Forum Moderators: Robert Charlton & goodroi
These 'doorway' pages are not part of the site's internal linking, they are only accessible through a 'Site Map' link that is hidden in tiny text at the bottom of the home page. These pages actually have good, unique content and high sales conversion rates.
Surprisingly, lots of these pages are doing very well in Google. They don't show up anywhere in Yahoo or MSN. At this point there are over 2,000 of them. They generate the majority of the site's organic Google traffic.
I'd really like to clean this up, by either moving the pages or including them somehow into the internal linking scheme. I'm very worried, however, about hurting the current traffic stream and its associated revenue.
Any ideas?
Several years ago, the owners hired an SEO who began creating static pages that were designed for specific search phrases and placing them at the root level.
This was common practice years ago by those who were not familiar with mod_rewrite or ISAPI_Rewrite (URI Rewriting). It was much easier to generate static pages than try to rewrite the dynamic query strings.
These 'doorway' pages are not part of the site's internal linking, they are only accessible through a 'Site Map' link that is hidden in tiny text at the bottom of the home page.
Hidden? Not good but a common practice "back then". You could fall prey to a manual review due to a competitor reporting the hidden link to a bunch of doorway pages. Make it visible.
These pages actually have good, unique content and high sales conversion rates.
Tough decision. How do you take all of those pages that are performing and keep them that way?
Surprisingly, lots of these pages are doing very well in Google. They don't show up anywhere in Yahoo or MSN.
It is possible that you are being penalized in Yahoo! and MSN.
At this point there are over 2,000 of them. They generate the majority of the site's organic Google traffic.
You'll have to make a hard decision here. Either 301 those doorway pages to their equivalent page on the dynamic side, or vice versa.
I personally would recommend the first suggestion. You can't continue to design your site around pages that all sit at the root level. The site needs structure.
I'd really like to clean this up, by either moving the pages or including them somehow into the internal linking scheme.
If those pages are high conversion pages, they don't sound like your typical doorway page. It sounds as if they "should" be part of the internal linking structure.
I think you will end up moving those anyway at some point, you might as well do it now. The only way to do this is via a 301 permanent redirect or 301 Moved Permanently.
You'll need to 301 those doorway pages to their new home. You'll also need to address the existing dynamics of the site. Actually, you'll do that first. Apparently there are issues there that need to be addressed before you do anything else. Once those are addressed, you'll know where you are going to permanently redirect those doorway pages.
I'm very worried, however, about hurting the current traffic stream and its associated revenue.
I would be to. I would advise that you perform a test with a small group of pages that are not top performers but will at least give you some indication of what will happen when you focus on the top performing pages. Doing a 301 within the same domain is fine. Everything will get transfered from the old page to the new page. You'll leave those 301 redirects in place for at least a year.
Make the link visible and have a plan in case the site falls in the serps. If google is sending those pages traffic, they do not consider them doorway pages! If the pages have good content, google is considering them as part of the site!
I would do like trinorthlighting said, do not mask them in any way, and then spend your time improving the part of your site you want to keep so that it gathers the traffic your doorway pages get, then 301 them to the pages that replaced them in the SERPs.
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