If you have seen or heard about the movie “The Night of the living dead,” that’s where the idea of zombies was codified in the popular imagination and set the template for everyone else to follow.
Let’s get technical!
How do you define a zombie?
Zombies are like those slow, shuffling creatures you see in movies, TV shows, and nightmares. They are the “walkers” of the undead world.
In the digital world, we have something similar called zombie pages. These are like the zombies of the internet. They are web pages that are forgotten, neglected, and buried deep in the darkest corners of websites.
Just like real zombies, zombie pages are out of touch with reality. They’re outdated and provide zero value. They’re like that old uncle who still thinks it’s the 90s and refuses to let go of his neon spandex.
This five-minute article is the only thing you need to know about zombie pages. Read till the end to know how to turn your dead pages into top-performing metrics and boost site rankings. Website owners would want to take notes and screenshots and work to improve the quality score.
Five Signs Your Website’s Pages Are Zombie Pages
Here are the five indications that you may consider:
Not Mobile Friendly – “The Zombie Phonebooth”
These pages are stuck in the past and refuse to adapt to the mobile-friendly world. They’re like old phone booths in the smartphone era, unable to connect with users on their tiny screens, thus causing a degraded user experience. These important pages may appear in Google results, but their ranking is lowered.
To avoid this poor performance, ensure pages are optimized for mobile devices and load faster.
Pages With Low Quality – “Soggy Sandwich”
These zombie pages suffer from low-quality content. They’re like a sad, soggy sandwich with stale ingredients that nobody wants to sink their teeth into. They lack the flavor and freshness that site real visitors want.
For instance, poorly written or grammatically incorrect content lacks professionalism and leaves little or no traffic.
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Pages Not Optimized for Search Engines – “The Invisible Specter”
These pages are like ghosts haunting the internet. They’re not optimized for SEO, making them invisible to search engines and users’ preferences. Search engines rank pages based on factors such as the presence of alt, h1, h2, or h3 tags, a good title, and relevant keywords.
If your pages do not meet these requirements, they will be ranked lower in the search results.
As a result, to have a healthy website, it is critical to have good SEO efforts.
Orphans/Annex Pages – “The Lonely Zombie Pages”
These zombie pages are abandoned and disconnected from your website’s structure. They’re like lost orphans wandering the web without links or connections to guide visitors. They’re left to wander, longing for a place to belong.
On the other hand, Annex pages are the polar opposite of orphan pages. These pages contain legal information and other vital factors contributing to your site’s success.
Indexed Zombie Pages- “The Lost Treasure 404″
These zombie pages were once active but are now missing in action, resulting in indexed 404 errors. They’re like hidden treasures that users stumble upon, only to find disappointment and confusion. It’s like searching for buried treasure, and finding a 404 X marks the spot.
Disappointing, right?!
A 301 redirect will work best if you move content from one page to another, whereas deleting a URL can be useful if your website accumulates outdated or irrelevant pages.
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Busting The Zombie Apocalypse: Identifying And Eliminating Dead Pages On Your Website
So far, we have learned how these zombie pages are problematic! So how can we get rid identify and get rid of them?
Let’s cut to the chase and solve some real problems!
Here are a few ways to discover zombie pages on your website:
- Use Google Analytics. In Google Analytics performance tab, you can view a list of all the pages on your website that have received traffic in the past three months. Any pages that have received no traffic in this period are likely zombie pages.
- Use Google Search Console. In the Google Search Console, you can view a list of all the pages on your website that Google indexes. Any indexed pages that have received no traffic in the past three months are likely zombie pages.
- Use a website crawler. There are several search engine crawlers available that can help you find too many zombie pages on your website. These tools will crawl your website and identify pages that generate bot traffic or outdated content.
Once you have identified low-quality content pages, you can take steps to delete zombie pages. Here are a few options:
- Delete the pages. If the non-indexed pages are irrelevant to your website, you can delete them. These will remove them from your website and other search engines.
- Redirect the pages. If the zombie hunt is still relevant to your website, you can redirect them to other pages. These will ensure that traffic to these pages is directed to a more relevant page.
- Non-index the pages. You can index the zombie pages if you don’t want to delete or redirect them. It will tell search engines that these pages are non-indexed so that they won’t appear in search results. Identifying and removing zombie pages can help improve your website’s SEO and make it more user-friendly.
Here are some additional tips for identifying and getting rid of dummy pages:
- Check your sitemap. It includes the list of all the pages on your website. If any pages in your sitemap are not receiving traffic, they are likely zombie pages.
- Check your internal links structure. Ensure that your site blog post is linked to other pages on your website. It will fall under the good-performing page in Google’s results.
- Review your content. Ensure your site content uses the right keywords and gets visitors and direct traffic. If it’s not, consider deleting unsuitable content and keep only quality content.
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Rise Above The Undead – Revamp Your Website’s Performance Metrics
Keeping your website and blog post fresh and engaging is crucial. Zombie pages can drag down your site’s performance and user experience. You can breathe new life into your online presence by removing broken links and bot traffic.
In this complex digital landscape, website owners need a trusted ally to navigate the complexities of search engine optimization (SEO). That’s where the best SEO agency in Hyderabad, steps in as the ultimate solution.
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Almaas saleem
About The Author…
Almaas Saleem – A software Engineer by profession, worked as an Automation Test Engineer and cleared the international level testing exam (ISTQB). Almaas has a sharp eye on everything about the web, technology and innovation and also is Engaged in Technical writing for new businesses managing various entities. Her Area of Expertise includes Web development and design, Automated test software(s), ethical hacking, cybersecurity, cryptography, and digital marketing. Being committed and efficient towards her work is what makes Almaas stand out from the crowd.