Orphan page (sitemap only)

Severity: Opportunity
Impact: Medium
Effort to fix: Low
Issue code: sitemap_orphan

Why it matters

The page is in the XML sitemap but no crawled page links to it, so it receives no internal link equity.

How to fix it

Link to this page from relevant pages, menus or hubs, or remove it if it is obsolete.

How it affects your score

Finding this issue on any page costs the Internal Linking score 0.5 points, plus up to 4 more depending on the share of crawled pages affected. A smaller improvement with a modest effect on its own.

Find the affected URLs

Open Crawl > Issues and pick Orphan page (sitemap only). Each affected URL is listed with its evidence, and Copy URLs or Export URLs hands the list to a developer. The issue also appears in the Action Plan, ranked by impact (medium) and effort (low), and in the issues CSV under the code sitemap_orphan. After fixing, run a new audit and use Compare to confirm the URLs moved to fixed.

Guides that cover this issue

Audit incomplete, slow or empty