Are useful pages hard to reach through links?
It reports deep pages and sitemap pages with no observed internal links.
What Check Engine measures
Indexable pages at a depth of 4 clicks or greater enter the deep-page test. Orphans are indexable sitemap entries with no internal inlinks, excluding the homepage. When the crawl cannot support link-graph claims, the code reports that depth or orphan status could not be checked instead of asserting the defect. A sufficiently complete graph allows the corresponding depth and orphan findings. For example, a page at a depth of 4 clicks enters the deep-page review.
The check uses measured click depth, internal links and the saved sitemap list. An incomplete crawl can leave the result unknown. Review what the crawl covered before moving pages or adding links.
How to read the result
Deep pages are low severity, confirmed orphans medium and withheld measurements notices. The result describes the graph the audit could establish. It does not prove how every user navigates or that every deep page needs a place in the main menu.
Why it matters
A sitemap can reveal a URL without showing how a visitor reaches it from another page. The graph requirement protects that distinction and prevents incomplete discovery from being presented as a confirmed absence of links.
How to fix it
Review the route to useful affected pages. Add relevant links from pages where a visitor would expect them, and repair links that point to obsolete addresses. Keep intentional utility pages separate from useful public content. If the finding says the graph was incomplete, improve crawl coverage before making structural changes based on that uncertainty.
What we found in field audits
Problems in Crawlability & indexing were found on 12 of the 14 sites we audited. These are area totals. Read the field-audit method.
Method note
backend/seo_engine/checks/indexability.py, depth_and_orphans, revision 0bb8e8d3.
Common questions
How many clicks make an indexable page deep in this audit?
A measured depth of 4 clicks qualifies. That distance follows the internal links the crawl could actually read.
Can an incomplete crawl prove a page is an orphan?
No. Without support for link-graph claims, orphan status is withheld. Improve coverage before treating absent links as a confirmed defect.
Are confirmed orphan pages more serious than deep pages?
Yes. Confirmed orphans are medium, while deep pages have low severity. Both results still need a review of page purpose.