Missed opportunities to acquire and involve customers can be a huge obstacle in your bounce rate, page traffic, retention, and revenue and your SEO success. One of the reasons this happens is because of orphan pages. Fortunately, it is something that can be easily remedied. Read on to learn more about orphaned pages.
What are Orphan Pages?
Orphan pages, found on websites, lack links from other pages or sections, making them inaccessible without the direct URL. Consequently, users cannot access them directly, and search engine crawlers struggle to index them. To ensure crawlers locate your pages, they must be linked to other pages, akin to a spider navigating a web. However, in some instances, orphan pages are unintentionally overlooked during SEO evaluations. Several common reasons for such page issues include:
- Inadequate internal linking structure: Lack of proper links between pages within the website.
- Neglectful website housekeeping: Failure to maintain and organize website content effectively.
- Tracking issues: Difficulty in monitoring and keeping track of all pages.
- Regular updates and site migrations: Activities like updates and migrations can lead to pages being misplaced or lost track of.
- Failure to update: Keeping outdated pages, such as past event pages or discontinued product pages, without relocating them to a more appropriate section of the site, like an archive page.
When orphaned pages exist, it results in missed opportunities to engage users, impacting bounce rates and SEO success. However, this issue can be resolved, which helps identify and rectify such pages on your site, optimizing traffic, retention, and revenue potential.
How to Find Orphan Pages Using SEMrush?
We have used the SEMrush tool to find orphaned pages. Follow the steps below:
- Log in to Semrush and navigate to “Site Audit” under “On Page & Tech SEO.”
- Enter your website’s domain and initiate the audit by clicking “Start Audit.”
- If you don’t have a project set up, create one to run the audit.
- In the “Site Audit Settings” dialogue, choose the number of pages to audit and click “Start Site Audit.”
- Advanced users can customize settings in this dialogue.
- The Site Audit bot will crawl your site’s pages, analyzing content, images, and links.
- Once complete, review the report.
- Click on the domain to view results, then navigate to the “Issues” tab.
- Type “orphan” in the search bar to find sections related to orphan pages or related issues.
- Click on the number of orphaned pages to view details.
- Identify orphan pages like the ones with 4xx status code and integrate them into your site structure by adding relevant links.
Other Ways to Find Orphan Pages
- Crawl Your Site: Utilize website crawling tools like Screaming Frog or SEMrush to analyze your site’s structure and identify pages with no inbound links.
- Check Site Architecture: Review your site’s architecture to ensure all pages are properly linked within the navigation and content.
- Use Google Search Console: Make use of Google Search Console to recognize any pages that are not being indexed by Google, which could indicate orphaned pages.
- Internal Link Analysis: Analyze internal links across your site to identify pages that are not being linked to other pages.
- Manual Inspection: Perform a manual inspection of your site to look for any pages that may be disconnected or not accessible through navigation menus.
Is it Possible for Google to Discover Orphan Pages?
The answer hinges on whether these pages are listed in the XML sitemap and has any additional references, such as incoming canonicals, redirects, or hreflang attributes pointing to them. If they are included in the XML sitemap or have such references, it’s probable that Google can locate them. However, Google’s discovery of these pages doesn’t guarantee their indexing. Google may opt not to index them if it deems them unimportant.
Ways to Fix Orphan Pages
- Create Internal Links: Add internal links from relevant pages to the orphan pages to ensure they are easily accessible to web visitors and search engine crawlers.
- Update Navigation Menus: Incorporate orphan pages into your site’s navigation menus to improve visibility and accessibility.
- Submit XML Sitemap: Include orphan pages in your XML sitemap and present it to search engines to ensure they are crawled and indexed.
- Redirect or Remove: If pages are outdated or no longer needed, consider redirecting them to relevant pages or removing them altogether.
- Regular Maintenance: Conduct regular audits of your website to prevent the creation of new orphaned pages and ensure existing ones are promptly addressed.
In What Way Orphan Pages Affect SEO?
Orphaned pages represent a missed opportunity for most websites due to several reasons:
- Orphan pages may not be indexed anymore.
- Orphan pages can consume a significant portion of the crawl budget.
- Orphan pages typically underperform.
- Orphan pages can negatively impact user experience.
Reintegrating orphan pages into your site structure is crucial for enhancing their SEO performance. By linking them to other parts of the site, you leverage existing link authority, thereby boosting the orphan page’s performance. Additionally, if the orphan page features a simplified navigation menu, such as a landing page or campaign page, incorporating it into the broader navigation system can also enhance the performance of other pages on the site.
Conclusion
Each component of a website, including orphan pages, can influence SEO performance significantly. This underscores the importance of consistently monitoring your site to prevent oversights. Identifying and optimizing orphan pages enhances visibility and guarantees that visitors won’t overlook valuable content on your site.
FAQs
Should I prioritize fixing orphan pages over other SEO tasks?
It depends on the severity of the issue and your overall SEO strategy. While fixing orphan pages is important, it’s essential to balance this with other SEO tasks such as keyword optimization, content creation, and technical SEO improvements.
How long does it typically take to see improvements in SEO performance after fixing orphan pages?
The timeline for seeing improvements in SEO performance can vary depending on aspects like the extent of the changes made, the frequency of Google’s crawls, and the competitiveness of your niche. Generally, you may start to see improvements within a few weeks to months after addressing orphan pages.
