What are Orphan Pages?
In the world of SEO or online marketing, there is one term that keeps coming up over and over again: “orphan pages.” These are pages on your website that don’t get enough traffic to earn backlinks, or in other words, they don’t have enough organic reach on social media channels.
What are orphan pages? They are all the pages on your site that don’t get enough traffic to earn you backlinks. Now, you might be thinking that this is an easy enough task and that you’ll just need to set some time aside to get these pages linked to. But, this is where things get a little tricky. To truly understand what is going on, let’s take a quick look at the difference between paid traffic and organic traffic.
Simply put, orphan pages are the pages within an e-book that don’t have any content on them. Usually, this happens when an author uploads a Word file with all the content and then forgets to link to the corresponding.html file. So when a reader clicks on a word or phrase within the text, they’ll be taken to a page that doesn’t have any content on it. Because of this, you shouldn’t include any links within these pages. Instead, you can either leave them blank or write some brief content that encourages readers to click through to other pages within the e-book.
So, in order to eliminate these useless pages within your e-book, go through each of the chapters and make sure that each one has a corresponding.html file. You can use the Search function within your e-reader to help locate these files. You can also use tools like Find and Replace in your text editor to help you locate and fix these problems. When you’re finished, you can export your e-book as a.zip file and give it to a professional to help you market it.
Why Are Orphan Pages a Big Problem?
Once you’ve had experience with an e-book, it’s hard to go back to paper books. They’re not all that bad — especially when you compare them to e-books. For instance, you can’t use an e-book to browse the internet or look up unfamiliar words. With paper books, you can look these things up on your own without having to worry about your connection. You can also add notes to the text as you go along. This makes it much easier to follow along. You can’t do this with an e-book. When you get to the end, you’ll just have to hope that what you’ve written is still relevant.
How to Spot Orphan Pages
As a publisher, it’s your job to make sure that every part of your e-book has a corresponding.html file. If it doesn’t, your readers will have a hard time finding the information they’re looking for. This makes your book less accessible and less useful. When you spot an orphan page, click on it and then use the Back button to return to the previous page. This will help prevent you from clicking on these pages by accident. If you do click on an orphan page by mistake, you’ll end up at a page that doesn’t have any content on it. In this case, you can either leave it as is or add some content to make it useful. Remember: your readers will be clicking on these words and having them be the landing page for the book. So make sure that everything is tied together nicely and that you don’t have any words or phrases repeated on different pages.
What Should You Include in These Pages?
As mentioned before, it’s crucial that each chapter of your e-book has a corresponding.html file. If it doesn’t, then your readers will get stuck trying to figure out what happens on these pages. You can either leave them blank or write some content that encourages readers to click through to other parts of your book. Ideally, you want to write short paragraphs, no more than three or four sentences. Keep the sentences simple and to the point, so that your readers can easily understand what you’re trying to say.
The Overall Goal Of An Orphan Page Is The Same As That Of A Standard Web Page
To start with, it’s important to note that there’s more than one kind of “orphan page.” Essentially, an orphan page is a kind of static page that exists solely to promote or generate content for another website. Orphan pages are most commonly found on blogs and news websites, where the goal is to promote a product or idea for the sake of the sponsor website. The content on blogs and news websites is often called “blogging” and “newsworthy” content, respectively.
As mentioned above, the goal of an orphan page is to promote or generate content for another site. This often means that an orphan page won’t have a large amount of content to offer the reader. In fact, it can be argued that an orphan page is a type of minimalist webpage. As a result, the overall goal of an orphan page is to keep the viewer on the site for as long as possible. This means that one of the main focuses of an orphan page should be on keeping the reader interested, rather than just providing them with a large amount of content.
The Reading Experience Is Key For An Orphan Page
Because a standard webpage is designed to be read in a single sitting, most websites use a combination of techniques to keep the reader engaged. This can include various types of visual content (such as photos, GIFs, or videos), interactive content (such as quizzes or surveys), or audio content (such as podcasts).
An orphan page is often found on a website that has a single page design. This means that the webpage is designed in a way that can be examined and understood in one sitting. An example of a single-page design can be found on The New York Times, which uses a dark colour scheme and large text to create a newspaper-like reading experience on the web. In fact, many traditional newspapers and magazines have adopted a hybrid version of the layout, using a combination of the two.
