Doorway Pages? To be or not to be?

What is the consensus regarding usage of doorway pages?

[ofernandezjr]

Let me preface the following statement(s) by saying that I am a novice when it comes to SEP. A friend has asked for my assistance in helping his site with SEP, because he just doesn't have the time . I've read different things on the usage of doorway pages -- spamming, etc. What is your opinion?

If you consider it spamming, how would you optimize for an industry that is very competitive -- insurance. I've already done the standard -- Keywords in the Title tag, meta tag description, meta tag keywords, relevant content, etc. We've already received good placement with some keywords, however with others we have not. What other tips can you suggest?

We're really not concerned with optimum placement with specific insurance-related keywords in English--that's just too competitive and not necesarilly our target market. We are targeting Latin America (spanish and portuguese languages), and would obviously want high placement in the same SE's that are popular in the US, but just in Spanish.

Sorry for the long-winded post...it's just hard to explain.

(edited by: agerhart at 3:44 pm (gmt) on Aug. 22, 2001

[agerhart]

I would suggest submissions to the international versions of the search engines, and maybe paid listings.

If you rank for your keywords, what else do you want to rank for?

[agerhart]

Also, doorways are not spam....it is the way that they are used that can be perceived as spam.

If you make sure that they look like the rest of the site, are linked to the rest of the site, and are not stuffed with keywords or dupes of other portions of the site, then you should be clear of being called spam.

[Eric_Jarvis]

my view is that ideally all pages should be doorway pages

[mivox]

ideally all pages should be doorway pages
If the site organization permits it, that would be the best solution... try to make every page as information-rich and interlined as a good doorway page. Visitors could end up entering your site from any page the SEs pick up, so make sure all of them make good entryways for both spiders and humans.

I think the current trend is away from the "tucked away" doorway pages of old, where the doorway served no purpose than to give one a place to stuff their keywords, and the only link was an "Enter Here" link.

My employer's site features "topic index pages" linked through prominent buttons in the top navigation menu... these pages not only give a keyword-rich introduction to each topic, they link to all pages on the site relevant to that topic. They were specifically designed to do double duty as "doorway/entry" pages, and to serve as navigation aids for site visitors...

[agerhart]

my view is that ideally all pages should be doorway pages

Ideally yes....but it all depends upon the site

[paynt]

Welcome ofernandezjr,

I still think these discussions have much to offer in the doorway page conversation arena.

Define Doorway Page [webmasterworld.com]
The ideal (non-cloaked) doorway... [webmasterworld.com]
Doorway pages - still in use? [webmasterworld.com]

(edited by: paynt at 5:39 pm (gmt) on Aug. 22, 2001

[agerhart]

Thanks Paynt,

The ideal (non-cloaked) doorway...

definitely one of my favs