful place)
• Deleted links: Removing interior links oregon pages that contained tons of them

For example, if you adhd a caller merchandise leafage but don’t nexus it from your main catalog, it becomes an orphan page.

Or ideate you person interior links betwixt 2 blog posts, Post A and Post B, but past you delete Post A. If Post A was the lone 1 linking to it, Post B mightiness go an orphan page.

What Counts arsenic an Orphan Page?

Strictly speaking, orphan pages person ZERO interior links from anyplace connected your site. Including homepage, blog roll, category, and navigational links.

However, pages that incorporate interior links, but lone from different orphan pages, are inactive orphans for each intents and purposes.

For example, let’s accidental you person 2 blog posts, B and C, that some nexus to each different and person links pointing to them from Post A. But these are the only links that constituent to them.

If Post A is an orphan page, Posts B and C are besides orphans, astatine slightest successful the discourse of the remainder of your site:

While they person interior links pointing to them, they’re disconnected from the wider tract structure. Users and hunt engines inactive wouldn’t beryllium capable to find them by pursuing links from the homepage.

So, essentially, these are besides orphan pages.

When Orphaned Pages Are Okay

You mightiness permission immoderate pages arsenic orphans intentionally—and that’s okay.

These could beryllium advertisement landing pages, exclusive offers for email subscribers, oregon backstage contented you don’t privation hunt engines oregon the nationalist to find easily.

For example, you wouldn’t internally nexus to a newsletter subscription confirmation page. So you wouldn’t interest astir that leafage being orphaned.

Can Google Index Orphan Pages?

Google tin inactive scale orphan pages if it finds them done your sitemap oregon outer links.

For example, idiosyncratic could find your orphan leafage by straight typing successful the URL (or possibly it wasn’t ever an orphan, but present is). They could past nexus to your page, and Google could travel that link.

It tin past determine to scale the page, adjacent though determination are nary interior links pointing to it.

But evidently you shouldn’t trust connected sitemaps unsocial oregon different sites linking to yours to get Google to scale your pages.

Why Orphan Pages Hurt Your SEO

Orphan pages wounded your SEO by making it harder for users and hunt engines to find your content. As a result, they tin interaction your rankings, traffic, and resources.

Let’s look astatine precisely however orphan pages mightiness beryllium holding your tract back.

Poor Rankings

Search engines trust connected links to find and scale pages. With nary interior links pointing to them, this makes it hard to find orphan pages. And if Google can’t find your orphan pages, it can’t scale them and past fertile them successful hunt results.

But adjacent if Google does scale an orphan page, it mightiness fertile poorly due to the fact that it lacks interior links that walk authorization and relevance signals.

Lower Organic Traffic

If your tract ranks poorly successful Google hunt results, it won’t pull overmuch integrated (unpaid) traffic.

Your click-through rate (or CTR) is tied mostly to your ranking position:

So if you fertile lower, you’ll astir apt spot little traffic. And if your orphan pages don’t fertile astatine all, they won’t spot ANY integrated traffic.

Inaccessible Content

Users can’t find orphan pages done mean tract navigation. This evidently has implications for your site’s performance, but it tin besides interaction the idiosyncratic experience.

For example, a utile FAQ leafage that you haven’t linked to won’t assistance your visitors.

And a pricing leafage that they can’t find without searching for it straight apt won’t assistance your conversion rate.

Wasted Crawl Budget

Having galore orphan pages tin besides discarded your crawl budget.

While a fewer orphan pages mightiness not beryllium a immense problem, having hundreds oregon thousands of them tin origin important issues.

So for large sites with thousands oregon millions of pages (like ample ecommerce stores), staying connected apical of your orphan pages is simply a MUST.

How to Identify Orphan Pages connected Your Website

To hole orphan pages and forestall them from harming your SEO, you archetypal request to find them.

But uncovering them reliably is simply a small tricky. After all, determination are nary links to them. And the main mode hunt engines and crawling tools find pages is done links.

So you sometimes person to get a small creative.

I’ve outlined a fewer of the champion ways to find orphaned pages below.

Use a Site Audit Tool

Various SEO platforms connection immoderate benignant of tract auditing tool. These enactment successful a akin mode to Google’s crawlers, truthful they tin beryllium a large mode to item method issues–like orphan pages.

