Orphan Pages Guide: Impact on SEO and How to Find & Fix

Internal linking is invaluable for both users and search engines to discover other pages of your website. 

When pages have no incoming links to them, orphan pages are created.

In this guide, we’ll define what an orphan page is, how they affect SEO, and how you can find, fix and monitor orphan pages to prevent them from harming your SEO performance. We’ll also answer some frequently asked questions.

What is an orphan page?

Orphan pages are web pages that don’t have any internal links from other pages of your site. You may sometimes see them called isolated pages.

Think of orphan pages like a place you’d want to visit. Only there are no roads connecting you to the place, meaning you can’t access it. This presents a major problem.

How do orphan pages impact SEO?

Just like the analogy of the place with no connecting roads, orphan pages stand alone and are not visited by users. They can impact SEO in various ways.

The page is not indexed

Internal links act as a signpost for search engines to find, crawl and index other pages. Without incoming internal links, orphan pages are hard to find. 

There’s a much higher chance of orphan pages not being indexed, which means they will not be shown to users in search results. 

Orphan pages can, however, be discovered, crawled and indexed if they are in your sitemap.

You should do all you can to make it easy for search engines to find and index your content.

The page struggles to rank for keywords

Even in the case that orphan pages are added to Google’s index, it’s going to be a real struggle to get those pages to rank for any keywords. 

Internal links pass link equity – value passed from one page to another. So without that link equity, you’re not signalling to search engines that those pages are important. 

Link equity is just one of the many factors that can help your content rank for keywords.

• Learn more about internal linking best practices

Users do not discover the content

You could have really useful information on the orphaned pages, but without links to them, users don’t know they exist. 

Orphan web pages create a bad user experience as helpful content is essentially invisible to users if it can’t be found.

Causes of orphan pages

We know that orphan pages have no incoming links. But what are some of the common causes that create orphan pages?

• New pages are not added to the menu navigation or site structure
• Site hierarchy has undergone a restructure but internal links haven’t been considered
• Site migration hasn’t been properly planned, so pages are left orphaned. Migrations should always be carefully considered. Check out our site migration checklist 
• Pages are not included in the sitemap
• Products are not categorised properly, so can’t be found
• Outdated pages are still live, such as past events or old campaigns
• Internal links and site as a whole are not regularly audited or updated (Google favours fresh, up-to-date content)

How to find orphan pages on a website

Orphan pages can be identified using auditing tools.

Orphan page checker tools

Sitebulb

You can crawl your site with Sitebulb and it will provide SEO hints, with the most urgent being flagged as ‘critical’ or ‘high’. Sitebulb calls orphan pages ‘isolated URLs’ and these can be found in the Indexability report.

Sitebulb also integrates with Google Analytics and Search Console data for further insights.

Screaming Frog

Screaming Frog is another tool that allows you to crawl your site. Screaming Frog provides lots of data, including orphan pages on your site.

Screaming Frog also has the option of integrating with your Google Analytics and Search Console data.

Ahrefs

Ahrefs’ Site Audit crawl will highlight if there are orphan pages present on your website. Make sure you enable crawling of your sitemap.

Semrush

Semrush’s Site Audit tool will crawl your site, highlighting any issues including orphan pages.

How to fix orphan pages

Now we’ve used a tool to identify them, it’s time to fix the orphan pages of your site.

Orphan pages are easy to fix. You just need to add links from relevant pages to the orphan page. 

Consider linking in your navigational menu, sitemap, from the homepage and other relevant pages.

How else to address orphan pages

If you don’t want to build links to your orphan pages, there are other ways to approach them.

Add a redirect

If a page is orphaned because it’s been replaced by a new version of the page, implement a 301 redirect.

301 redirects keep any link equity, and direct both search engines and users to the newest version of the page.

Add a noindex tag

Perhaps the page was intentionally left out of the navigational menu and site structure. In which case, you should add a noindex tag that instructs search engines not to add that page to their index. Users will then not be able to find the page from search results. 

Because there’s still a chance that crawlers can find orphan pages via the sitemap or external backlinks, a noindex tag is the best way of ensuring that orphan pages don’t harm your site performance.

Delete the orphan page

In cases where a 301 redirect or noindex tag are not viable options, you may consider deleting the orphan page. 

Before you delete it, check that the page is not providing any value, such as external backlinks.

Preventing & monitoring orphan pages

Regularly monitoring orphan pages is important to prevent them from harming your SEO efforts.

We recommend running a crawl with an auditing tool on a regular basis. You should also check for any errors in Google Search Console. 

Be especially vigilant around any big site changes, such as migrations or site restructuring.

Final thoughts

You may create the best optimised content, but orphan pages can hinder your SEO if not dealt with properly. Orphan web pages are much less likely to be indexed, so users can’t find the content and it will struggle to rank for keywords.

For expert advice, get in touch with us for a free website review.

Orphan pages FAQs

Are orphaned pages bad?

Orphan pages can be bad for your SEO efforts. Because they have no links to them, orphan pages are less likely to be found, crawled and added to Google’s index. This can harm your ability to rank for keywords, and prevent users from finding your pages.

Are empty pages bad for SEO?

Having empty pages with no content or having thin content can be bad for SEO. Your site is much less likely to rank high for keywords with thin or no content. It can especially harm your SEO efforts if you have a lot of empty pages or thin content.

How do I solve ‘orphan page has no incoming internal links’?

It’s easy to solve ‘orphan page has no incoming internal links’. Use an auditing tool and run a crawl to identify the orphan pages. Once you know which pages are orphaned, link from other relevant pages of your site to the orphan pages. You may also add them to your menu structure.

Can Google crawl orphan pages?

Google is still able to crawl and index orphan pages if they are linked from your XML sitemap, have any incoming redirects or canonicals that reference the orphan page, or are found via external backlinks. There is, however, a much smaller chance that Google’s bots can find, crawl and index orphan pages because of the lack of internal links.

Can orphan pages be indexed?

Orphan pages are much less likely to be indexed than pages that have internal links pointing to them. There’s a small chance they may still be found, crawled and indexed if they are linked from your XML sitemap or have external backlinks.

How to find orphaned pages in Google Search Console?

Site auditing tools such as Sitebulb and Screaming Frog allow integration with Google Search Console data. 

1. Go to the ‘Pages’ Performance report in Search Console. Select the largest date range possible and ensure Impressions are included in the data. 
2. Export the URLs and upload the list to a crawling tool like Sitebulb or Screaming Frog. 
3. Run a crawl with Search Console data and one without, and compare the two. If a URL is missing from the crawl data without Search Console integrated, you have an orphan page.