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Technical SEO

What Is Orphan Page?

An orphan page is a page on your website that has no internal links pointing to it from any other page. It exists in your sitemap or can be accessed directly via URL, but no other page on your site links to it.

Why Orphan Page matters for SEO

Orphan pages are difficult for search engines to discover because crawlers follow links to find pages. Without internal links, a page relies entirely on the sitemap for discovery and receives no internal link equity. Orphan pages typically rank poorly and may not be indexed at all.

Pro tip on Orphan Page

Run a site crawl to identify orphan pages. Add contextual internal links from related content. If the page is no longer needed, either redirect it (301) to a relevant page or remove it from your sitemap.

Related terms

Internal LinkingStrong internal linking prevents orphan pages by connecting all contentCrawl BudgetOrphan pages are harder for crawlers to discover, wasting potential crawl budget

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