The short answer
Orphan pages are bad for SEO because search engines find pages by following links. With no internal links, a page may never be crawled or indexed, gets none of your site's authority, and visitors cannot reach it. Link to it from related pages, or remove and redirect it.
What are orphan pages?
An orphan page is a page on your website that no other page on your site links to. It may still be live and even listed in your sitemap, but there is no path to it through your menus, footer or content.
They usually appear by accident: an old landing page from an ad campaign, a service page that dropped out of the menu in a redesign, or a blog post that was never linked from anything.
Why orphan pages hurt SEO
Google may never find them
Googlebot discovers pages mostly by following links. A page with no internal links depends on your sitemap alone, and Google treats sitemaps as hints. A page that is not crawled cannot be indexed, and a page that is not indexed cannot rank.
They get none of your site’s authority
Internal links pass authority (often called link equity) from strong pages, like your homepage, to the pages they point to. An orphan page receives none of it, so even a well-written page struggles to compete.
Visitors cannot reach them
If people cannot click through to a page, it does not get read, shared or linked to. For a service or suburb page, that means lost enquiries.
Example: a Melbourne plumber builds a page for “emergency plumber Box Hill” but never links to it from the services or locations pages. It sits outside the site’s structure, so it rarely ranks for the suburb it was written for.
How to find orphan pages
Compare the pages Google or your sitemap knows about with the pages a crawler can reach by following links. Anything in the first list but not the second is an orphan.
| Tool | What to check |
|---|---|
| Google Search Console | Pages report: indexed URLs, and URLs Google knows about but has not indexed. Compare them with your crawl. |
| Site crawler | Screaming Frog, Ahrefs or Semrush Site Audit can crawl your site, include your sitemap and flag pages with no incoming internal links. |
| Your sitemap | Every URL in the sitemap should be reachable from at least one menu, hub or related page. |
How to fix orphan pages
- Keep and link it. If the page is useful, link to it from two or three related pages with descriptive anchor text, such as “emergency plumbing in Box Hill”, not “click here”.
- Add it to the structure. Important service, location and product pages belong in your menu, footer or a hub page, not only inside body copy.
- Merge or redirect it. If the page is outdated or duplicates another, 301 redirect it to the closest relevant page.
- Remove it. If it has no value and no links or traffic, delete it and remove it from your sitemap.
How to stop new ones appearing
- Link every new page from at least two relevant pages before you publish it.
- Run a site crawl every month and after any redesign or migration.
- Give each blog post links to the services it relates to, and link back from those service pages.
- Keep your sitemap limited to pages you want indexed.
Want us to check your site? Our SEO service includes a full crawl and internal linking plan, and our local SEO work makes sure every suburb page is part of your site structure.
Frequently asked questions
Does Google index orphan pages?
Sometimes. Google can find an orphan page through your sitemap or an external link, but it is crawled less often and usually ranks poorly because no internal links pass it authority.
Should orphan pages be in my sitemap?
Only if you want them indexed, and then they should also be linked from your site. A sitemap helps discovery, but it does not replace internal links.
How many internal links does a page need?
There is no fixed number. Aim for at least two or three links from closely related pages, plus a place in your menu or a hub page for important service and location pages.
Jack is a Content Strategist at SEO Melbourne Australia. Jack plans the content and campaigns that bring Melbourne businesses calls and enquiries, and writes our guides on search, AI visibility and lead tracking. Meet the team
