You’ve optimized your keywords, fine-tuned your metadata, and invested heavily in content and backlinks. By all accounts, your SEO strategy should be rock solid. But despite all the hard work, your rankings aren’t where they should be, and some pages still remain underperformers.
The culprit? Orphan pages, which are hidden, disconnected from your internal linking structure, and completely overlooked by users and search engines.
The issue of orphan pages is bigger than you think.
They are going unnoticed by the Google crawlers, but that's not it; they are also diluting your website's crawl efficiency.
Without internal links, they’re virtually invisible—cutting off vital traffic, reducing indexability, and impacting your site's overall performance.
In this blog, we'll explore how to identify and fix orphan pages, helping you reclaim lost rankings, enhance your site’s crawl ability, and fully optimize your SEO strategy. Let’s ensure that every page on your site works for—not against—your SEO goals.
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Orphan pages are web pages that lack internal links from other pages on the same website, meaning they are not accessible through the website's internal navigation and can only be found through external links, direct traffic, or if they are in the XML sitemap.
Search engines rely on internal links to discover, crawl, and index your content. Without those links, orphan pages become isolated, making them nearly invisible.
While they still technically exist within your website’s structure, orphan pages do not contribute to your overall SEO performance. In fact, they weaken it.
More critically, orphan pages increase bounce rate and decrease session duration, as users can't access valuable content that could have engaged them or guided them deeper into the conversion funnel.
By remaining disconnected, they waste valuable crawl budgets, reduce overall site visibility, and, most critically, prevent high-value content from being discovered and ranked.
Whether it’s a forgotten blog post, an unlinked landing page, or content pushed live without proper linking, orphan pages are silent but dangerous to your site’s SEO health.
Orphan pages essentially sabotage your SEO efforts. Below are a few reasons why orphan pages are bad for SEO:
i. Orphan pages often go unindexed because search engines struggle to discover them without internal links, severely limiting their visibility in search results.
ii. Orphan pages can impact crawl efficiency because search engines are less likely to prioritize crawling them without proper internal links. This can lead to missed opportunities for those pages to be indexed and discovered effectively.
iii. These pages miss out on link equity from other parts of your site, reducing their authority and ability to rank well.
iv. Orphan pages create a poor user experience since users can’t easily find them on your website structure.
v. They contribute to an inconsistent site structure, making it confusing for both users and search engines, which affects how well your site can be crawled and ranked.
Isolated pages aren’t just an SEO problem—they’re a missed business opportunity. Whether nurturing leads or closing sales, orphan pages fail to deliver visitors to key touchpoints that drive conversions.
Read our guide on common internal linking mistakes enterprises should not make. Let's look at the reasons why orphan pages gets created.
i. Neglected Content Updates: When content is created but not linked to existing pages, it can become orphaned, especially if it was added without a strategy for internal linking.
ii. Site Redesigns or Changes: During website redesigns or structural changes, some pages may lose their internal links, leading to orphaning without proper oversight.
iii. Content Migration: Moving content from one platform or structure to another can result in broken links or a lack of linking to the newly migrated pages.
iv. Unlinked Landing Pages: Marketing efforts, such as campaigns that create specific landing pages, may overlook linking them within the main site structure.
v. Outdated Pages: Old or less relevant content may not be linked from other pages, causing them to fall into obscurity over time. Learn how to remove the outdated content using GSC in simple steps.
Let's find out how to discover orphan pages and reintegrate them into your internal linking strategy.
Identifying orphan pages requires more than a quick glance at your sitemap. These pages are buried within your site, often escaping notice because they aren’t tied into your internal linking structure.
You need a methodical approach using advanced tools and strategies to properly address them.
An internal linking audit is the most effective way to identify orphan pages. By examining your site's entire internal link structure, you can quickly spot pages with no incoming links.
This audit should be comprehensive, covering every section and URL on your site, ensuring that every valuable page is integrated into the overall SEO ecosystem.