They each enactment successful somewhat antithetic ways.

For example, Semrush’s Site Audit tool crawls your website to find each your pages, conscionable similar Google would.

It past looks astatine your XML sitemap and compares the database of URLs successful determination with the ones that person received traffic.

The instrumentality labels pages that person received postulation but aren’t successful your sitemap (or vice versa) arsenic orphans.

To usage it to find orphan pages, acceptable up a caller task and participate your domain. Configure the crawl settings, oregon permission them arsenic their defaults.

After moving the audit, navigate to the “Issues” tab. Then hunt for “orphan”:

By clicking connected these issues, you tin presumption the affected pages. (You whitethorn request to link your tract to Google Analytics first.)

The instrumentality mightiness emblem immoderate pages that you don’t request to interest about, similar URLs with parameters oregon aged URLs that you person since redirected oregon deleted.

But moving done this database tin assistance you isolate your site’s orphan pages.

Run a Screaming Frog Crawl

Screaming Frog is simply a almighty SEO crawling instrumentality that tin archer you A LOT astir your website’s method health.

This makes it a large enactment for identifying orphan pages.

To get started, caput to the crawl configuration surface wrong the tool. Choose whether you privation the instrumentality to car observe your sitemap, oregon taxable it manually.

Next, caput to the “API Access” tab and link your Google Analytics and Google Search Console accounts.

(This is technically optional, but you’re much apt to find each of your orphan pages if you fto Screaming Frog comparison its crawls with pages recovered successful these 2 tools.)

Make definite you prime the close Google Analytics information watercourse for the tract you’re crawling, past cheque the “Crawl New URLs Discovered In Google Analytics 4” container successful the “General” tab:

For Google Search Console, marque definite you prime the close property. Then, successful the “Search Analytics” tab, cheque the container for “Crawl New URLs Discovered In Google Search Console”:

Run your crawl, and erstwhile it’s complete, caput to the “Links” tab and look successful the “Crawl Depth” column. Crawl extent (or click depth) is simply a measurement of however galore clicks it takes for users to scope immoderate fixed URL from your homepage.

Any URLs with a blank crawl extent are orphan pages.

While you’re connected this report, it’s a bully thought to wage attraction to pages with large numbers successful this column. Not conscionable those with a blank cell.

As a regularisation of thumb, you should purpose to support each pages wrong 5 clicks, but ideally wrong 3.

(Exceptions to this see the likes of paginated blog rolls and categories. Or subcategories of products connected ecommerce sites.)

Why does this substance successful the discourse of orphan pages?

Because if you person a leafage that lone has 1 interior link—from leafage 130 of your blogroll—it’s going to beryllium VERY heavy successful your tract structure. Like 20+ clicks deep.

There’s a bully accidental Google and users volition conflict to find this page. So, portion you’re noting down your orphan pages, beryllium definite to enactment down immoderate that are rather acold from the homepage too—even if they bash person immoderate interior links.

Install a WordPress Plugin

This method isn’t rather arsenic foolproof arsenic immoderate of the others I’ve discussed. But if you’re utilizing WordPress, determination are a fewer plugins that tin assistance you place orphan pages and orphan posts.

One of the astir fashionable escaped SEO plugins, Rankmath, tin bespeak which of your pages are orphans. Just caput to the “Posts” oregon “Pages” country of your WordPress dashboard and look successful the “SEO Details” column.

(You mightiness request to click the “Screen Options” drop-down archetypal and prime it from there. And marque definite to click “Apply.”)

In the “SEO Details” column, you’ll spot a fewer symbols. Hovering implicit them shows a tooltip, and you’re looking for “Incoming Links.” Specifically, you’re looking for immoderate posts with a zero adjacent to that symbol.

These are posts (or pages) that person zero incoming interior links (i.e., orphan pages).

Now, determination are a fewer caveats to this:

First, the instrumentality lone shows in-content links here. It won’t prime up navigational links oregon links successful things similar blog rolls.

This means these posts aren’t needfully “true” orphans. Because users and hunt engines mightiness beryllium capable to find the leafage done your homepage, blog roll, oregon class pages.

However, you privation to physique interior links beyond these areas of your tract wherever imaginable anyhow (i.e., successful different applicable posts and pages).

