Fix Orphaned Content on Your Website – For Your SEO Juice

Where to Find & Fix Orphaned Content on Your Website

Do you know if you have any orphaned content on your blog or website today? A few weeks ago, I noticed in my WordPress dashboard - the orphaned content column when I looked at my posts. I was looking at them to find old blog posts to update. Therefore, I had to know how to fix orphaned content.

To my surprise, I had over 550 total blog posts! Has it really been that long I've been blogging here? (The answer can be found on my new about me page.)

But what intrigued me MOST was the orphaned content was just over 350 posts. (The screen shot here shows I since fixed a few). Hmm, I wondered?

Now, if you know me, I had to investigate what that was all about. Looking at the WordPress dashboard under posts and/or pages is where you'll find your orphaned content.

But, if you don't have Yoast, you would need an SEO tool like SEM Rush to find out your orphaned pages and fix orphaned content. (By the way SEM Rush is a great tool, even the Free version! You can even find your broken links with this SEO tool). I've been loving the suggestions that they email me weekly for my site's SEO here.

Being An Orphan

Now, I could really relate to those orphaned pages lately as my dad passed away a few months ago and I'm an adult orphan. It started to hit me more recently since I'm no longer in the busy stage of emptying the old homestead and such. (I know how these pages feel being alone in left field without a parent to watch over them. There is a missing link to my family tree.)

Hence, think of your website as a family tree. All the roots need to be interconnected and talking to each other.

Think of your website as a family tree. All the roots need to be interconnected and talking to each other. #SEOtips Click To Tweet

What Does Orphaned Content Mean?

Orphaned content means that a page or post that is NOT linked to any other page in that same website. It's all by itself. The orphaned page is all alone. No internal links are pointing to it. The orphaned page is like this dog by himself below waiting for a missing link.

According to Confluence, the technical answer is: " An orphaned page is a page without any incoming links and is located at what's called the 'root of the space', meaning it sits alongside the space's home page. This means that, unless you know the page exists, you're not likely to come across it during the natural course of navigation. Jan 31, 2018

Navigation of your blog or website is key when doing search engine optimization. Readers of your content need to be able to find things quickly, otherwise they will leave and go elsewhere. Therefore, having less orphaned pages on your website will lead to a lower bounce rate too!

What is Orphaned Content? It's a page or blog post, for bloggers out there, that is NOT linked to any other page of your website. It's all by itself. The orphaned page is all alone. No internal links are pointing to it. #SEO Click To Tweet

Why Fix Orphaned Content?

• SEO Benefits - You will see a higher amount of traffic as the SEO of your site gets better with less orphaned pages. Your site structure will be better for your readers.
• Lower Bounce Rate - Readers will stay longer on your site with links pointing to other content that is RELEVANT for them to read. Relevant is the keyword here! Do not point to useless information just for the sake of it.
• Readers Will Love It - Your readers will appreciate reading more on a topic if you point them to the most relevant content about it. It will easier for them to find things on your website.

Now, I've always linked new posts to old ones but not the other way around. Yes, now link your old posts to new ones when it makes sense. And don't forget to link to your pages too. So, I'm in the process of fixing these, a few per day and of course, updating the older posts and pages along the way!

#SEO Benefits - You will see a higher amount of traffic as the SEO of your site gets better with less orphaned pages. Your site structure will be better for your readers. Click To Tweet

How Else Can You Fix Orphaned Content?

You can update your old posts and pages. How long since some of these pages have received any attention from you? Some of my old blog posts made me cringe. How could I have written that? And the creative art was another part that needed a refresh! Recently I did an overhaul of Content Viral Bee.

It was like rewriting the entire post. But things have changed, and the post had to reflect that. What was surprising to me was that some people still haven't heard of the services from Content Viral Bee.

So not only will you be fixing your links to other pages, but you may update your old content and make it fresh! You know how much google loves fresh content if you have been a reader here before. Hunter now has a step brother and loves being linked to another dog. (I'm babysitting him this week, imagine me with 2 dogs when I was once afraid of dogs?)

So not only will you be fixing your links to other pages, but you may update your old content and make it fresh! #seotips Click To Tweet

SEO Changes

Recently, Google had a major algorithm change. Oh yes, they keep on changing just like the social networks do. The structure of keywords and the way people search has really changed over the years and months. Mobile and devices like the Google Home and Alexa have contributed to these recent algorithm updates.

Recently, Amanda Ricks wrote about this in her blog post, called Why It's Time to Rethink Keywords. SEO is not all about keywords and the old keyword stuffing method.

Today, it is more about site structure, website speed and mobile friendliness. There are still over 200 factors that count towards your website's SEO score and how your website ranks in search. As a result, when you fix orphaned content you are increasing your SEO juice of your website by refreshing content and linking pages and posts of your website.

Recently, @amandamricks wrote about this in her blog post, called Why It's Time to Rethink Keywords. SEO is not all about keywords and the old keyword stuffing method. Click To Tweet

Have You Fixed Your Orphaned Content?

Finally, I'd love to know if you knew about orphan posts and pages or if you have fixed orphaned content on your website already. Please leave a comment below about it today!