If you’ve been running a website for a while, chances are you have a few “ghost” pages hiding in the shadows—pages that don’t get traffic, aren’t linked from anywhere, and quietly drain your SEO resources. In the SEO world, we call these orphaned pages, and while they might seem harmless, they can actually slow down your site’s growth by wasting your crawl budget.
In this post, we’ll break down what orphaned pages are, why they matter, how to find them, and—most importantly—how to fix them before they cost you valuable traffic.
What Exactly Are Orphaned Pages?
An orphaned page is a webpage that has no internal links pointing to it. Think of your website as a map. Every page should be connected by roads (links). Orphaned pages? They’re like towns that were left off the map. Search engines may still stumble upon them—maybe through your sitemap or an external backlink—but without internal links, they’re essentially invisible to both users and bots during normal browsing.
The danger here isn’t just “no one sees them.” It’s that search engines may waste time crawling these low-value pages instead of the content that actually matters.
Why They’re a Real Problem
1. They Waste Crawl Budget
Search engines have a limit on how many pages they’ll crawl on your site in a given period. This is your crawl budget. If bots spend time crawling orphaned pages that bring zero value, your important content might get crawled less often—or even missed entirely during updates.
2. They Send the Wrong Signals
A site with many forgotten, unlinked pages looks messy to Google. It’s like having dusty, unused rooms in your store. It doesn’t just hurt crawl efficiency—it can make your site look outdated or poorly maintained.
3. They Can Lead to Content Decay
If you leave orphaned pages unattended, you might have outdated, duplicate, or thin content floating around. Over time, this can dilute your site’s topical authority.
The Most Common Causes of Orphaned Pages
Orphaned pages aren’t always created intentionally. Here are some of the most common causes:
- Website redesigns – Old URLs get left behind without internal links after a migration.
- Expired campaigns – Old product launches, holiday sales, or landing pages that no longer have an active link from the main site.
- CMS or plugin glitches – Some updates or technical issues can remove links or create duplicate, unlinked pages.
- Content clean-up gone wrong – You remove a menu link but forget to redirect the old page.
How to Detect Orphaned Pages
Finding orphaned pages is the first step to fixing them. Here’s how:
1. Google Search Console
Check the “Coverage” and “Pages” reports for URLs that are indexed but not linked from your site navigation or sitemap. They might be orphaned.
2. Log File Analysis
By analyzing server logs, you can see exactly which pages search bots are crawling. If a URL appears here but has no internal links pointing to it, it’s an orphan.
3. SEO Crawling Tools
Tools like Screaming Frog, Sitebulb, or Ahrefs Site Audit can highlight orphaned pages. These tools work best when you connect them with analytics and search console data.
Fixing Orphaned Pages (Step-by-Step)
Once you’ve found them, you have three main options:
1. Link Them Back Into Your Site
If the page is still relevant and valuable, add internal links to it from related, high-traffic pages. This can bring it back into your site’s structure.
2. Redirect Them
If the page is outdated but has backlinks or traffic potential, set up a 301 redirect to a relevant page. This preserves link equity.
3. Remove Them Completely
If the page has no value, delete it and let it return a 404 or 410 status. Just make sure you’re not removing something that still gets traffic.
Preventing Orphaned Pages in the Future
The best fix is prevention. Here’s how to avoid creating more orphaned pages:
- Perform quarterly site audits to catch issues early.
- Use an internal linking checklist every time you publish new content.
- Document your site structure so every new page has a home.
- Check after redesigns to ensure old pages are redirected or linked.
Real-World Example
An eCommerce site we worked with had over 300 orphaned product pages from past seasonal sales. These pages were still indexed and eating up crawl budget. We audited all URLs, redirected outdated ones, and added strategic internal links for valuable products.
The result? A 40% increase in crawl efficiency and an 18% boost in organic traffic within three months.
Final Thoughts
Orphaned pages might be invisible to your visitors, but they’re visible to search engines—and not in a good way. By finding and fixing them, you free up your crawl budget, improve your site structure, and make it easier for your most valuable content to shine.
If you want expert help auditing and fixing orphaned pages for your website, check out SEO Sets—your partner in making sure every page on your site works for your growth.
FAQs
1. How often should I check for orphaned pages?
At least every quarter, and always after major site changes or migrations.
2. Can an orphaned page still rank?
Yes, but without internal links, it’s much harder for search engines to prioritize it.
3. Do orphaned pages always waste crawl budget?
Not always—but the risk is high, especially if you have a lot of them.
4. Should I redirect or delete them?
If they have value, redirect. If they don’t, deleting is fine.
5. What’s the fastest tool for finding them?
Screaming Frog with Search Console integration is one of the quickest methods.