The Behaviour Of Click-Throughs And Views On An Orphan Page Are Similar To Those On A Standard Web Page
The overall goal of an orphan page is to drive as much traffic to the sponsor website as possible. To that end, it’s important to note that the traffic generation methods of an orphan page are generally the same as those of a standard webpage. This includes using keywords in the content and title, as well as using appropriate links. It also means creating content that is both relevant and interesting to the target audience, and making sure that this content is linked to on external websites.
Another important point to make relates to the behaviour of clicks and views on an orphan page. In general, users will tend to click on a headline, followed by a description, and then the first image or video they see when landing on a website. This is often referred to as the “visual scan” or the “skim-read.” The user then moves down the page, analysing the text and images more carefully as they go.
In terms of views, users will often hit the “back” button on their browser after reading an article or heading, in order to return to the website they came from. This means that an article on an English-speaking website about technology can potentially reach hundreds of thousands of people, depending on the design and amount of content of the page. In contrast, an article on a Russian-language website about technology is likely to reach only a small percentage of the site’s overall audience.
The Types Of Data That Can Be Found On An Orphan Page Are Limited
It’s important to note that the types of data that can be found on an orphan page are often very limited. This is because most websites that operate an orphan page are focused on a particular niche, and don’t have the time or resources to devote to creating an exhaustive data set on a specific topic. For example, a webpage that’s sponsored by the United Nations could include the text of speeches by prominent world leaders, as well as background information about world events as they relate to the UN and its programs. The types of data that can be found on such a page are generally limited to text and images, since a large portion of the audience won’t have access to the internet at multiple devices or speeds, especially in less developed countries.
In contrast, a sports-related page on a website that covers all major sporting events is likely to include live scores, event schedules, and box office information for the major sports leagues. In theory, this could include almost any type of content that is relevant to a sports-related webpage. However, the team of creators that work on such a page likely have to meet the following criteria:
- They need to have access to all of the statistics relating to the events they’re covering
- They need to have a basic understanding of the game or sport in question
- They need to be able to write about games and events quickly and accurately
- They need to be familiar with social media and how to use it effectively
- They need to be able to research relevant statistics and figures relating to their topic (this will vary depending on the type of sport in question)
- Writing for a general audience is not their forte
- They need to be able to take direction well
- They need to have a good grasp of grammar and the English language
- They need to be detail-oriented, and like to hunt down every little thing that could go wrong
The Maintenance Of An Orphan Page Is Generally Limited
The upkeep of an orphan page is often limited to adding new content to the existing page. This could include adding new stories or articles about some event or subject, or changing the layout and design of the page to match a certain theme or colour scheme. In some cases, updating the content on an existing webpage can be a tedious process that requires a good amount of time.
The overall goal of an orphan page is to drive as much traffic to a single webpage as possible. This can be difficult to do, especially if the goal is to create a lasting impression on the reader. In most cases, this means that an orphan page will be updated with content as needed, rather than being updated season after season, as is often the case with a standard webpage. However, it should be noted that in some cases, a standard web page can become outdated, especially if the content becomes significantly altered from the original version.
Why Orphan Pages Are Bad For SEO?
You might be familiar with the concept of an “orphan page:” A page that is not connected to another page, and is not linked to from another. For example, let’s say you have a product review page on your website. That product review could appear on any number of different pages on your site, such as a category overview or the about me page. An orphan page is a special type of page that is not connected to (nor linked to) any other page on your site.
Why are orphan pages bad for SEO?
They Don’t Communicate Anything
Let’s say you own a shoe store and you’ve decided to take the time to review a variety of shoes. You’ve created a product review page for the sole purpose of reviewing shoes. You’ve got a page for men’s brown shoes, a page for men’s brown dress shoes, and so on. If a reader happens to click on the link for the brown shoe page, they’ll see a brief overview of shoes in general with no mention of the specific pair of shoes they were searching for. The same goes for the other pages too; the reader may get the impression that all shoes are the same, or at least similar.
