Here’s a shocking statistic that should make every website owner sit up and notice: 96.55% of all web pages get absolutely zero organic traffic from Google searches. Zero. Nada. Nothing.
But here’s where it gets interesting: a significant portion of these “ghost pages” aren’t just underperforming content – they’re orphan pages. These abandoned digital assets are invisible to search engines and users, silently undermining your SEO efforts and wasting valuable crawl budget.
Let’s cut through the technical jargon. An orphan page is exactly what it sounds like: a lonely page on your website with no internal links pointing to it from other pages. It’s there, consuming resources and potentially containing valuable content, but it may not exist because no one can find it.
Think of your website as a city. Your homepage is the city centre, and your internal links are the roads connecting different neighbourhoods. Orphan pages are like isolated suburbs with no roads leading to them – they exist on the map, but no one can get there.
Let’s talk numbers because the impact of orphan pages is far more severe than most realise.
But the real damage goes deeper than statistics. When Google’s crawlers can’t find these pages, several things happen:
Your crawl budget – the number of pages Google will crawl on your site in a given period – is precious. Orphan pages waste this resource, potentially preventing your important pages from being indexed properly.
Internal links aren’t just navigation tools; they’re PageRank distributors. Orphan pages break this flow of authority, essentially creating dead ends in your site’s SEO architecture.
If users somehow find these pages (perhaps through old bookmarks or external links), they’ll likely need help navigating to your main content. This creates a poor user experience and increases bounce rates.
Finding orphan pages requires a systematic approach. Here’s our battle-tested method:
– Export all URLs from Google Analytics
– Pull all URLs from your XML sitemap
– Extract URLs from your crawling tool
– Compare analytics data with sitemap URLs
– Check server log files
– Review backlink data
Now for the part you’ve been waiting for – fixing these SEO killers. Here’s your action plan:
Sort your orphan pages into three categories:
For pages you’re keeping:
For pages, you’re removing:
The best solution is prevention. Implement these processes to avoid creating new orphan pages:
We’ve seen remarkable results when fixing orphan pages:
These aren’t just vanity metrics – they translate directly to better search visibility and increased conversions.
Orphan pages are more than just a technical SEO issue – they’re missed opportunities. Every orphaned page is potential traffic, engagement, and revenue sitting idle on your server.
The good news is that it is one SEO problem that is completely within your control to fix. You don’t need to wait for algorithm updates or worry about competitor actions. You can start addressing orphan pages today and see real results within weeks.
Remember: in the digital ecosystem, no page should be an island. Every piece of content deserves a clear path to discovery, both for search engines and users.
Not necessarily. While orphan pages are typically defined by their lack of internal links, some pages may be intentionally isolated for specific purposes (like thank you pages or private content). However, if they’re intended to be found by users or search engines, these pages should still be accessible through other means (like navigation menus or sitemaps).
There’s no magic number, but our experience shows that important pages should typically have at least 3-5 quality internal links pointing to them. More importantly, these links should be contextually relevant and provide value to users navigating your site. According to our analysis, pages with 5-10 relevant internal links tend to perform best in terms of engagement metrics.
Up until working with Casey, we had only had poor to mediocre experiences outsourcing work to agencies. Casey & the team at CJ&CO are the exception to the rule.
Communication was beyond great, his understanding of our vision was phenomenal, and instead of needing babysitting like the other agencies we worked with, he was not only completely dependable but also gave us sound suggestions on how to get better results, at the risk of us not needing him for the initial job we requested (absolute gem).
This has truly been the first time we worked with someone outside of our business that quickly grasped our vision, and that I could completely forget about and would still deliver above expectations.
I honestly can’t wait to work in many more projects together!
Disclaimer
*The information this blog provides is for general informational purposes only and is not intended as financial or professional advice. The information may not reflect current developments and may be changed or updated without notice. Any opinions expressed on this blog are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the author’s employer or any other organization. You should not act or rely on any information contained in this blog without first seeking the advice of a professional. No representation or warranty, express or implied, is made as to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in this blog. The author and affiliated parties assume no liability for any errors or omissions.
