Doorway Pages, Are They Good Web Site Promotion?

Doorway pages have become somewhat of a craze among web site promotion and search engine optimization gurus. Do doorway pages work, or do they do more harm then good? What is a doorway pages anyway? Doorway pages (portal pages, jump pages, gateway pages, entry pages and other names), are simply a device used to trick search engines into thinking there is more relevant content on a site then there actually is. They are also used to promote graphics laden sites that have very little search engine indexing content. This advent is the result in the increasing difficulty in getting a good search engine ranking. Web masters will make various multiple pages targeted for a certain keyword or keywords. Then use a meta refresh tag, or a link to click through to your actual homepage. Usually their design is relatively simplistic and includes a lot of text, but contains very little graphics or other fancy effects. .Obviously a cheap way to increase traffic.

The Problem With Doorway Pages:

The simple truth is this used to be a much better way to increase traffic then it is now. Search engines have caught on to this method and have responded with ranking criteria that disables most doorway pages. Altavista for example began removing doorway pages from its index and in some cases even banning the sites that were using them. Other engines followed suit and soon it was safe to say goodbye to the age of doorway pages. Doorway pages cannot be used in directories, they will not work and you will get caught. Most search engines do not accept fast meta refresh tags, which are used in conunction with some doorway pages. Using this tag is a good way to not get your site indexed. However, if done right doorway pages can work. But the problem lies in most people using programs and overdoing doorway pages.

Other Options Besides Doorway Pages:

The number one option to get around using doorway pages is to have a good optimized site with plenty of content. If a search engine can't index your site properly or there isn't enough content, that is a problem that needs to be addressed. Optimize your pages to please search engines as well as people. If you need more keywords to target, then make more content. Instead of using optimized doorway pages, optimize individual pages on your site for keywords. I know this is the million dollar secret and it isn't the easiest thing to do, but hard work pays off.

What If I Still Would Like To Use Doorway Pages?

We don't promote doorway pages and we view them as a cheap alternative to doing necessary work. But if you must use them , at least do a good job. Here are some suggestions that should help you build doorway pages that are above and beyond the hideous creations of other web masters.

1. A good rule of thumb is to not make more doorway pages then you have regular content pages. Search engines will figure out if you have 3000 doorway pages and 10 site pages.

2. Attempt to include at least a small part of real content into the text you use on your doorway page. At the very least the text has to be readable and understandable, placing a mere list of random words on the page is a deadly mistake.

3. Make your doorways pleasing to the eye. You don't want a search engines to know right off hand, oh this is a cheap form of advertising here. You will lose visitors this way. Instead make them appealing. Appealing is convincing.

4. .Don't use a template or a purpose-built program to create your doorways. Create them by hand, your chances of getting caught will be significantly lower.

5. Try to make the doorway pages look as they were a part of your site. Don't include a "click here" link or use a redirect; instead, add your site's navigation menu on the doorway page and let users use it to get to your actual site. If you absolutely have to redirect people, always use an external JavaScript redirection script instead of META refresh tags.

Remember doorway pages can work, but there is no substitute for optimized pages and quality content. If you decide to use doorway pages for web site promotion please construct them correctly.

What is all the hype about doorway pages?

The Problem With Doorway Pages:

Other Options Besides Doorway Pages:

What If I Still Would Like To Use Doorway Pages?

Information

27 Tips to Top Search Engine Rankings

Using Links For Improved Search Engine Ranking

10 Common Webmaster Mistakes

How Do Search Engines Work?

Is Your Website Optimized To Sell?

Tools

Free Link Popularity Check

Free Meta Tags Generator

Free Search Engine Ranking Tool




What is all the hype about doorway pages? Doorway pages have become somewhat of a craze among web site promotion and search engine optimization gurus. Do doorway pages work, or do they do more harm then good? What is a doorway pages anyway? Doorway pages (portal pages, jump pages, gateway pages, entry pages and other names), are simply a device used to trick search engines into thinking there is more relevant content on a site then there actually is. They are also used to promote graphics laden sites that have very little search engine indexing content. This advent is the result in the increasing difficulty in getting a good search engine ranking. Web masters will make various multiple pages targeted for a certain keyword or keywords. Then use a meta refresh tag, or a link to click through to your actual homepage. Usually their design is relatively simplistic and includes a lot of text, but contains very little graphics or other fancy effects. .Obviously a cheap way to increase traffic. The Problem With Doorway Pages: The simple truth is this used to be a much better way to increase traffic then it is now. Search engines have caught on to this method and have responded with ranking criteria that disables most doorway pages. Altavista for example began removing doorway pages from its index and in some cases even banning the sites that were using them. Other engines followed suit and soon it was safe to say goodbye to the age of doorway pages. Doorway pages cannot be used in directories, they will not work and you will get caught. Most search engines do not accept fast meta refresh tags, which are used in conunction with some doorway pages. Using this tag is a good way to not get your site indexed. However, if done right doorway pages can work. But the problem lies in most people using programs and overdoing doorway pages. Other Options Besides Doorway Pages: The number one option to get around using doorway pages is to have a good optimized site with plenty of content. If a search engine can't index your site properly or there isn't enough content, that is a problem that needs to be addressed. Optimize your pages to please search engines as well as people. If you need more keywords to target, then make more content. Instead of using optimized doorway pages, optimize individual pages on your site for keywords. I know this is the million dollar secret and it isn't the easiest thing to do, but hard work pays off. What If I Still Would Like To Use Doorway Pages? We don't promote doorway pages and we view them as a cheap alternative to doing necessary work. But if you must use them , at least do a good job. Here are some suggestions that should help you build doorway pages that are above and beyond the hideous creations of other web masters. 1. A good rule of thumb is to not make more doorway pages then you have regular content pages. Search engines will figure out if you have 3000 doorway pages and 10 site pages. 2. Attempt to include at least a small part of real content into the text you use on your doorway page. At the very least the text has to be readable and understandable, placing a mere list of random words on the page is a deadly mistake. 3. Make your doorways pleasing to the eye. You don't want a search engines to know right off hand, oh this is a cheap form of advertising here. You will lose visitors this way. Instead make them appealing. Appealing is convincing. 4. .Don't use a template or a purpose-built program to create your doorways. Create them by hand, your chances of getting caught will be significantly lower. 5. Try to make the doorway pages look as they were a part of your site. Don't include a "click here" link or use a redirect; instead, add your site's navigation menu on the doorway page and let users use it to get to your actual site. If you absolutely have to redirect people, always use an external JavaScript redirection script instead of META refresh tags. Remember doorway pages can work, but there is no substitute for optimized pages and quality content. If you decide to use doorway pages for web site promotion please construct them correctly.	Information 27 Tips to Top Search Engine Rankings Using Links For Improved Search Engine Ranking 10 Common Webmaster Mistakes How Do Search Engines Work? Is Your Website Optimized To Sell? Doorway Pages- Good Advertising? The Importance Of A Sitemap Keyword Optimization 101 Robots.txt To Get Indexed More Web Site Traffic With DMOZ More Web Site Traffic With Yahoo Wore Web Site Traffic With Inktomi More Web Site Traffic With Google Tools Free Link Popularity Check Free Meta Tags Generator Free Search Engine Ranking Tool