In this instance, the product review page does not communicate nor indicate to the reader anything about the specific pair of shoes they’re looking for; it’s just an “overview of shoes.” The same goes for the other pages in the series. While an overview page is valuable information to have, it doesn’t help the reader find what they’re looking for; it simply leaves them more confused than when they started. If a user doesn’t find what they’re looking for on your site, it can be difficult for them to know where to go next. You don’t want this to happen, especially since you’ve discouraged them from coming back to your site in the first place.
What Causes Orphan Pages?
You’re preparing a website for the world to see. You’ve checked the language, you’ve chosen the perfect template, and now you’re ready to publish. You hit the publish button and the next thing you know, your site doesn’t look the same as you imagined it. There are broken links, unexpected formatting, and one very important page that wasn’t generated automatically: the About Page.
What causes orphan pages? We’re going to run down the common causes of an orphan page and how you can avoid them.
The Template Was Installed Incorrectly
One of the most common causes of an orphan page is an incorrect installation of the theme. To see if this is the case, you need to look at the source code (meaning the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript that make up your website) of your published site. If you’ve done everything right up until this point and the about page is still not appearing, then the theme was installed incorrectly. In this situation, you’ll need to contact the theme provider and have them fix the problem.
Incorrectly installing a theme can result in a variety of issues. For example, if the theme was not downloaded from the theme provider’s website but was installed from a third-party source, then this could cause security issues. Also, if the theme was not properly configured when installed, this could result in broken links and unexpected behaviour (like displaying HTML code instead of the expected content).
Too Many Sections Pressed
If you’ve ever had a book with too many sections, then you know how difficult it can be to keep track of what you’ve already read. When preparing content for our websites, we often find that too many sections from different blogs or news articles are clumped together instead of displayed separately.
In the example below, we’ve got a breaking news section that has been merged with two other pieces of content. While this is an efficient way to present information to the reader, it’s not the best way to do so for the SEO. Your breaking news section may end up being the only section on your site because the other two were merged together. When this happens, your site can be penalised by Google because they don’t consider three articles to be a piece of content when it’s posted as one.
You can avoid this by pressing the merge button on one section at a time so that each one contributes a unique piece of content. Doing this also means your SEO will thank you for keeping things simple.
Too Many Images
When we’re all motivated by money, it’s easy for a salesperson to trick us into buying a product we don’t need just because they try to up-sell us on a related product. To prevent yourself from being a victim of bait and switch, only add images to an article that adds value or is somehow relevant to what you’re writing about. If an image doesn’t belong in the piece, then there’s no reason to include it.
For example, if you’re writing about web hosting and you’ve got an image of a catered meal next to a picture of a well-maintained server, then this is an unnecessary bit of information. However, if you’re writing about a type of software and you need an image to go with your description of the program, then you should include it.
No Keywords Were Included In The Content
When we’re doing keyword research for the purpose of improving SEO, we often find important pages with no keywords in the content. While we don’t expect every piece of content to be perfect, having some keywords in the content can significantly boost your site’s SEO.
For example, if your content doesn’t include any keywords, but your site happens to be ranked for a popular keyword, then you’re going to see a significant bump in traffic from that search engine. Not having any keywords in the content can also result in unexpected behaviour. For instance, if an image happens to be tagged with a keyword but the content doesn’t include that keyword anywhere in the text, then the image could end up being displayed when a user searches for that keyword.
To avoid this, make sure you include the keywords in the text wherever possible. It’s also a good idea to look at the previous articles in your archive and see if any of the keywords you’ve identified have been included in existing content. This makes it much easier to build off of previously established content when establishing new content.
The Website Is Not Mobile-Friendly
Since everyone now has access to internet-connected mobile phones, it’s a good idea to make sure your website is optimised for mobile phones. This means making sure the text is easy to read on small screens and that the site functions effectively on smaller devices. There are several tools you can use to make your site more accessible to mobile users. A few examples include the Responsive Web Design tool built into WordPress or a dedicated mobile website built with the Bootstrap framework.
If you’re looking for an easy way to test your site’s mobile friendliness, then you can use this tool to see how your site looks on a variety of devices. When testing, make sure you emulate how a user would interact with your site on a mobile phone.
