In the SEO world, doorway pages are a controversial topic.
Some believe they’re essential to boost SEO strategy, while others think they can do more harm than good.
So, what’s the truth? Are doorway pages helpful for search engine optimization, or should you avoid them altogether?
To answer this question, we will discuss what doorway pages are and how they affect your SEO practice.
What are Doorway Pages?
Doorway pages, called jump pages, are web pages created specifically to have a high-ranking page. Spammers and black hat SEO practitioners often use them to manipulate search rankings.
Doorway pages intend to trick search engine algorithms into thinking they are relevant to a specific keyword or phrase when they are not.
They are typically low quality and contain little to no original actual content.
A doorway page is typically packed with keywords and low on content, making them unhelpful for visitors.
Doorway pages can boost SEO schemes to funnel more traffic from search engines to a particular website or landing page.
A doorway page is sometimes also referred to as a “bridge”, “portal”, or “splash” page.
Creating doorway pages that don’t redirect visitors to the main website but instead direct them to a series of different sites is known as “Page Hijacking”.
What’s the Difference between a Doorway Page and a Landing Page?
A doorway page is a web page with the sole purpose of funnelling traffic from a search engine to another, multiple similar pages.
Doorway pages are often optimized for specific, high-traffic keywords and offer little value to the user beyond redirecting them to the target page.
On the contrary, landing pages are web pages designed to convert visitors into leads or customers.
Landing pages are usually standalone pages that are different from the rest of the entire website and optimized for a specific conversion goal.
Landing pages are typically focused on a single conversion goal and usually have a form or call-to-action (CTA) that encourages visitors to take that desired action.
Unlike doorway pages, landing pages do not solely want to rank in search engines and typically offer valuable content or resources that help the user achieve their goal.
Why Do Search Engines Hate Doorway Pages?
There are various reasons why search engines may view doorway pages with suspicion or dislike.
Doorway pages can be purely for the benefit of search engine algorithms rather than for actual human users. It means they may do keyword stuffing and other elements designed to artificially inflate their search rankings rather than genuine, useful pages with quality content.
Doorway pages can solely mean redirecting users to another page or website rather than providing valuable content or information. It can be frustrating for users to click on a link expecting to find something useful, only to be taken straight to another website.
A doorway page is a form of spam as it is effectively just a way of getting users to visit another website they may not have seen.
Finally, search engines may view doorway pages as a low-quality form of content since they are often created solely for the benefit of search engines and not for actual users. It means that they may be less likely to rank well in search results or may even be penalized by some search engines.
What are Examples of Doorway Pages?
Some common examples of doorway pages include:
1. Pages made solely for keyword stuffing include filling the page with excessive keyword phrases to manipulate search results.
2. Pages are designed to funnel traffic away from the actual website by featuring misleading or false information.
3. Pages are created to bait users into clicking on a particular result, often by featuring a misleading or false title or description.
4. Pages are nothing more than a collection of links, often unrelated to one another, designed to boost a website’s link popularity.
5. Pages that feature content copied from other websites attempt to manipulate search results without permission.
While doorway pages are sometimes with good intentions, they are often viewed as a form of spam by Google and can be penalized accordingly.
As such, it’s generally best to avoid using a doorway page on your website. If you believe your website may be guilty of featuring doorway pages, we recommend conducting a thorough audit to identify and remove any such similar pages.
Why should you Get rid of Low Quality “Doorway Pages”?
If you have a low-quality “doorway page” on your website, it’s time to get rid of it! Here’s why:
1. They’re a poor user experience.
Doorway pages often get users to click on ads or affiliate links. It means that they generally provide little to no value for the user and can even be confusing or frustrating to try to use.
Doorway pages lead to poor user experience.
2. They can hurt your search engine ranking.
Because doorway pages trick users and Google, they can hurt your website’s search engine ranking. If search engines detect that you’re using a doorway page, they may penalize your site or even remove it from their index entirely.
3. They’re against Google’s guidelines.
Google’s guidelines for webmasters explicitly state that “A doorway page can attract visitors to a site by search engines.” They say that these pages “are typically low-quality pages with little or no original added content” and that they “should be avoided.”
