How to Fix Crawl Depth Issues

What the crawl depth check tests

SiteCurl builds a link graph starting from your homepage using breadth-first search. It counts the minimum number of clicks needed to reach each scanned page. Pages that require 4 or more clicks, or that have no internal link path from the homepage at all, are flagged.

Why it matters

Search engine crawlers start at your homepage and follow links. The deeper a page is buried, the less frequently it gets crawled. Pages 4+ clicks deep may take weeks to get re-indexed after updates. Completely unreachable pages (orphans from a crawl perspective) may never get indexed.

How to fix it

Add hub pages or category pages

Create intermediate pages that link to groups of related content. A blog index page that links to all posts reduces the depth of every post by one level.

Add contextual internal links

Link to deep pages from higher-level pages. If a product page is buried 5 clicks deep, add a “Featured Products” section on your homepage or category page that links directly to it.

Use breadcrumb navigation

Breadcrumbs give every page a direct link path back to the homepage through each intermediate level. They also help search engines understand your site hierarchy.

Fix unreachable pages

If a page exists but no other page links to it, add at least one internal link from a related page. If the page is no longer needed, remove it or redirect it.

How to verify the fix

Run a SiteCurl scan with multiple pages enabled. Check the crawl depth finding in the SEO section to confirm all pages are within 3 clicks of the homepage.

Related checks

Crawl depth is related to orphan pages (pages with zero inbound links) and URL structure (clean URLs that reflect a logical hierarchy).

Start a free trial to map your site’s crawl depth.