Second caveat:

It would evidently instrumentality a agelong clip to spell done tons of posts and pages similar this manually. It’s good if you person a 100 oregon so, due to the fact that it’s lone a fewer pages you request to scan through.

But intelligibly this isn’t applicable for those with thousands of pages. That’s erstwhile you’ll privation to usage 1 of the different methods I discussed above.

However, if you person the pro mentation of the plugin, there’s really a filter for orphan pages to marque this easier. So it tin inactive beryllium a viable enactment for bigger sites, albeit not a escaped option.

How to Fix Orphan Pages and Improve SEO

How you lick your orphan leafage issues depends connected the crushed you person the orphan page.

Here’s a speedy flowchart to assistance you recognize which method to usage to hole your orphan pages:

Method 1: Add Internal Links

Use case: The orphan leafage is invaluable for users, oregon you tin update it to marque it useful

Example: A caller blog station that you haven’t added immoderate links to yet

To hole orphan pages that are invaluable and truthful shouldn’t beryllium orphans, conscionable adhd interior links to them.

Ideally, adhd interior links from applicable pages to these orphan pages (bonus points if the linking leafage gets a batch of traffic).

For example, if you person an orphaned nonfiction connected “Eco-Friendly Home Tips,” you could nexus to it from a fashionable blog station astir “Sustainable Living Practices.”

This helps users observe invaluable contented and signals to hunt engines that these pages are important.

We employment this benignant of interior linking strategy astatine Backlinko. For example, our SEO guide links to our related nonfiction connected SEO vs. SEM:

If your orphan leafage could go invaluable with immoderate updates, marque these changes and past adhd the interior links.

Method 2: Merge and Redirect

Use case: The orphan leafage isn’t wholly valuable, but you tin repurpose immoderate of the content, oregon it gets traffic/backlinks

Example: An outdated roundup leafage from 2022 that has immoderate contented you tin repurpose into a regularly updated evergreen list

If the orphan leafage isn’t each that invaluable connected its ain successful its existent state, and you can’t meaningfully update it to go useful, see merging it with different portion of applicable content.

For example, you could harvester immoderate of the contented successful an outdated database of “The Best Gaming Laptops 2022” station with your existent champion list. Then, redirect the aged leafage to the caller one.

But adjacent if you can’t salvage the page, it could inactive beryllium worthy redirecting the URL anyway.

Why?

Because it mightiness get postulation (either done rankings oregon referrals) and/or backlinks. And you don’t privation to suffer that postulation oregon the SEO benefits of those backlinks by conscionable deleting the page.

Using a 301 redirect should transportation the “link juice” from the orphan leafage to different applicable page.

Method 3: Use a “noindex” Tag

Use case: The leafage is useful, but you don’t privation hunt engines to crawl and scale it

Example: An advertisement landing leafage that users should lone beryllium capable to find done circumstantial ads

There are a fewer antithetic cases wherever you mightiness privation a leafage to beryllium accessible, but not indexable.

In different words: you privation definite radical to find it, but you don’t privation Google to amusement it successful hunt results.

The emblematic illustration of this is an advertisement landing page. Many sites volition usage non-indexable landing pages specifically for visitors arriving via paid advertising.

This lets them tailor their messaging and leafage layout without having to interest arsenic overmuch astir the SEO of the leafage (as it’s not designed to fertile organically).

For example, here’s an advertisement for task absorption bundle from Monday.com:

As you tin see, the leafage has a noindex tag:

This means the leafage astir apt doesn’t person immoderate interior links pointing to it—making it an orphan.

But Monday.com doesn’t request to interest astir that for this page.

Method 4: Delete the Page

Use case: The leafage is not useful, gets nary traffic, and has nary backlinks

Example: An aged blog station connected an outdated maneuver with nary repurposable content

Finally, if the orphaned leafage is not utile and doesn’t spot immoderate postulation (or backlinks), you mightiness see deleting it.

Another illustration of this could beryllium an out-of-stock merchandise leafage that isn’t coming back.

In these cases, you tin delete the leafage and guarantee it returns either a 404 (not found) oregon 410 (gone) status code.

Best Practices for Preventing Orphan Pages

Finding and fixing orphan pages tin beryllium tough, truthful ideally you privation to debar having immoderate successful the archetypal place.

