When you try to find a specific webpage, you may end up on an error page. Why that happens? It is pretty simple. There isn't a link to it for you to find it. These lost pages are called orphan pages. It happens due to various reasons.

One of the reasons may be that old pages are unlinked but have been published, products are out of stock but still exist on the website, problems with website structure, etc.

Whatever happens on your website will adversely affect your SEO strategies. One of the reasons for poor SEO is that the pages are not linked to any other pages on your website.

Orphan pages can harm your website's search engine ranking. You must identify and fix them right away. In this article, let us learn about orphan pages, why they impact SEO, and how to discover and fix them.

What are Orphan Pages?

Orphan pages are web pages on your website that are not linked to other pages. These pages may be created accidentally or by poor website design. These pages become isolated and have no connection to your website's content.

Orphan pages include:

• Web pages that are not included in the main navigation menu.

• Pages accessible by search engine results.

• Pages that were once linked to but are removed or broken.

Orphan pages negatively affect SEO, as they are not accessible to users or search engines. They do not contribute to the relevance and authority of your website.

What is the impact of Orphan pages on SEO?

Reduced online visibility

Orphan page impacts SEO by reducing the online visibility of your website. It is a common issue that many websites face, as the orphan pages are scattered across their websites. It happens usually in large websites with lots and lots of web pages. Google cannot index a page, even if you have quality content on these orphan pages.

Diminishes credibility

Google uses linking patterns to determine the relevance and credibility of a website. It particularly means that a website has high-quality links pointing it to other credible websites that rank higher in SERPs. However, websites lacking internal links tend to lose out on benefits from link equity and credible flow.

These pages cannot share the website's trustworthiness without an internal linking strategy. It will ultimately hinder their ability to rank well in search engines. You need to have a comprehensive interlinking strategy, which will ensure every page on the website has a chance to build and contribute to the overall ranking of the website.

Crawl budget wastage

Google has a crucial responsibility of scanning and cataloging web pages on the internet regularly. Search engine crawlers have infinite time and resources that can be allocated to this process. This infinite time and resources is known as the crawl budget.

Wastage of crawl budget is an important issue many websites or businesses face today. One of the reasons for crawl budget wastage is orphan pages. These web pages have no interlinking strategy, making them less relevant and less likely to be indexed by search engine crawlers.

How to Identify Orphan Pages?

You can use various techniques to identify the orphan pages within your website. Some of them are:

Conduct a website audit

Conducting a regular website audit is a vital part of maintaining an effective online presence. You can manually review the website's structure and navigation menus. This process thoroughly monitors the website's layout, various sections, and backlinks. By analyzing their terms, you can identify any website structure issues by manual audit.

Use crawling tools

You can use crawling tools like Sitebulb, Screaming Frog, or Lumar to generate reports highlighting orphan pages, which decreases the quality of your website. These tools will help you comprehensively overview your website's Internal linking structure. You can find the orphan pages and link them to other relevant pages on your website.

Monitor Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a tool for any SEO experts or Digital marketers, as it will help boost your website's SEO performance. You can get many analytics and search data from this tool. This tool can help you pinpoint any issues with your website and help you rank higher in search engine results. In Google Search Console, the Coverage section is the most helpful feature. It provides a detailed overview of your website's indexation and visibility.

Analyze analytics data

Analyzing analytics data is an essential factor for any digital marketing strategy. You can monitor user behavior and collect insights into the user's preferences and needs. Reviewing your website's analytics data can help find the pages with no traffic or engagement, indicating these pages need attention.

What are the common causes of Orphan Pages?

You might be thinking, how does this webpage get orphaned, right? Various reasons cause orphan pages. Let us look into some common causes:

Website architecture

Poor website architecture is the common cause that results in orphan pages. Orphan pages occur when a new page is created without proper planning and considering how it can be connected to other pages. It can also happen due to a lack of website organization.

Internal Linking

As we all know, internal linking is vital to on-page SEO. It not only helps to discover Google and index new pages on your website, but it also helps Google to understand how these pages are related.

Anchor text of Internal linking is also vital to rank specific keywords. With Internal linking, google can understand that each page is different, mainly if they are topic-related or in the same topic cluster.

Page removal or migration

Other factors that cause orphan pages are page deletion or page migration. So, when it comes to website redesigning or content organizing, one of the most crucial things to consider is the impact on your website's internal links and 301 redirects. Links can become orphaned, especially when pages are deleted or moved without updating.

URL Authorization

Authorization is an essential element of SEO that helps a website's ranking and better experience. Adding canonical tags is selecting a URL for a particular webpage when multiple versions of the same pages with different URLs exist.

Navigation Menus

Navigation menus or Sitemaps are an important element of any website as they guide users through the site. But what if their menus are improperly designed? It became orphaned. Users may face difficulty when the navigation menus fail to include links to specific pages or sections of the website. It can ultimately lead to decreased engagement and users becoming frustrated, leaving your website immediately.

How to prevent Orphan pages?

Now, we know how to find the orphan pages. We must prevent orphan pages from occurring again in the future, right? So, let us look into some tips to prevent orphan pages.

• Before starting site migration, you must plan early to avoid confusion and broken links. It usually happens when redirecting old pages to new ones.

