Index above optimised page

Why does my index page rank above an optimised page?

[fergusferrier]

Hi, could anyone help me with this please.

I have a site with basically a number of doorway pages each optimised for a particular keyword phrase all linked to from the index page of my web site.

Why is it that, even though theoretically the optimised page should come first, that the index page ranks higher even though it may not even contain the whole keyword phrase. I know it might be something to do with PR, but sometimes there is a big difference and I find the index page on, say page 2 of the google serps and the optimised listing on page 5 of the serps. Is there some kind of penalty here? I have a feeling that the optimised page should be ranking probably on page 1.

This isn't true of all my doorway pages, many are doing well and bringing in lots of traffic. Could it be to do with perhaps slightly repetitive content?

Any help and suggestions to solve the problem would be greatly appreciated.

[Krapulator]

Suggestion: Get rid of doorway pages.

The index page probably ranks higher because incoming links generally link to your homepage rather than specific pages.

[coconutz]

>>Why is it that, even though theoretically the optimised page should come first, that the index page ranks higher even though it may not even contain the whole keyword phrase.

Welcome to WebmasterWorld [webmasterworld.com] fergusferrier. I would guess that it is because of the external links to your index page with the keywords in the anchor text.

[toddb]

I think this is the strength of PR as I notice d a similar thing. Page which is pretty much just navigation:
Blue widget
red widget etc
Links to this page are "site map" or unrelated to widgets in anyway.
The pages underneath have incoming links that say red widget and are optimized for red widgets and still the site map page ranks higher in the serps for red widget. PR 5 site map and PR 4 red widget page.