The Content Is Way Too Short
Users on a mobile phone don’t have the time or attention span to sit down and read an entire article, especially if it’s more than a few paragraphs. To ensure they get the most value possible from your content, make sure the articles you post are concise and to the point. Also, make sure to add more than one or two images to an article as well. Using more than one image increases the chance of the reader clicking on the first image in the set because they have no idea what else is going on in the picture (hence the importance of including more than one image in an article).
The Permalink Is Inaccessible
Since your website is only as good as the front page, it’s important to establish a link on your site that points to a specific page. To do this, you need to insert the permalink (the address of the page) into the text of your website wherever you include a link. For example, let’s say you’ve linked to an article on your site called “How To Make Money Online” To ensure that someone finds that article when they click on the link, you should include the permalink of the article in the text of your link, like this:
When someone clicks on that link, they’ll automatically be forwarded to the page addressed in the URL. In the case of the link above, the reader will be taken to a page explaining How to monetise a lifestyle blog. This is exactly what you wanted to happen. To make sure this happens, make sure to always include the permalink in the text of your links and do your best to leave no question mark when providing them with valuable information.
The Meta Description Is Inaccessible
While we can’t expect every piece of content to have a meta description (this is often determined by Google based on the keywords you’ve chosen for the content), it’s a good idea to write a short description for each article that contains all the important information a user might want or need to know about your content. If someone happens to be searching for your content with the keywords you’ve chosen, then they’ll likely find the article but, otherwise, they might stumble upon an unrelated piece and leave disappointed. Having a meta description for each article will help prevent this.
The meta description should be limited to 60 characters and contain all the important information a user might want or need to know about your content. In addition to this, you should also include a relevant image in the description. Using these two elements, a user can learn all they need to know about your content in no time at all.
There Are Numerous Hints And Tips
Depending on how quickly your users are finding what they need, there will be different ways for you to improve their experience. If you’ve got any tips or suggestions for making the content better, then don’t hesitate to let us know. In the meantime, if you’re still having trouble figuring out what’s causing your page to become orphaned, then check your WordPress dashboard to see if there are any errors or warnings which can help point you in the right direction.
How To Find And Fix Orphan Pages
Many times, we come across online stores where 50% or more of the products are listed as ‘out of stock’ or ‘unavailable’. You can find similar stores on Shopify, Facebook Marketplace, and even Amazon. But what happens when there’s no clear indication as to why these products are out of stock?
Sometimes, this can be due to a mistake made by a member of staff who has sold the product but has not updated the listing. In other cases, it can be because the product is genuinely out of stock. But how do you find out which of these is the case?
Luckily, as an Internet marketer, you have a handful of tools at your disposal that can help you find these missing pages and fix them. But before we begin, it’s important to understand why these pages come back as ‘orphan’ in the first place – and what you should do with them.
Why Are These Pages ‘Orphan’?
When you visit a website, you’ll usually find four to five results at the top of the page. These are usually an overview of the site, social media accounts, search results, and a bit more. Depending on the site, you may also find a few more results below these.
Inspecting any of these results, you’ll see a small title above a link, with some additional information below. This is the canonical form of a web page that has been ‘orphaned’ by a program or tool – and to be honest, it doesn’t say ‘orphaned’ proudly. Instead, it usually says ‘404 – Not Found’ because the page doesn’t exist.
Why does this happen? Let’s examine the top result – the overview page.
Depending on the site owner’s needs, this page may not exist. However, sometimes, this is not the case. When this happens, Google – and any other search engine – will assume that this is the case and will list it as ‘orphan’ in order to help users find the actual page. Even if there is a separate page for this ‘product’ (e.g. a 404 page), it will be marked as ‘orphan’ because it does not match the information the user is looking for.
So how does this affect you as an Internet marketer?
Well, when you’re running an SEO campaign, this can be problematic because you’re not supposed to influence the results of a search engine. And when a page comes back as ‘orphan,’ you can bet that there is a good reason for it. You aren’t supposed to fix these pages because they don’t necessarily need to be fixed. Instead, you need to analyze the situation and determine whether the page needs to exist or not.
Fixing These Pages
Fortunately, you have a handful of tools at your disposal that can help fix these missing pages. The first and most important step is to determine whether or not these pages need to exist. You can use the Google Search Console to perform a quick analysis of any given site.
