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Common SEO Error: Orphan Pages With No Internal Links

Mttao avatarMttao  included in  category SEO
     1198 words  6 minutes 

Recently while reviewing a website in Ahrefs, I encountered an SEO error: “Orphan pages of a website have no incoming internal links.” This notification typically indicates that “orphan pages on your website have no internal links pointing to them. Website visitors cannot access these pages from any other page on your site, and search engine crawlers can only discover them through sitemaps or external backlinks.”

Orphan pages can significantly impact your website’s search engine optimization (SEO) performance and user experience. In this article, we’ll explore what orphan pages are and how to find and fix them.

Simply put, orphan pages are pages on your website that have no internal links pointing to them. Imagine them as remote islands in your website’s continent, with no bridges (internal links) connecting them to other land masses. Users browsing your website cannot reach these pages by clicking links on other pages. Similarly, search engine crawlers have difficulty discovering these pages through normal link paths when crawling your site.

Orphan pages create two main problems:

  1. Negative Impact on Search Engine Optimization (SEO):

    • Discovery and Indexing Difficulties: Search engine crawlers (like Googlebot) primarily discover and crawl webpages by following links. If no internal links point to a page, crawlers may never find it, or can only discover it through XML sitemaps or rare external links. This reduces the page’s chances of being properly indexed.
    • Link Equity Distribution Interrupted: Internal links not only guide crawlers and users but also pass “link equity” between pages. Orphan pages cannot receive equity from other key pages on your site, making it difficult for them to rank well in search results, even if their content is valuable.
    • Content Value Underestimated: Search engines may consider pages without internal link support less important, affecting their visibility in relevant search queries.

  2. Negative Impact on User Experience:

    • Navigation Barriers: Users cannot find orphan pages through normal site navigation (menus, related article links, breadcrumb navigation, etc.). If these orphan pages contain information users might need, they’ll miss it.
    • Content Discovery Hindered: Even if users access orphan pages via external links or by directly entering the URL, they’ll struggle to navigate to other relevant sections of your site, potentially leading to higher bounce rates and poor user experience.
    • Chaotic Site Architecture: A large number of orphan pages may indicate unclear information architecture or maintenance issues.

Orphan pages can be created through various scenarios:

  • Website Structure Adjustments or Redesigns: When changing site structure or navigation, old links might be removed without creating new link paths for certain pages.
  • Content Pruning or Page Deletion: Removing certain pages (like category pages) without updating or removing links to their child pages can create orphans. Alternatively, removing parent pages can leave child pages without internal link sources.
  • Publishing New Content Without Linking: Creating new blog posts, product pages, or service pages but forgetting to add internal links from other relevant locations (homepage, category pages, related article recommendations, etc.).
  • Temporary Marketing Campaign or Landing Pages: Creating pages solely for specific advertising campaigns (like PPC) that may only be linked from external ads without being integrated into the site’s internal link structure. If these pages are retained after campaigns end, they can become orphans.
  • Technical Errors or CMS Issues: Website content management system (CMS) errors, plugin conflicts, or template issues can sometimes accidentally break internal links.
  • URL Structure Changes: Changing page URLs without properly setting up 301 redirects can invalidate old internal links, while new URLs might not be sufficiently linked.

Finding orphan pages requires specific tools and methods:

  1. Use Professional SEO Audit Tools: Most mainstream SEO tools (like Semrush, Ahrefs, Screaming Frog SEO Spider, Moz Pro, Sitebulb, etc.) have functionality to crawl websites and identify orphan pages. They typically do this by comparing a list of URLs discovered by the crawler with URLs found through XML sitemaps, external links, and other methods to identify pages lacking internal links.

    • Method: Run a complete site crawl. Look for sections labeled “Orphan Pages” or similar in the report.

  2. Compare Sitemap with Crawl Data:

    • Get a list of all URLs on your website (e.g., from your XML sitemap).
    • Use a crawler tool (like Screaming Frog) to crawl your site and obtain a list of all URLs discoverable through internal links.
    • Compare these two lists. URLs present in the sitemap list but not in the crawl list are likely orphan pages (excluding special cases where pages are intentionally not linked but should be indexed).

  3. Check Google Search Console: While it doesn’t directly list orphan pages, you can view the “Pages” report to see which pages are indexed. Combined with crawl data, you can indirectly identify potential orphans. The “Links” report also shows internal linking patterns, though identifying orphan pages this way isn’t straightforward.

Once you understand what orphan pages are, fixing them is usually straightforward:

  1. Add Relevant Internal Links: This is the primary solution. Add at least one internal link pointing to the orphan page from other related and logically appropriate pages on your site (e.g., related blog posts, service pages, product category pages, parent pages, etc.). Ensure the anchor text is natural and descriptive.

  2. Integrate into Site Navigation: If the orphan page is important enough (e.g., a core service page or important resource), consider adding it to your main navigation menu, sidebar, footer links, or relevant category/overview pages.

  3. Evaluate Page Value and Take Appropriate Action:

    • If the page content is still valuable and relevant: Prioritize methods 1 or 2 above for linking.
    • If the page content is outdated, duplicate, or low-quality:
      • Remove: If the page has no value at all and no external backlinks, you can simply remove it, letting it return a 404 (Not Found) or 410 (Gone) status code.
      • Redirect (301): If the page content is outdated but similar updated pages exist, or if the page still has some external links or traffic, best practice is to 301 redirect it to the most relevant existing page on your site. This preserves some link equity and guides users to useful content.

  4. Update XML Sitemap: After fixing internal linking issues (or deciding to keep a page and let search engines discover it via the sitemap), ensure your XML sitemap is up-to-date and includes all important pages you want search engines to index. Remember, however, that a sitemap cannot replace internal links; it’s only a supplementary discovery method.

To avoid creating new orphan pages in the future:

  • When publishing new content, develop the habit of actively considering and adding relevant internal links.
  • When making site structure adjustments, removing content, or changing URLs, be sure to check and update related internal links and set up necessary 301 redirects.
  • Conduct regular website SEO audits (e.g., quarterly or semi-annually) to check for new orphan pages or other structural issues.

Orphan pages are like forgotten corners of your website that not only prevent search engines from fully understanding and evaluating your site’s value but also make it difficult for users to discover potentially useful information. By effectively using SEO tools, you can identify and fix these “orphans,” reconnecting them to your website family.

Updated on 2025-05-12
 Orphan Pages, SEO Best Practices
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