{"id":140538,"date":"2022-04-04T17:55:48","date_gmt":"2022-04-04T22:55:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/?p=140538"},"modified":"2025-07-21T10:39:52","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T15:39:52","slug":"orphan-pages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/orphan-pages\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Find and Fix Orphan Pages (The Right&nbsp;Way)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"intro-txt\">Quicksand awaits unsuspecting SEOs when they start working on a website with a long history.<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>These pits of technical site errors, littered by several generations of previous agencies, slow down and hinder SEO efforts and progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And when you\u2019re the one tasked to clean it up, finding the quick fixes is your number one&nbsp;task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So you may start with a basic site audit and see several orphan pages. You\u2019ve probably heard that orphan pages are bad for a site but do not fully understand what they are and how to fix&nbsp;them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this article, you\u2019ll learn:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"#what-orphan-pages-are\">What orphan pages&nbsp;are<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#what-causes-orphan-pages\">What causes orphan pages<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#why-orphan-pages-are-bad-for-seo\">Why orphan pages are bad for&nbsp;SEO<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#how-to-find-orphan-pages\">How to find orphan pages<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#how-to-fix-orphan-pages\">How to fix orphan pages<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#how-to-prevent-orphan-pages\">How to prevent orphan pages<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"What orphan pages are\" data-section=\"what-orphan-pages-are\">\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h.jsrzwkjabliy\">What are orphan pages?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Orphan pages are pages that search engines may have difficulty discovering because they have no internal links from elsewhere on your website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These URLs tend to fall through the cracks because search engine crawlers can only discover pages from the sitemap file or external <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/what-are-backlinks\/\">backlinks<\/a>, and users can only get to the page if they know the&nbsp;URL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"What causes orphan pages\" data-section=\"what-causes-orphan-pages\">\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h.emxgy4wc9tf2\">What causes orphan pages?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Usually, orphan pages are accidental and occur for various reasons. The most common cause is not having processes for <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/website-migration\/\">site migrations<\/a>, navigation changes, site redesigns, <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ecommerce-out-of-stock-products\/\">out-of-stock products<\/a>, testing, or dev&nbsp;pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Orphan pages may also be intentional, as with promotional and paid advertising landing pages, or any instance where you do not want the page to be part of the user journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"Why orphan pages are bad for SEO\" data-section=\"why-orphan-pages-are-bad-for-seo\">\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h.fj6yrcex4ht\">Why are orphan pages bad for&nbsp;SEO?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Search engines have a hard time finding orphan pages because they use links to help discover new content and understand the page\u2019s significance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s <a>what Google says<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n<blockquote>\n<p>Google searches the web with automated programs called crawlers, looking for pages that are new or updated. [\u2026] We find pages by many different methods, but the main method is following links from pages that we already know&nbsp;about.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>For example, let\u2019s say you publish a new webpage and forget to link to it from elsewhere on your site. If the page isn\u2019t in your sitemap and has no backlinks, Google will not find or index it. That\u2019s because their web crawler doesn\u2019t know that it exists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even worse, the page cannot receive PageRank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you haven\u2019t heard of the term \u201cPageRank\u201d before, it\u2019s a big&nbsp;deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Generally speaking, PageRank is Google\u2019s way of understanding the significance of the page by counting the number of \u201cvotes\u201d a page gets. You can read more about how PageRank works and affects SEO <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/google-pagerank\/\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"How to find orphan pages\" data-section=\"how-to-find-orphan-pages\">\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h.2yzffg5d3vck\">How to find orphan pages<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>To find orphan pages on your site, you need to compare a list of crawlable URLs (what Google can find) with a list of URLs people are hitting on your&nbsp;site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This may sound quite technical, but don\u2019t be discouraged. We have broken down how to find orphan pages into three easy steps using tools you\u2019re familiar with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h.jpni6bsmp103\">1. Find crawlable URLs<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>There are a lot of tools you can use to gather a list of all crawlable URLs. We\u2019re going to use Ahrefs\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-audit\">Site Audit<\/a> because it\u2019s completely free with an <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/webmaster-tools\">Ahrefs Webmaster Tools account<\/a> and you have the option to use external backlinks as a source to find even more&nbsp;URLs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s how to do&nbsp;it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Go to <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-audit\">Site Audit<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Click <strong>+ New Project.