If you discover that a majority of the products on a website are listed as ‘out of stock,’ you can rest assured that this is a problem and that the page needs to be fixed. There are three basic steps you need to follow to begin the process of fixing this product.
Find The Real Page
The first step is to find the real page. Sometimes, when an SEO company acquires a website, they will include all of the content – even the missing pages – in the acquisition. In these cases, you will need to go through every piece of content and ensure that it contains the most up-to-date and relevant information. You should also try to include as many internal links as possible to ensure that the search engine crawlers are interpreting this content as deeply as possible.
Once you’ve found the real page, you can perform a quick check to see if the information is still accurate. If it is, you can determine that this is the correct page and move on to the next step.
Redirect The Page
Once you’ve found the correct page, you can redirect it to the actual product or service the user is looking for. You can use a tool like Redirectly to create these redirections automatically. When a user visits the ‘orphan’ page, they will be redirected to the product they’re looking for, with a bit more information regarding the product or service.
This step is important for getting rid of the ‘orphan’ pages because it gives the search engine the appropriate information.
Update The Page
The final step is to update the page with the most up-to-date information. This is a crucial step because if the information on a page is inaccurate or out-of-date, your SEO efforts could be undermined. In some instances, the product information on an ‘orphan’ page could be weeks or months out of date – and this can seriously damage your campaign. You should try to perform this step as soon as possible.
You can use a tool like Screaming Frog or Hitwise to perform a quick analysis of any given site and pull in all of the product information. This step will verify whether or not all of the products on a website are up to date and if they are, where they can be purchased from.
If you’re finding that a large number of your products are out of stock, it could simply be because the information you’re using is out of date. You need to identify these pages and verify that the content is up to date before you begin fixing them. Otherwise, you’re creating unnecessary work for yourself by attempting to reword an entire website.
Hopefully, this overview of ‘orphaning’ on websites has given you a clearer idea of what is going on and why these pages return in the ‘orphan’ state. Knowing how to identify these pages and fix them is an important part of being a smart Internet marketer.
How Can You Fix Orphan Pages?
If your company has a long history, you might have noticed that some of your web pages aren’t indexed by search engines. The search engines have deleted your content or given it a low priority because it doesn’t have enough text or headings. This is when you need to figure out a way to bring those pages back. Luckily, there is a solution.
Check The Algorithm
The simplest way to get your pages back is to submit a request to the search engines to index them. After that, you will need to use some good old elbow grease to update the pages to make sure the search engines see them as fresh content. This is because, at the end of the day, the search engines have to look at your pages and determine how valuable they are. So if you want users to find your content, you need to make sure it is good enough to be included in the search results.
Fix The Issues
Depending on how important those pages are to your business, you could take the time to fix the issues that make them appear or undesirable to the search engines. For instance, if you have a lot of orphan pages, you might consider investing in a content farm to get more quality content produced quickly. If the pages are undesirable for other reasons (like bad links or no-follow attributes), then you could use a tool like Siteliner to find and fix these issues. It’s always a good idea to have a look at the quality of your pages before making any changes. You can use a tool like Google’s Page Speed Insights to do this easily without having to wait for the page to load.
Redirecting
One of the simplest ways to get back your lost pages is to redirect them to a page that the search engines will value and index. This is typically done using the Rewrite module in the .htaccess file. For example, if you were trapped in an orphan page of a sales funnel, you could use the Rewrite module to redirect traffic to a page that contains more valuable content like a product description or a CTA.
Use The Right Metadata
To be included in the search engines, your pages need to have the right metadata. This includes putting in the correct title and description for each page, as well as the usage of the right keywords in the content itself. You don’t want to exclude any words, as this could cause your page to be deleted because the search engines don’t see it as valuable content.
How to Prevent Orphan Pages?
Now, you might be wondering how you can prevent these orphan pages from forming. After all, it’s not like you can’t take care of the traffic that is already on your site. So, here are a few ways to prevent and eliminate orphan pages so that you can make the most out of your website.
Get Rid Of The Dead Weight
One of the first things you should do to prevent or eliminate orphan pages is to get rid of the dead weight. The dead weight on your site can be described as all the pages that aren’t contributing value to your business. For example, if you run a blog for business purposes, all the outdated blog posts that don’t get enough traffic to be valuable are considered dead weight. Or if you sell your own products online, all the pages that don’t contribute value, such as pricing tables and the like, are considered dead weight.
