Revisting Doorway Pages

Does Google dislike them? Need to optimize for synonyms.

[Imaster]

Hi,

I know there is a little confusion on what exactly is a doorway page. So let me explain my case. I have a particular topic "X" which is known by 4 other names (let's take A, B, C, D) and I need to optimize this page for all the 5 keywords (X, A, B, C, D).

Currently I have linked this page from the index pages, using these 5 keywords as anchor text, from respective alphabetical breakdowns (i.e total 5 inbound links). On the page title I have added only the main keyword "X", since adding all 5 would cause dilution and would look pretty shabby.

The result: the page is ranking well for the keyword "X" which I have added in the title, but doesn't rank well for the other four keywords (A, B, C, D). :(

So I plan to make 4 additional pages which would have their titles and inbound anchor text as A, B, C, D respectively. I would include a short description of "X" from this page and give a link to the main page of "X"

Thus, earlier it was
One page (X)
Five inbound links to the same page with different anchor texts (X, A, B, C, D)
One keyword in title (X)

Now it would be
Five Pages (X, A, B, C, D)
One inbound link to each page with respective anchor text (X, A, B, C, D)
Keywords in title of respective pages (X, A, B, C, D)

(One disadvantage of this could be that earlier there were 5 inbound links to the same page, thus passing more PR, whereas now there would only 1 inbound link from the main index page and 4 inbound links from the slightly lower ranking doorway pages)

Do you think Google would dislike this? I have seen really big sites doing this, so I guess it should be fine.

What is the best method to optimize in such a scenario.

[Imaster]

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

[sullen]

What you are describing are the kind of doorway pages that the people at Google warn against using. Yes, other sites use them, and there doesn't seem to be any automatic detection for them in place, but I would still tend to avoid them.

Why not make some related pages (history of A, some amusing facts about B etc) which give the user more information and target one of the synonymns each as a kind of added bonus?

That way you would be able to link all of them to each other without confusing users (and without upsetting anyone) and your PR will be more evenly spread.

[John_Creed]

If done correctly, those type of doorway pages can be extremely effective.

Just make sure the text on the pages is different(not duplicate content), and you'll be fine.