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Follow the prompts until step 3. Click on the <strong>URL sources <\/strong>tab and check <strong>Backlinks<\/strong>&nbsp;as a URL source in addition to the default settings.<\/li>\n<li>Click <strong>Continue<\/strong>, follow the instructions to complete the setup, then run the&nbsp;crawl.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/1-backlink-url-source-site-audit.png\" alt=\"Scheduling a site audit in Ahrefs' Site Audit\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Backlink data is useful for finding orphan pages because it brings URLs from Ahrefs\u2019 link index into the&nbsp;mix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If a page does not have any internal links, a basic crawler won\u2019t find&nbsp;it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But, if a page has a backlink, Ahrefs will find the URL on your site and know that the crawl found no internal links, so it must be an orphan page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When the site audit is complete, export all internal pages from <strong>Page Explorer<\/strong> and save them. You\u2019ll use this in step&nbsp;3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/2-page-explorer.png\" alt=\"Page Explorer in Ahrefs' Site Audit\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"recommendation\"><div class=\"recommendation-title\">Before we continue\u2026<\/div><div class=\"recommendation-content\">\n\n\n\n<p>As <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-audit\">Site Audit<\/a> uses both sitemaps and backlinks as URL sources, it does a reasonable job of finding orphan pages for you without any extra work. To see them, go to <strong>Page Explorer<\/strong>, click <strong>Links<\/strong>, and select <strong>Orphan pages<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/3-orphan-pages-site-audit.png\" alt=\"Orphan pages in Ahrefs' Site Audit\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>However, you\u2019ll only see orphan pages found via backlinks or sitemaps here. If you have orphan pages not included in sitemaps and without backlinks, Ahrefs won\u2019t be able to find&nbsp;them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep reading if you think this may be the case for you and want to dig a little deeper for orphan pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h.bjv8ds1y3qfh\">2. Find URLs with&nbsp;hits<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The next step is getting a list of all the URLs with hits on our&nbsp;site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are quite a few ways to do this, and it\u2019s always best to use as many data sources as you have access to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have access, log files work well because they are server-side data which is more accurate. We won\u2019t be going into the nitty-gritty of accessing these because it depends on how the server is set&nbsp;up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But if you choose to go this route, here are three official guides for common server types:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/httpd.apache.org\/docs\/2.4\/logs.html\">Access Apache log files <\/a>(Linux)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.nginx.com\/nginx\/admin-guide\/monitoring\/logging\/\">Access NGINX log files<\/a> (Linux)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.microsoft.com\/en-us\/iis\/manage\/provisioning-and-managing-iis\/configure-logging-in-iis\">Access IIS log files<\/a> (Windows)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In this article, we will use Google Analytics (GA4) and Google Search Console because the process is basically the same for everyone. However, you\u2019re also welcome to try out <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/web-analytics\">Ahrefs\u2019 Web Analytics<\/a>, a simple, privacy-friendly alternative to&nbsp;GA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s how to find URLs with hits in Google Analytics (GA4):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Log in to your Data Studio account.<\/li>\n<li>Start a new blank report.<\/li>\n<li>Connect <strong>Google Analytics<\/strong>&nbsp;as your data source.<\/li>\n<li>Choose the account you\u2019re analyzing &gt; select <strong>GA4 property<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Add a basic table to your report.<\/li>\n<li>Set data source to the GA4 property created in step&nbsp;4.<\/li>\n<li>Set dimension to <strong>Page path<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Set metric to <strong>Views<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Sort by <strong>Views<\/strong>&nbsp;in descending order<strong>.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Set default date range to before GA4 was installed on the&nbsp;site.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized is-style-default\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/4-google-data-studio-dimensions-metrics.png\" alt=\"Google Data Studio settings\" width=\"316\" height=\"662\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>To export the results from your table, click the three vertical dots in the top right corner and hit <strong>Export. <\/strong>Save with a helpful name like \u201cdate_GA_URLs_people_are_hitting_brandname\u201d because you will need it again in just a&nbsp;bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because we exported the page path and not the full page URL, we need to add the domain to the beginning of all cells in our spreadsheet. This is easy enough in Google sheets. Just import the CSV into a blank sheet, insert a new column to the left, and paste this formula into cell A1 (make sure to replace example.com with your domain):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><code>=IFERROR(ARRAYFORMULA(IF(ISBLANK(B:B),\"\",IF(B:B=\"Page Path\",\"\",IF(B:B=\"(not set)\",\"\",\"https:\/\/example.com\" &amp; B:B)))))<\/code><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/5-arrayformula-google-sheets.png\" alt=\"Formula in Google Sheets\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>As multiple URL sources are always best, we will also pull data from Google Search Console (GSC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>GSC limits exports to the first 1,000 URLs, but <a href=\"https:\/\/lookerstudio.google.com\/overview\">Google Data Studio<\/a> has a neat little trick that allows you to pull&nbsp;more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s how to do&nbsp;it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Reopen your Data Studio report.