Getting rid of the dead weight on your site will not only prevent old content from cluttering up your search results, but it will also give you more organic space to grow. When looking at your site statistics, you can see how much “room” you have for the content that is currently on there. For example, if you have a 1000 word blog post, but only 100 words are getting the most engagement, you’re going to miss out on a lot of content.
Improve Your Content
If you’re worried about whether or not your existing content is making an impact, the solution is simple: create more content. More content means more opportunities for your existing content to “live” or be featured on other websites and social media channels. When you’re running a lean business, every additional piece of content can mean the difference between being able to pay your bills and needing to find a source of additional revenue.
To take advantage of this, simply create more content. Whether you’re blogging, creating videos, or even just engaging with your social media followers, make sure that you’re putting out new content at least once a week. Not only will this help you gain backlinks, but it will keep your website relevant and interesting to your target audience. Of course, make sure that you’re adding value to the conversation as well. You can start by looking at successful blogs in your niche and seeing what they are doing that you can learn from.
Create Long-Form Content
One of the main problems with having content on your site that doesn’t perform well is that it makes it harder for people to find what they want. It’s one thing to have a 1000 word blog post on your site; it’s another thing to have a 3000 word article. When someone comes across a wall of text without any clear indication of how they’re supposed to navigate it, they will simply get frustrated and move on to the next site.
To help improve your search results and make the content on your site more accessible to your target audience, you need to create long-form content. This can be anything from a series of blogs to a fully fledged eBook that you’ve published. It depends on your individual needs and goals. The important thing is that you have some sort of long-form content available on your site. This will make your site more engaging and attractive to potential customers.
Even if the vast majority of your content is informative in nature, you should still consider creating some entertaining pieces as well. An eBook or a how-to guide can be extremely valuable, but if you’ve only got three or four short stories on your site, you’re losing a lot of potential customers. People love to be entertained while also gaining value, so make sure that you entertain your audience with something that is both valuable and entertaining.
Use Video Content
Blogs are a great way to engage with your audience, but so is video. Video content is becoming more and more important, as 47% of internet users now watch videos on their mobile phones. So, if you’re serious about gaining customers and building an audience, start using video content.
There are plenty of free video hosting platforms out there, such as YouTube and Facebook, which can be used to create and upload videos that can then be viewed by anyone.
This can be a valuable tool in getting the word out about your business and generating additional leads. The best part about video content is that people love to “listen” while also learning. If you’re serious about impressing potential customers with your knowledge, create videos to explain how your products work, why they’re better than their competitors’, or any other information that is valuable to your audience.
Link To High-Quality Content
When you’re trying to grow your website and gain relevant traffic, you need to make sure that the content that you’re promoting is of high quality. When someone comes across your site, they should be able to simply click on the content and should immediately understand what they’re looking at. If the content is well written, easy to understand, and accurate, you’ll gain a lot of respect from the audience. This, in turn, will help you gain credibility and trustworthiness.
To improve the quality of your content, you want to make sure that you’re always linking to other high-quality sites. This will not only help you improve your content, but it can also boost the performance of your site. When someone clicks on a link to an authoritative source, they’re usually much more likely to trust and believe the information that is being presented.
If you want to make your site stand out, you should focus on creating content that is both useful and linked to high-quality sources. When someone finds a website or social media account that they respect, they’re more likely to trust the content that is being presented because they feel as though the person or brand is an authoritative source.
Build A Team
If you’re looking for ways to improve the performance of your site, don’t rely on one person to tackle the task. Instead, hire an SEO freelancer or company to take care of all the technicalities behind getting the most out of your site. There are plenty of benefits to getting an SEO company to handle your site, as they can take care of all the day-to-day tasks, monitor its progress, and provide you with regular reports on the state of your site’s performance. The cost of hiring an SEO company can range between $500 and $1000 per month, depending on the size of your site and whether or not you want them to set up automatic payments to your account.
If you’re looking for ways to improve sales and grow your business, simply follow the advice in this article. You’ll see an improvement in no time.
