Locating Orphaned Pages (Pages not in the Menu)
Sometimes live, published web pages exist on your site without any connection to the menu. These are called orphaned pages. While orphaned pages can be created intentionally on rare occasions, they are typically accidental and can be problematic.
This guide explains what orphaned pages are, how to locate them, and the actions that can be taken once they are identified.
As a best practice, we recommend checking for orphaned pages on a regular basis — perhaps monthly or quarterly. Sites should typically have very few, if any, orphaned pages.
Potential Issues with Orphaned Pages
"Orphan" refers to pages that are not housed in the menu of your site. If an orphaned page is published, it can potentially be problematic.
Users can find out-of-date information
Removing a page from the menu is NOT the same as unpublishing it!
One of the most common causes of orphaned pages is confusion about unpublishing. On occasion, users will remove a page from the menu as a way to hide it from site visitors. Unfortunately, unless the page is also unpublished, it remains live and viewable.
This means that if someone has the URL to that page, perhaps bookmarked in their browser, they will still be able to visit that page. Additionally, the page will appear in searches, allowing website visitors to stumble upon its content. This is true whether users use a search engine or the search function within your website.
Users can't find pages you want them to see
Another issue with orphaned pages is that users cannot easily access them. If you forget to include it in the menu, users will not be able to click through the various menus, such as Academics or People, to find the content. Instead, a user must know the exact URL of the page to view it.
Locating Orphaned Pages
You can find orphaned pages the same way you locate any other content, in the Manage Content menu. When you click the "Manage Content" shortcut button, a listing of all content appears. Select the tab called "Orphaned Pages."
All of your published orphaned pages will appear in this list.
Resolving Orphaned Pages
Once you've located your orphaned pages, you can take action:
- If your content is no longer relevant or necessary, you can unpublish the page .
- If the content should be easily found, you can add it to the menu .