Thankfully, it’s beauteous casual to forestall orphan pages. Just travel these champion practices:

Make Internal Linking a Habit

Develop a process for adding caller contented that includes interior linking arsenic a cardinal measurement successful the contented instauration phase. Whether it’s you penning the contented oregon a squad of writers and editors.

If you adhd interior links from the infinitesimal your squad creates immoderate caller content, you’re adding them proactively. Rather than having to frantically adhd them successful bulk crossed hundreds (or perchance thousands) of posts aboriginal down the line.

However:

It tin beryllium pugnacious for caller writers to get up to velocity with a website’s existing archives to recognize what to nexus to. We’ve had this contented astatine Backlinko.

That’s wherefore we promote caller writers to usage a tract hunt relation to find applicable contented to nexus to erstwhile they’re penning articles.

Here’s however to bash it:

Think astir a fewer keywords related to the portion of contented you’re trying to adhd interior links within. Then, benignant the pursuing into Google:

site:yourdomain.com “keyword(s)”

For example, if 1 of our writers was moving connected an nonfiction connected societal media marketing, they mightiness benignant “site:backlinko.com societal media” into Google.

Like this:

This gives them a clump of articles and pages that they could nexus to wrong that station astir societal media.

This is simply a useful “hack” for uncovering applicable articles to nexus to. But successful the discourse of eliminating and preventing orphan pages, you request a much precise approach.

Track and Monitor Your Internal Linking Efforts

One of the easiest ways to support way of and forestall orphan pages is to make a spreadsheet of each your content. Have a file for the URL and a file for the fig of interior links pointing to it.

How you stitchery this information volition beryllium connected the tools you use. If you usage WordPress, you tin usage plugins similar Rankmath similar I discussed earlier. Although this is simply a much manual process and again lone truly applicable for smaller sites.

If you usage Screaming Frog, look astatine the “Inlinks” file successful the “Links” presumption to spot the fig of interior links pointing to each crawled page. You tin export this information to marque it easier to enactment your spreadsheet together.

If you’re utilizing Semrush, caput to the “Crawled Pages” study successful Site Audit and look astatine the “Incoming Internal Links” file (you mightiness request to prime it successful the “Manage columns” menu).

Like with Screaming Frog, you tin export this information too.

But nary substance however you get the data, you’ll privation to benignant it into a spreadsheet with a file for the URL and a file with the fig of interior links to that URL.

Then, use a filter oregon different benignant the expanse by fig of interior links, from smallest to largest (or A-Z successful Google Sheets).

Obviously, commencement by prioritizing your orphan pages. But besides effort to adhd astatine slightest 2-3 interior links (or more) to each page.

You tin spell a measurement further by adding a 2nd expanse with the aforesaid file headers (you tin statement this 1 “Sorted by Link Count” oregon thing similar).

Then, adhd the pursuing look to compartment A2:

=SORT(Sheet1!A2:D, 2,True)

It should look similar this:

(You’ll request to set this if you person things successful somewhat antithetic places. But if you conscionable person a elemental two-column setup similar the 1 above, it should work.)

Then, immoderate clip you make a caller station oregon page, you adhd its URL to the archetypal expanse with “0” successful the interior links column. In the archetypal sheet, you past person each of your pages successful the bid you added them.

But successful the 2nd sheet, each posts with zero interior links (your orphan posts) volition ever automatically look astatine the top. Making it ace casual to find which posts you request to adhd links to.

You tin download this spreadsheet here and input your ain data.

Share this spreadsheet with your squad truthful they tin besides recognize which pages request interior links. This way, arsenic they’re penning caller content, they tin notation to the expanse to find opportunities to adhd links.

This attack makes it easier to recognize which pages request much interior links. But to larn however to adhd them successful the close places and successful the close ways, cheque retired our full usher to interior linking.

Avoid Orphan Pages with SEO Best Practices

Orphan pages tin interaction your SEO and your idiosyncratic experience.

Both of these tin person an interaction connected your rankings, traffic, and conversions. So you decidedly privation to debar having immoderate orphan pages connected your site.

Want to larn much astir improving your site’s SEO for amended performance?

Check retired our usher to SEO champion practices that’ll assistance you determination the ranking needle.

The station What Are Orphan Pages? <br>(How to Find & Fix Them) appeared archetypal connected Backlinko.