Another simple way to find orphan pages in your website link structure is by comparing your sitemap against the pages indexed by Google. Pages indexed in Google Search Console but showing little or no traffic in often indicate orphaned content.
Follow the below steps:
i. Go to Google Search Console > Pages under the Indexing section.
ii. Review the Indexed pages report to identify which pages are being indexed.
iii. Export your indexed pages & compare this to your sitemap using a tool like Screaming Frog or Excel. If any pages in your sitemap aren’t indexed, they could be orphan pages.
It’s a quick way to flag potential SEO dead zones.
With Google Analytics, finding orphan pages requires a customized approach. Here's how you can find orphan pages with Google Analytics.
In GA4, you can create custom reports to track pages with little or no traffic. Here's how:
i. Go to Explore in the left-hand menu and click on Blank to create a new exploration.
ii. In the Variables panel, click + next to Dimensions. Then search for and select either Page path + query string or Page path and screen class, depending on your reporting needs, and then click Import.
iii. In the Variables panel, click + next to Metrics, then search for and select Event Count, Views, or Sessions as your metric. Click Import.
iv. Drag Page path + query string or Page path and screen class to the Rows section.
v. Drag Views or Event Count to the Values section.
vi. Add a filter to exclude pages with zero or very low page views by clicking the Filter section and setting a condition to filter pages with low traffic.
This will give you an idea of pages that are not receiving traffic, which might be orphaned pages.
Advanced site crawling tools like Screaming Frog are indispensable for uncovering orphan pages. These crawlers map your entire website’s internal linking architecture, allowing you to spot any isolated pages. Here's a step-by-step approach on how you can find orphan pages in screaming frog:
i. Start by crawling your website. Go to Configuration > API Access and connect Google Analytics and Google Search Console. This integration allows Screaming Frog to retrieve data on pages receiving traffic and indexed by Google.
ii. After the crawl, go to the Orphan Pages Report under the Crawl Analysis section. This will highlight pages that exist but have no internal links.
iii. Review the output to instantly identify which URLs are orphaned and further fix the internal linking gaps that are stunting your SEO efforts.
Pro Tip: Use site crawlers in conjunction with log file analysis to see which orphan pages have been recently crawled but remain unlinked. This hybrid approach ensures you focus on orphan pages that search engines are still actively trying to index.
Compare your XML sitemap with the actual internal navigation structure of your website. Any page that appears in your sitemap but is not discoverable through your internal links is a red flag.
It ensures that your most important pages, listed in the sitemap, are fully integrated and accessible to both users and search engines.
For the most thorough approach, analyze your server log files to track how search engine crawlers navigate your website. Pages with minimal or no crawler activity could be orphaned, signaling a lack of internal links. Here's how to do it:
i. Download the log files from your web server.
ii. Analyze them with a tool like Screaming Frog's Log File Analyzer.
iii. Cross-reference pages crawled by Google but not linked internally to uncover orphan pages.
Log file analysis is a deeper, more technical method but highly effective for identifying unlinked pages on larger enterprise sites. Especially when you can connect the list of the log file pages with other data sets like GSC and HTML crawling to find which URLs are absent from these lists. However, for smaller websites, simpler tools like Google Search Console or crawling software can offer more accessible alternatives.
While we now know how to identify orphan pages on a website, it is essential to establish that they are different from dead pages on any website. Let's quickly look at how both differ from each other:
i. Orphan Pages: These are pages on your site that lack internal links, making them inaccessible through your site’s navigation. However, they might still be discovered via external sources, direct URLs, or sitemaps. To fix orphan pages, establish meaningful internal links that integrate them into your site’s structure, ensuring both search engines and users can find them easily.
ii. Dead Pages: These are the pages that no longer exist or serve a purpose on your site (e.g., outdated or deleted content). They are addressed by either redirecting them to relevant content or properly handling them with a custom 404 error page to guide users and preserve a positive user experience.
Both orphan and dead pages can harm your website's performance and crawl efficiency.
