Issue: Orphaned pages are pages on your site that aren’t linked to any other internal pages. These pages miss out on SEO benefits, like link juice, and may confuse users if they no longer serve a purpose.
Fix: Identify orphaned pages through Google Analytics and either remove them, link to them, or leave them if they serve a specific purpose.
How to Fix for Beginners
- Identify Orphaned Pages: Use tools like Google Analytics to find pages that have traffic but were not crawled by your site audit tool.
- Example: A blog post at
https://example.com/hidden-blogis getting traffic but isn’t linked anywhere on your site.
- Example: A blog post at
- Review Each Page:
- If outdated or irrelevant, delete the page.
- If valuable, ensure it’s linked to from other relevant pages on your site.
- Example: Link to
https://example.com/hidden-blogfrom your homepage or a related blog category.
- Link Strategically: Add links to orphaned pages using meaningful anchor text to ensure they are easy for users and search engines to find.
- Example: In a related article, add: “Read more about this in our hidden blog.”
- Consider Special-Purpose Pages: For pages that serve a niche purpose (like a campaign-specific landing page), ensure they’re still relevant and functioning as intended. No linking might be acceptable for such cases.
Tip: Regularly review and link to orphaned pages to maximize their SEO potential and improve user navigation.