Orphan pages

What this check looks for

Using the crawl's link graph, this check builds the set of every URL that received at least one internal link, then checks each successfully-crawled page (excluding the homepage itself) against that set. A page with a 2xx status but no incoming internal link warns as an orphan. A page reachable through at least one internal link passes; a scan with no link graph built reports "na".

Why it matters

If a page can only be found through the sitemap and never through actual site navigation, it's effectively invisible to anyone browsing the site, and search engines historically treat internally-linked pages as carrying more authority than ones discovered purely through a sitemap submission. It's often a sign the page was published but never actually integrated into the site's structure — added to a sitemap generator but never linked from a category, related-content module, or nav menu. AI crawlers that build understanding of your site by following links the way a person would simply never encounter an orphan page at all, no matter how good its content is.

How to fix it

Link to the page from somewhere relevant — a category hub, related-content block, or navigation menu:

<!-- On a related product's page, add a link to the orphan -->
<section>
  <h2>You might also like</h2>
  <a href="/products/wireless-nc">Wireless Noise-Cancelling Headphones</a>
</section>

If the page genuinely shouldn't be part of the site's structure anymore (a stale campaign landing page, for example), remove it from the sitemap and consider a redirect instead of leaving it orphaned.