Doorway Pages

Is it yes or no for Google

[JudgeJeffries]

Sorry, but confusion still reigns.
Are doorway pages a complete no no for Google or are they ok if kept within reasonable bounds ie less of them than ordinary pages.

[Tony_Perry]

I think the term "doorway page" and all its derivatives cause more confusion for newcomers than any other subject. so don't feel bad about it.

If you create a new page for your site that looks and feels just like the rest of the site, and if it is a useful page for users, then it's ok. If on the otherhand, you create a page that is basically just a spam page that only exist to impress the SE's then they will be about as impressed as the end user is!

If you sell 2 types of widget, then put together a page for each one and ensure it is useful to the user. Then optimise each page and Bob's your uncle!

[freejung]

This is indeed a confusing issue. My take is that you should not set out to design doorway pages. Instead, set out to write articles. Make them good, relevant articles which are linked to and from the rest of your site. Put lots of nice juicy keywords in them. Then, don't worry about doorway pages, you will get legit traffic to your articles instead.

This is one of those things that's kind of like the difference between "shock and awe" and "terror". One is when you do it, the other is when your competition does it.

It is definitely a no-no to have pages which consist of nothing but keywords, pages which link to your site but are not linked to (so that the flow is one way, i.e. users of the rest of your site can't find the page but searchers can), and pages which have the exact same content except that one word or phrase has been substituted for another.

One of my competitors uses doorway pages, and believe me, they're quite obvious. His titles read like "98.93% relevancy, blue widgets, blue widgets, and more blue widgets" and his copy is like "if you are interested in blue widgets, you might also like red doodads, blue thigmagiggies, orange watchamacallits, and more blue widgets." and there are no blue widgets to be found anywhere on his site, and he has a link that says "click here for blue widgets" which leads to his homepage, which has nothing to do with blue widgets. This sort of thing is bad. Other than that, I think you're OK.

[OntheEdge]

I believe there are very few reasons for a doorway page. IMO, If the page is intended for the SE's not the user, then I wouldn't even consider it.
If you're doing it for the user maybe.
The most justified reason to me is language choice to view the site. Graphic designers pages for those who absolutely HAVE to show off their Flash prowess are understandable but still annoying to most users.
When users surf, they don't like to be slowed down. The more pages they have to click to to get to what's good, the more likely they giveup before they get there.

[JudgeJeffries]

I have a specific problem that I cannot seem to resolve.
A lot of people search for 'city1+service' or 'city2+service' or 'city3+service'. The service is the same in each city but searchers want to deal with local people who provide that service. I direct searchers to the service providers in each different city.
Problem is, I want 40 say pages optimised for 'cityXXX+service' but there little that I can change in the text except the name of the city because the service is always the same.
I have tried a few pages that simply say 'if you are looking for 'service' in 'city5' click here' which leads to the main site and subsequently to a form for completion. I have had very substantial response and everyone is happy, I get the customer and they get what they want, but is it spam? I have substantially more normal pages than the 40 doorway pages and I keep reading that its ok if the doorways number lees than the normals and I also keep reading that these type of pages are penalised by big G no
matter how few of them there are.
Any one got an answer?

[freejung]

I don't know about the stance Google takes, but I do have an idea. Are you sure that there is no difference between the service in city1 and city2? Might not the service be a little better in city1, a little faster in city2 etc? Or, might your visitors be interested in a little information about city1 while they are looking for service? Sounds like you're selling hotels or something like that. In that case, they might want travel information.

Write a short article about city1. Then, say that you offer service in city1, and provide link to appropriate page. Repeat for other cities. This is more work, but it also provides useful information. If they are looking for service in city1, they might want general information about city1 as well. This is what I do. I'm not sure how well it works yet, check back with me in a few months, but I have pages offering service in each city, and each page is unique because it contains unique info about the city, so I don't think I could draw a penalty for it.

Or, alternately, what other services are available in city1? Can you offer those as well? Maybe do a mini-guide to city1, offering service1, service2 etc along with info about city1? Again, lots of work but it will probably pay off. I'm planning to do this when I get time.

[JudgeJeffries]

Cannot be done. I'm an ambulance chaser!
Any other suggestions

[Marcia]

>>If the page is intended for the SE's not the user, then I wouldn't even consider it.

If the page looks like it's intended for SE's I'd think twice. They can be intended and still useful.

>>Cannot be done. I'm an ambulance chaser!

It's not easy to find a good ambulance chaser when you need one. How about a page for each city with traveling and/or driving instructions and maybe a map so they'll know how to get to your office.

Plus, if you're nice enough to go see people at the hospital to talk to them when they need your help, you could list the hospital(s) for each city with a link to them and let the people know you offer that convenience to them in their time of need.