Definition

A doorway page is a page or site created to rank for particular, often similar, search queries while funnelling visitors to a different destination instead of serving them useful content. Google lists doorways as a violation of its spam policies.

Google describes doorways as sites or pages built to rank for many similar queries, or as substantially similar pages that sit closer to search results than to a clearly defined, browsable site hierarchy. A common pattern is many near-duplicate landing pages targeting different cities or regions that all lead users to the same general content. The policy concern is that such pages exist to capture search traffic rather than to give visitors a distinct, useful destination.

Examples

• Location-based duplication

  A contractor publishes dozens of near-identical pages for different suburbs that all funnel visitors to one generic enquiry form, which Google treats as doorways.

• Pages closer to search results

  A set of thin pages built only to capture query variations, with no place in the site's normal navigation, fits Google's description of doorway pages.

Sources

• Google Search Central — Spam policies: Doorways

Related terms

• Spam Policies
  Google's published rules describing behaviours and techniques that can lower a site's ranking or remove it from search results.
• Thin Content
  Pages with little or no original value to users — for example, auto-generated text, scraped content, or copied affiliate descriptions.
• Duplicate Content
  Substantively identical or very similar content that appears at more than one URL, either within a single site or across different sites.
• Cloaking
  Showing search engines and users different content with the intent to manipulate rankings and mislead visitors.
• Keyword Cannibalisation
  An SEO community term for when multiple pages on the same site compete for the same query, splitting ranking signals between them.

Where QueryCatch uses this

• SEO Audit
• Page Optimisation