Let us now look at how to fix orphan pages on a website.
Remember that the goal isn’t just to "fix" them but to re-integrate them into a comprehensive, optimized internal linking strategy that strengthens the entire site’s structure.
Start by strategically weaving orphan pages back into your internal linking framework. Identify the most relevant pages within your site and create contextual, authoritative links that guide users and search engines toward these isolated pages.
If the orphan page is a core page like a service or landing page, consider adding it to your main navigation or footer links.
Ensure that these links are placed naturally within high-authority, top-traffic pages to maximize their visibility and SEO impact.
Not every orphan page is worth saving. Conduct a thorough content audit to determine if these pages provide value. If a page lacks relevance, traffic, or engagement, it may be better to consolidate it with other content or redirect it to a higher-value page.
This not only declutters your site but also helps focus your SEO efforts on the most impactful content.
For orphan pages that still have potential, a fresh layer of optimization is essential. Update outdated information, improve keyword targeting, and optimize meta tags, headers, and URLs.
Ensure the content aligns with current user intent and is enhanced with relevant multimedia, such as images or infographics, to increase engagement and reduce bounce rates.
Incorporating orphan pages into your XML sitemap ensures that search engines are aware of these pages and can index them more effectively.
Submitting an updated sitemap to Google Search Console will expedite the re-crawling process and reintroduce the orphan pages into search results, improving their discoverability.
But this alone isn’t enough. You should also add internal links to connect these pages to the rest of your site.
For large websites, managing your crawl budget becomes critical. Orphan pages can waste crawl resources, especially if they're low-quality or not meant for indexing.
i. Use log file analysis to see how often search engine bots visit orphan pages.
ii. Implement noindex tags for orphan pages that aren’t valuable for SEO or user experience but still need to exist (e.g., legal disclaimers or login pages).
Revamping your site’s architecture to prevent orphan pages from forming is essential for long-term SEO success. This includes:
i. Flattening the Architecture: Reducing the number of clicks required to reach any page.
ii. Dynamic Linking: Use automated internal linking strategies, where tools automatically link related content, reducing the chance of orphan pages forming. Dynamic linking needs to be done carefully, and only meaningful links should be added that help users and make sense of your site structure.
In the case of preventing orphan pages, one line goes a long way: "An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure." Instead of scrambling to fix these issues after they arise, adopting a proactive approach can save time, effort, and resources.
Schedule periodic content audits to check for orphan pages. This helps you identify and address any isolated content before it becomes problematic.
When redesigning or migrating your site, have a checklist in place to ensure all pages maintain their internal links. Use tools to track any changes that might lead to orphaning.
Organize your website with a logical hierarchy that facilitates linking. Use categories and subcategories to ensure all pages are easily accessible.
Maintain an up-to-date XML sitemap that lists all your pages. This helps search engines discover all content and allows you to easily monitor for orphan pages.
The process of addressing orphan pages—whether through regular audits, strategic linking, or content updates—will strengthen your entire website, enhancing user experience and optimizing your search engine visibility.
With the right tools and a proactive mindset, orphan pages don't have to derail your SEO efforts. Instead, they can become a valuable part of a more cohesive and effective website architecture, driving better results and ensuring that your SEO strategy is fully optimized.
Advanced SEO tools like Quattr can enable your team to find all the sitemap errors in one place. They also enable you to track the performance of each page on your website, making it easier for you to identify pages with no traffic signaling an orphan page error. Additionally, Quattr also offers a wide range of advanced SEO tools to help webmasters optimize their websites and improve their search engine visibility.
Not necessarily. Landing pages can become orphan pages if no other page on your website links to them. Regularly review your internal links to avoid this.
Yes, but it's not ideal. Orphan pages can be indexed via external links or sitemaps, but they typically rank lower due to the lack of internal links indicating their importance.
Use crawling tools to identify orphan pages and review the content relevance. You can either remove it via CMS or use 301 redirects to the relevant page.
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