Orphaned pages are pages on your website that are not linked from any other internal page. While these pages might still be indexed by search engines if submitted via sitemap or crawled externally, they are isolated from the internal structure of your site—making them difficult to find for both users and bots.
Why Fixing Orphaned Pages is Important
- Poor Crawlability: Search engine bots rely heavily on internal links. Orphaned pages may be overlooked in routine crawling.
- Wasted SEO Potential: Pages without internal links don’t receive link equity (“link juice”) from your site, which limits their ability to rank.
- Bad User Experience: Visitors can't find orphaned pages easily, even if the content is valuable.
- Site Structure Damage: A disconnected page weakens the cohesion of your website's architecture.
How to Find Orphaned Pages
1. Use a Site Crawler + Analytics Combo
Combine data from a site crawler (like Screaming Frog, Sitebulb, or Ahrefs Site Audit) with your website traffic sources to uncover pages that exist but aren't internally linked.
- Run a full site crawl using a tool like Screaming Frog to detect all pages that are linked internally.
- Export a list of all known URLs from your CMS, sitemap, or Google Analytics.
- Compare the lists: Pages in the sitemap/analytics but missing from the crawl report are orphaned.
2. Check with Google Search Console
Use the Pages report in GSC under Indexing → Pages to find URLs that are “Indexed, not submitted in sitemap” or “Discovered - currently not indexed.” These may indicate orphaned or weakly linked pages.
3. Use Log File Analysis
Server logs can reveal pages accessed by users or bots that aren't part of your internal link structure.
How to Fix Orphaned Pages
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Add Internal Links:
Find relevant content on other pages and link naturally to the orphaned page. For example, if the orphaned page is about “vegan protein sources,” link it from your “vegan diet” or “nutrition tips” pages.
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Update Navigation:
If the page is important, add it to your main navigation menu or footer.
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Include in Sitemaps:
Make sure the page is in your sitemap.xml so search engines can still discover it during initial crawls.
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Assess Page Value:
If the orphaned page is outdated or irrelevant, consider updating or removing it altogether to avoid index bloat.
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Create Topic Clusters:
Group orphaned pages with related content under a category page to improve site structure and internal link flow.
Strategic Tips
Use contextual internal linking: Don’t just link from unrelated places; ensure the anchor text is relevant and placed within logical contexts to maximize SEO value.
Fixing orphaned pages boosts crawl budget efficiency: Bots prioritize pages based on internal links. Ensuring no page is orphaned ensures better crawl distribution.
Summary
Orphaned pages hurt your site’s usability, SEO strength, and structure. By identifying and linking to these pages strategically, you enhance discoverability, boost internal link equity, and improve user engagement.
Regularly auditing your site for orphaned pages should be a part of your ongoing technical SEO strategy.