<\/li>\n<li>Start a new page (command +&nbsp;M).<\/li>\n<li>Open <strong>Resource<\/strong>&nbsp;&gt; <strong>Manage added data sources.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Click <strong>ADD A DATA SOURCE.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Select <strong>Search Console.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Choose the site you\u2019re analyzing &gt; <strong>URL impression<\/strong>&nbsp;&gt; <strong>web<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Add a basic table to your report.<\/li>\n<li>Set dimension to <strong>Landing page<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Set metric to <strong>Impressions.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Expand rows per page to 5,000.<\/li>\n<li>Edit the date range to view at least the past three months.<\/li>\n<li>Export the results from your&nbsp;table.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Name your sheet something helpful like \u201cdate GSC_URLs_people_are_hitting_brandname\u201d because you\u2019ll need it again in a moment.<\/p>\n<p>Now, combine all the URLs people are hitting from your different sources into one spreadsheet and clean up the data by removing duplicates.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/6-data-cleanup.png\" alt=\"Remove duplicates Google Sheets\n\"><\/figure>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h.xpi5mv8bxjzf\">3. Cross-reference the two URL sources<\/h3>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>You are in the home stretch! The last step is cross-referencing crawlable URLs (from Ahrefs\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-audit\">Site Audit<\/a>) and URLs with hits (from GA and GSC). To do this, create a blank Google Sheet and create three tabs. Label them <em>crawl, hits, and cross reference.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized is-style-default\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/7-google-sheets-tabs.png\" alt=\"The three sheets you need in Google Sheets\" width=\"444\" height=\"44\"><\/figure>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>In the first sheet, <em>crawl<\/em>, copy, and paste all of the crawlable URLs from Ahrefs\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-audit\">Site Audit<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>To find these, open the exported CSV from step 1 and filter for results with incomingAllLinks equal to zero. This is <strong>super important <\/strong>because these are orphan pages, so including them in the \u201ccrawl\u201d tab will lead to inaccurate results when cross-referencing.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized is-style-default\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/8-incomingalllinks-remove.png\" alt=\"Remove all IncomingAllLinks that equal zero\" width=\"288\" height=\"279\"><\/figure>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>Instead, you should copy these URLs and add them to the \u201chits\u201d tab.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>Next, copy and paste the remaining URLs from the Ahrefs export into the <em>crawl<\/em> tab of your Google Sheet.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/9-sheet1.png\" alt=\"Crawl URLs in spreadsheet\"><\/figure>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>In the second sheet, <em>hits<\/em>, copy\/paste all URLs from step 2. These are the pages you found using Google Analytics, Google Search Console, or your site log files. It includes webpages that users have visited.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/10-sheet-2.png\" alt=\"Hit URLs in spreadsheet\"><\/figure>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>In the third sheet, <em>cross reference<\/em>, enter the following function into the first&nbsp;cell:<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p><code>=UNIQUE(FILTER(hits!A:A, ISNA(MATCH (hits!A:A, crawl!A:A, 0))))<\/code><\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>Hit enter. The function will automatically pull all of your orphan pages for easy analysis.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/11-sheet-4.png\" alt=\"Orphan URLs in spreadsheet\"><\/figure>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"How to fix orphan pages\" data-section=\"how-to-fix-orphan-pages\">\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h.ogtr7lbkx7ly\">How to fix orphan pages<\/h2>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>Marketers often make the mistake of simply adding internal links to all orphan pages across the&nbsp;board.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>The main issue with this approach is that just because a quick fix can be applied across all pages does not mean it should be.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>Some orphan pages are intentional, like PPC landing pages, while others can just be removed, like test&nbsp;pages.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>We don\u2019t want to waste resources fixing something that\u2019s not broken or is unlikely to have a positive impact.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>To help solve this problem, use this decision tree:<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/how-to-deal-with-orphan-pages.jpg\" alt=\"How to deal with orphan pages flowchart\"><\/figure>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>The idea here is to think critically about each orphan page and decide whether noindexing, deleting, merging\/consolidating, or simply adding internal links is the best&nbsp;fix.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>For example, if a page was missed during a site migration and that page does not offer any value for visitors, deleting it is probably the best option. However, if the page has backlinks, it may also be worth <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/redirects-for-seo\/\">redirecting<\/a> the URL to another relevant page to preserve backlink equity.