Start identifying any low-quality doorway pages. Once you’ve found them, please take action to improve the page’s quality or remove it entirely.
How to identify Doorway Pages On Your Website?
A doorway page can be challenging to identify, but there are a few key indicators that can help:
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The page consists mainly of keyword phrases, with little original content
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The page is designed to funnel traffic to a particular website or landing pages
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There is little to no interaction on the page (e.g., no comments, social media shares, etc.)
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The page has a high bounce rate, meaning people leave the page quickly after arriving
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The page is not linked to any other pages on the website
How to Ensure Traffic After Getting Rid of Doorway pages?
Doorway pages are generally a form of black hat SEO practice, which can result in penalties from Google.
Removing doorway pages as soon as possible is essential on your website if you have doorway pages.
Not only they are bad for your SEO, but they can also result in a loss of traffic.
Here are tips to help you ensure that you don’t lose any traffic after removing doorway pages:
Redirect any links to the doorway pages.
If you have any links pointing to your doorway pages, redirect them to other pages on your site. It will help prevent any loss of traffic from those links.
Monitor your website’s traffic.
Use Google Analytics or another similar service to monitor your website’s traffic. It will help you see if there is any drop in traffic after you remove the doorway page.
Use other marketing channels.
Don’t rely on organic search traffic alone. Make sure to use other marketing channels, such as social media, email marketing, and paid advertising, to drive traffic to your website.
Keep your website updated.
Make sure to add new content to your website regularly. It will help keep people coming back to your site and help you rank higher in user search results.
Monitor your SEO.
Use tools like Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools to monitor your website’s SEO. It will help you see if there are any changes in your website’s ranking or traffic after you remove the doorway pages.
Review your specific keywords
Review the specific keywords that were driving traffic to your doorway page. You can do this using Google Search Console and Keyword Planner. Once you know which keyword phrases were driving traffic, you can start optimizing your website for those search terms.
Avoid duplicate content
There are steps you can take to avoid it on your site:
1. Use unique and descriptive titles for your pages.
2. Write original and compelling meta descriptions for each page.
3. Use canonical tags to tell search engines which version of a page is the original.
4. Avoid using the same keyword or keyphrase too often on a single page.
5. Use 301 redirects to send traffic from old pages to new pages.
6. Use rel= “nofollow” tags on links to external sites to which you don’t want to pass link juice.
7. Use Google Webmaster Tools to find and fix duplicate content issues on your site.
8. Check for plagiarism if you’re concerned about the same content from other sources.
Avoid hard-to-find pages
To ensure your site has no hidden or difficult-to-find pages, thoroughly check your site’s navigation. Make sure all of your pages are easily accessible from your home page and that there are no “dead ends” where visitors can get lost. If you have a large site, consider adding a search function to help visitors find what they’re looking for.
The best way to avoid hard-to-find pages is to ensure that your website is well-organized and easy to navigate. A doorway page results in poor website design, so by improving the overall design of your site, you can also reduce the chances of having doorway pages.
Some other tips to avoid hard-to-find pages include:
• Make sure your website has a sitemap and that all of your pages link from the sitemap.
• Use breadcrumb navigation on your website so that users can always see where they are on your site and easily navigate back to previous pages.
• Internal linking is also essential for website navigation, so make sure to link to other substantially similar pages on your site from each page.
• Use descriptive meta descriptions and titles for each page on your website so that users can find your pages easily when searching online.
• Ensure your website is responsive and mobile-friendly so direct users can easily access it from any device.
Don’t create multiple websites
Multiple sites can hurt your chances of ranking because Google could see them as the same content. If you’re trying to rank for the same keyword with different keyword variations, it might make sense to have multiple sites. But stick to one website if you’re trying to target different keywords with the same overall topic.
Conclusion
Creating doorway pages is not an effective way to increase traffic to your website and improve your website’s ranking in search results.
In digital marketing, such as SEO, it is essential to be mindful of what can hurt your SEO. Using doorway pages is a bad idea. Website owners should be responsible for removing doorway pages if found and ensure traffic after removing them.
Suppose you want to ensure that your website has high levels of traffic. In that case, focus on creating pages with high-quality content and ensuring your site is well-designed and easy to navigate to improve user experience.