• You must set up a site structure to avoid adding internal links. If you are linking pages without the help of any tool, you may create an orphan page by accident. You can use Content Management System Software to handle site structure for that.

• You need to remove discontinued products from your website, which leads to orphan pages. If you have an online business that sells products, you must monitor any discontinued products and internal links pointing to them. You can keep the page if it has good backlinks or an improved version.

• You need to do monthly website audits to check if any orphan pages have been created or might have accidentally been ignored during the checkups.

What strategies to undertake for fixing Orphan Pages?

Now that you have understood the basics of orphan pages, you must focus on undertaking strategies to fix the orphan pages. For that, you can follow the steps below to fix your website's orphan pages.

• Step 1: Add the internal Links. If any orphan pages hold value to the visitors, add them to your navigation menu to make it easier for Google and users to find that page.

• Step 2: If an orphan page is not internally linked purposefully, it should be noindexed to prevent it from appearing in organic search results.

• Step 3: Merge the orphan pages with similar content to another page. You can do this by consolidating the content of the orphan pages and redirecting their URL to the other page

• Step 4: If the orphan page doesn't hold any value or is irrelevant, then it is time for you to delete it from the website.

What are some best practices for Orphan Pages?

Now that you've mastered the art of reviving and linking orphan pages let's focus on some actionable SEO tips to ensure these pages shine in the digital spotlight. Here are the best practices explicitly tailored for orphan pages:

On-Page Optimization:

• Keyword Research: You can start by researching to identify relevant keywords for your orphan page. Choose keywords with average competition and search volume.

• Title Tag: You can create engaging and keyword-rich title tags. Keep it short (under 60 characters) and include your primary keyword.

• Meta Description: You can also write an engaging meta description summarizing the page's content and encouraging clicks. Make sure it's unique and relevant.

• Header Tags: You can use header tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.) to structure your content. Include your primary keyword in the H1 tag and use H2 tags for subsections.

• Optimized Content: You can create informative, high-quality content that satisfies your users' needs. Include your targeted keyword naturally throughout the content.

• Images and Alt Text: Include relevant images and use descriptive alt text for accessibility and SEO.

Internal Linking Strategies:

• Strategic Link Placement: Continue strategically linking from other pages on your website to your orphan page. You can use descriptive anchor text and ensure the content relevance.

• Create Content Clusters: Create a topic cluster to group your related content. Link your orphan page to these clusters to enhance its topical relevance.

User Experience and Engagement:

• Mobile Responsiveness: The most important practice these days is mobile responsiveness. You need to ensure that your orphan page is mobile-friendly. A responsive design improves user experience and can positively impact SEO.

• Page Load Speed: You have to optimize the page load speed to prevent the users from leaving your website. You can optimize by compressing images, enabling caching, and minimizing unnecessary content.

• Engaging Elements: Add elements like videos, infographics, or interactive features to make your orphan page more engaging.

Monitor and Repeat:

• Track Performance: Use SEO tools and analytics to monitor the performance of your orphan page. Pay attention to organic traffic, click-through rates, and keyword rankings.

• Repeat and Improve: Based on performance data, improve your orphan page repetitively. Update content, tweak keywords, and refine internal linking strategies as needed.

FAQs 

Q. How can orphan pages affect the SEO performance of my website?

Orphan pages can impact SEO performance by being invisible to search engine crawlers, resulting in unindexed pages. They can also lead to wasted valuable content and make it harder for search engines to understand the relevance of these pages to specific queries, ultimately affecting rankings and organic traffic.

Q. How can I identify orphan pages on my website?

You can identify orphan pages through various methods, such as using tools like Google Analytics and Search Console to check for pages with no recorded visits, conducting website audits with crawling tools like Screaming Frog or Ahrefs, manually reviewing your website's XML sitemap, and analyzing inbound links to spot pages lacking links.

Q. What strategies can I use to fix orphan pages on my website?

Strategies for fixing orphan pages include internal linking by creating links from relevant pages within your website, content revival by updating outdated orphaned pages, using 301 redirects for pages that are no longer relevant, and including orphan pages in your XML sitemap to help search engines discover them.

Q. What role does internal linking play in SEO, especially for orphan pages?

Internal linking is a powerful SEO tool that helps search engine crawlers navigate your website efficiently. For orphan pages, internal linking connects them to the rest of your content, passes authority, improves user experience, and provides keyword signals to search engines, contributing to better SEO performance.

Q. Are there any SEO tools that can help with identifying and addressing orphan pages?

Yes, several SEO tools like Screaming Frog, Ahrefs, SEMrush, Google Analytics, and Google Search Console can assist in identifying and addressing orphan pages. These tools offer insights into website traffic, indexing status, and internal linking, making them valuable for SEO audits.

Wrapping Up the Orphan Page Expedition

So, we have come to the end of this article. Now you know what orphan pages are, how to track them, and how to fix them. You got the insight of how orphan pages can harm and help a website's SEO performance.

Therefore, to prevent the Orphan pages that don't hold any value to your website, you must constantly audit your website. Create a clear and organized website architecture, and implement internal linking strategies and redirection techniques to help you manage your website.

By fixing the orphan pages and ensuring the pages are linked and indexed, you can improve crawlability, increase trustworthiness, and attract more organic traffic.