Search Engine Expressions

[avenir]

Hello Everyone!

Could anyone tell me what a "'doorway page' and 'doorway page generator'" is?

Thank you,

avenir

[Tim]

Something that will probably get your site banned from a search engine. :-)

[Krapulator]

A doorway page is a web page (usually used in conjuntion with many other doorway pages) containing artificial, keyword heavy text. These pages are used to attempt to manipulate search engines into sending them more traffic than they otherwise normally would receive.

A doorway page generator is a peice of software which produces these pages as quickly as you wish.

Search Engines frown heavily upon their use and, as Tim mentioned, they are a quick and efficient way of getting yourself removed from most search engines.

Not a good plan!

[thehittmann]

yeap what krapulator said. They are those pages that you come across with hundreds and hundreds of links all keyword rich that have nothing or very little to do with the sites that they point to.

[tigger]

a doorway will not get your site banned if done correctly, a doorway is just a page optimised around a specific keyword/phrase

[grandpa]

What tigger said.

I use doorway pages for inbound links from Web Rings. It's the only way to hit those pages. And it keeps the Web Ring graphics out of my "meat & potatoes".

Here's an analogy I use to decide if a doorway page is valid. I liken my site to a house. Walking around the outside of the house I might find several doors. Does each door have a valid purpose? Is there a mat on the floor to wipe your feet? Is there another door leading farther still into the house? (no dead end rooms). If I can satify those questions, then I have a valid doorway page.

[Krapulator]

From Google TOS:

1. Reasons your site may not be included.

You employ doorway pages. Google does not encourage the use of doorway pages. We want to point users to content pages, not to doorways or splash screens.

From Inktomi Content Policy

Q: Are "doorway" pages OK?
A: "Doorway" is a term for pages which send the user to a different page. Inktomi does not want doorway pages in the index.

I am not doubting that you can have doorways and not get banned, however if search engines are going out of their way to denounce them, then I believe they should be handled with care - particularly by those who are "New To Web Development"