Orphan pages are pages on your website that are not linked to from any other page. This makes them difficult for search engines to find and index, which can negatively impact your SEO. To avoid orphan pages on Shopify, you can use the following steps:
On Shopify:
- Internal Linking: Regularly audit your site to ensure all pages are linked from at least one other page. Use the navigation menu, footer links, and in-content links to connect pages.
- Sitemap: Ensure your sitemap is up-to-date. Shopify automatically generates a sitemap, but you can access it at
yourstore.com/sitemap.xmlto verify. - Collections: Add products to collections to ensure they are linked from collection pages.
- Blog Posts: Link to relevant product or collection pages within your blog posts.
- Apps: Use SEO apps like “SEO Manager” or “Plug in SEO” to identify and fix orphan pages.
On WordPress (WooCommerce):
- Internal Linking: Use plugins like “Yoast SEO” or “Rank Math” to identify orphan pages and add internal links to them.
- Sitemap: Ensure your sitemap is up-to-date. Plugins like “Yoast SEO” automatically generate a sitemap, which you can access at
yourstore.com/sitemap_index.xml. - Categories and Tags: Assign products to categories and tags to ensure they are linked from category and tag archive pages.
- Blog Posts: Link to relevant product or category pages within your blog posts.
- Audit Tools: Use tools like “Screaming Frog” or “Ahrefs” to crawl your site and identify orphan pages.