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommendation\"><div class=\"recommendation-title\">TIP<\/div><div class=\"recommendation-content\">\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>Checking orphan pages for backlinks in bulk (up to 200 URLs at a time) is easy with Ahrefs\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/batch-analysis\">Batch Analysis tool<\/a>. Just paste URLs from your \u201ccross reference\u201d sheet and click <strong>Analyse.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/12-batch-analysis.png\" alt=\"Batch Analysis tool in Ahrefs\"><\/figure>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s look at the four strategies to fix orphan pages.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h.um0mtrhdpr1g\">Internally link<\/h3>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>Orphan pages that are valuable for site visitors should be incorporated into your site\u2019s internal linking structure to make them easier for visitors and search engines to&nbsp;find.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>For example, let\u2019s say an article was forgotten during a site migration or redesign. We need to internally link to it from a relevant page we know Google will soon (re)crawl.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s an easy way to do that in Ahrefs:<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Go to <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-audit\">Site Audit<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Open your site\u2019s most recent crawl<\/li>\n<li>Under <strong>Tools &gt; <\/strong>Open <strong>Page Explorer<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Search for a word or phrase in <strong>Page text.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Sort the results by <strong>Organic traffic. <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/13-internal-links-page-explorer.png\" alt=\"Finding internal link opportunities in Ahrefs' Site Audit\"><\/figure>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>This finds contextual internal linking opportunities on pages that get organic traffic, which means Google is likely to recrawl them sooner rather than later and see our changes.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>Learn more: <\/strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/academy\/how-to-use-ahrefs\/site-audit\/page-explorer\">How to Use Page Explorer<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h.l0odwlxgapsw\">Noindex<\/h3>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>Orphan pages that were intentionally not internally linked to, like landing pages for ads, should be noindexed to prevent them from appearing in organic search results.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>Most SEO plugins have made this as easy as checking a box, but you can also do it manually by copying and pasting this into the &lt;head&gt; section of the&nbsp;page:<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p><code>&lt;meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex\" \/&gt;<\/code><\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"sidenote\"><div class=\"sidenote-title\">Sidenote.<\/div> Make sure these pages are still crawlable in robots.txt. Otherwise, search engines won\u2019t see the noindex directive.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h.1gilxqnnv05e\">Merge\/consolidate<\/h3>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>Orphan pages with the same or similar content to another page should be merged. This means consolidating the content and redirecting the orphan URL to the other&nbsp;page.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>For example, let\u2019s say you have two product listings for the same product. One of them is an orphan page; the other isn\u2019t. You should take any unique valuable information from the orphan page and add it to the other page before redirecting the orphan page&nbsp;there.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h.yt83wcud3lis\">Delete<\/h3>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>Orphan pages that offer no value for visitors and serve no other purpose (e.g., paid traffic campaign) should be deleted.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>For example, an unused CMS theme page can be removed. This will result in a 404 page and naturally drop out of search results over&nbsp;time.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"sidenote\"><div class=\"sidenote-title\">Sidenote.<\/div> If the page has backlinks, you may want to redirect the URL to another relevant page to preserve link equity after deleting.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"How to prevent orphan pages\" data-section=\"how-to-prevent-orphan-pages\">\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h.24hxdl15pjzj\">How to prevent orphan pages<\/h2>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>As you can see, auditing orphan pages is time intensive. So once you\u2019ve put in the work, you want to prevent orphan pages in the future. Here are a few policies and procedures to consider.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h.esh6hmezkzei\">Have a plan for site migrations<\/h3>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>Be proactive by having a plan any time you do a <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/website-migration\/\">website migration<\/a>. You can avoid broken links and confusion on your website by redirecting old pages to new versions with a <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/301-redirects\/\">301 redirect<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h.i2ynvcxgwuw9\">Set up your site structure for success<\/h3>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>If you have to internally link to new pages manually, you\u2019re bound to miss some and end up with orphan pages. This is why you should opt for a site structure that handles internal linking for&nbsp;you.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>Most types of CMS do this out of the box. For example, each time we publish a new blog post, WordPress adds an internal link from our blog homepage and archive.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>However, if you\u2019re using a custom solution, you need to ensure the necessary code is in place for a good site structure.