Can Orphan Page Be Indexed?

In the world of search engine optimization (SEO), orphan pages seo can be a source of mystery and worry for webmasters and digital marketers. These are the pages on a site that have no internal links pointing to them. In other words, they are isolated within a site, disconnected from the rest of the site’s architecture. But can search engines index these orphan pages and how to fix orphan pages? Let’s get into the nitty-gritty of how search engines work and the importance of site structure.

What are Orphan Pages?

To understand orphan pages you need to understand how search engines like Google crawl and index sites. Search engines use bots, often referred to as spiders or crawlers, to navigate through a site’s pages by following internal links. These links are the pathways that guide the crawlers from one page to another so all pages are discovered and indexed.

An orphan page has no internal links. It’s like a room in a big house with no doors leading to it. While the room exists, it’s almost impossible to find unless you know it’s there. For orphan pages, the lack of internal links means search engines may struggle to find and index them, which can lead to visibility and organic traffic issues.

Can Orphan Pages Be Indexed?

So the straightforward answer is yes; orphan pages can be indexed but not guaranteed. It depends on various factors, including how search engines find these pages and the overall health of the website.

1. Direct Submission to Search Engines: Orphan pages SEO can be indexed if you submit them directly to search engines via orphan page checker tools like Google Search Console. By submitting the URL manually you can prompt the search engine to crawl and index the page. But this only works if you know which pages are orphaned, which can be hard without doing a full site audit.
2. External Links: If an orphan page has external links pointing to it from other websites, search engines can find and index it through those links. In this case, the page isn’t completely isolated, as the external link provides a path for the crawler to follow.
3. XML Sitemaps: Including orphan pages in an XML sitemap can also help with indexing. Search engines use sitemaps as a guide to understand the structure of a website and find pages that are not easily discoverable through internal links.
4. Direct Traffic: If a page gets direct traffic (e.g. someone types in the URL or clicks a bookmarked link), search engines might find the page through user behaviour analytics. This is less common but still possible.

The Challenges of Orphan Pages

Despite the fact that orphan pages can be indexed, they pose problems for access by search engine crawlers and users. 

1. Limited Visibility: Without internal links, the web pages are basically left in the dark and can rarely be found by the user or the search engine. This limited visibility will indicate that these pages will not perform well in the search results, thus denying them an opportunity to attract organic traffic.
2. Lower SEO Value: Link equity is one of the internal linking factors that help in distributing link equity across a website. In other words, Web pages linked extensively within the website under analysis are considered significant by search engines. Undoubtedly, orphan pages are deprived of this advantage, which in turn affects the ranking factor.
3. User Experience Issues: When pages located on a site are not linked within a site, users are usually bogged down by a situation whereby they cannot search for relevant content, and this makes their experience poor. This can lead to a rise in bounce rates and consequently lowered interactions across the site.

Best Practices for Managing Orphan Pages

When it comes to web pages, the orphan page is one of the most crucial issues that you need to address properly, as it affects indexes and has a positive impact on the SEO. 

1. Regular Site Audits: In conducting a site audit, it is probable to find out that some pages are not linked to any other page and they become Orphan Pages. It also can help to use some crawler tools, such as Screaming Frog, Ahrefs or SEMrush, that highlight the pages of the site that are not linked internally. When you discover such pages, you can act to either connect them or perhaps it should be unlinked. 
2. Internal Linking Strategy: Sit down and create a sound internal linking plan that will see all the main pages interlinked. Of course, this is useful for indexing, but that is not all; it enhances the audience’s experience since they are shown the way through your content. 
3. Value Orphan Pages: Not all orphan pages will be useful to the network and must be pruned. Evaluate the articles’ quality, relevance to your site’s visitors, and their interaction with them to decide if they should be kept, updated, or deleted. Some pages may be bad for your site, so you can consider removing them.
4. 301 Redirects: If a page is an orphan and not useful anymore but still attracts traffic or has other sites linking to it (e.g., it has links pointing to it), you should set up a 301 redirect that will forward users to a useful page. This will help maintain the link juice and overall health of the site for SEO.

In a Nutshell

Orphan pages can be indexed, but they are an SEO and user experience nightmare. Make sure all pages on your site are linked and accessible. By doing regular site audits, having a solid internal linking strategy, and evaluating the value of orphan pages, you can minimize the impact of these pages on your site. In the SEO world, every page should have a purpose, and that purpose should be reflected in how it’s connected to the rest of your site.

Reach Out to Run Marketing

For more details or to optimize your orphan pages, contact RUN Marketing, a top digital marketing agency in Mississauga. Our services are focused on educating various types of enterprises, such as dental marketing, marketing for therapists, and Amazon e-commerce.