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>Learn more:<\/strong> <em><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/website-structure\/\">Website Structure: How to Build Your SEO Foundation<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h.49kbmnh40vs8\">Remove discontinued products properly<\/h3>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>If you run an e-commerce site, you should remove discontinued products from the catalog (<strong>along with all internal links<\/strong> pointing to them) and set a <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/http-status-codes\/\">status code<\/a> of 404 or 410. Failing to remove internal links to such products is a common cause of orphan pages.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>If the page has great backlinks and there is an updated or improved version of the product, you may want to consider keeping the page to preserve the backlink equity.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>To do this, update the page content to explain why the product is no longer available, including introducing the new design features and linking to the new product page.<\/p>\n<p>This way, the user is not landing on a completely unrelated page or&nbsp;404.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h.815iz2tvxs58\">Run regular site audits<\/h3>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>By running the audit every month, you can stay on top of any accidental orphan pages that may slip through the cracks. You can do this easily using the scheduling feature in Ahrefs\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-audit\">Site Audit<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"680\" height=\"288\" class=\"wp-image-140549\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/14-site-audit-scheduled-crawls-2-680x288.png\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/14-site-audit-scheduled-crawls-2-680x288.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/14-site-audit-scheduled-crawls-2-768x325.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/14-site-audit-scheduled-crawls-2.png 1017w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\"><\/figure>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h.4y289vaysoa2\">Final thoughts<\/h2>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>Looking at rows and rows of orphan page errors and trying to make sense of heavy technical jargon is intimidating.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>While finding and fixing orphan pages is time intensive, it doesn\u2019t need to be painstaking. Using Ahrefs\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-audit\">Site Audit<\/a> and the orphan pages flowchart will help streamline your process.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n<p>Got questions? Ping me <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kaylelarkin?lang=bn\">on Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>These pits of technical site errors, littered by several generations of previous agencies, slow down and hinder SEO efforts and progress. And when you\u2019re the one tasked to clean it up, finding the quick fixes is your number one&nbsp;task. So<span class=\"ellipsis\">\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more\">Read more \u203a<\/div>\n<p><!-- end of .read-more --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":160,"featured_media":140539,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[329],"tags":[],"coauthors":[417],"class_list":["post-140538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technical-seo","odd"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How to Find and Fix Orphan Pages (The Right Way)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Orphan pages are pages that search engines may have difficulty discovering because they have no internal links from elsewhere on your website.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/orphan-pages\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Find and Fix Orphan Pages (The Right Way)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It&#039;s harder than it sounds.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/orphan-pages\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SEO Blog by Ahrefs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Ahrefs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-04-04T22:55:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-21T15:39:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/fb_orphan_pages.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kayle Larkin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"It&#039;s harder than it sounds.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@kaylelarkin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ahrefs\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/orphan-pages\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/orphan-pages\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kayle Larkin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/37fd2481e9d9eaf917ff68a25759203c\"},\"headline\":\"How to Find and Fix Orphan Pages (The Right&nbsp;Way)\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-04-04T22:55:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-21T15:39:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/orphan-pages\/\"},\"wordCount\":2585,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/orphan-pages\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/fb_orphan_pages.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Technical SEO\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/orphan-pages\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/orphan-pages\/\",\"name\":\"How to Find and Fix Orphan Pages (The Right Way)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/orphan-pages\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/orphan-pages\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/fb_orphan_pages.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-04-04T22:55:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-21T15:39:52+00:00\",\"description\":\"Orphan pages are pages that search engines may have difficulty discovering because they have no internal links from elsewhere on your website.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/orphan-pages\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/orphan-pages\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/fb_orphan_pages.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/fb_orphan_pages.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"SEO Blog by Ahrefs\",\"description\":\"Link Building Strategies &amp; 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