What is a Doorway Page, and Why You Should Avoid Using It

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Oksana Solonynka

Doorway pages serve as a bridge to lead users to another page. Instead of landing on the page that provides useful information related to the search intent, doorway pages, in most cases, redirect visitors to another page through a “doorway” and provide little value to a user by itself. In this article, I will explain how to identify such pages and their impact on SEO.

What are doorway pages?

Imagine you stand in front of the museum’s door, paraguay number dataset to see something special behind it. But how would you feel if, after opening one door, you saw a notice asking you to open another? After opening the second door, you discover that there are no masterpieces but instead one more door with the same message. You would probably think that there is something wrong with this museum.

This is a clear example of a doorway page that transfers you from one site to another rather than providing the information you seek.

A doorway page is an SEO technique used to funnel visitors to a page stuffed with keywords or a set of keywords that don’t provide any real value. It is created specifically for ranking benefits. Also called “jump pages,” it is designed for search engines, not real users.

These pages are designed to achieve top rankings in search engine results pages (SERP) by deceiving search engines and visitors. They aim to secure rankings for numerous targeted phrases, often focusing on long-tail keywords while redirecting users to a different location.

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How do doorway pages affect your SEO?
Although it’s considered black-hat SEO, and Google doesn’t like it, many SEO specialists use doorway pages to secure the top positions on the search results. They can be indexed quickly using black-hat techniques and provide almost instant results and high rankings. Such pages are easy to set up as they are created using templates or automated tools.

Doorway pages, like any other black-hat SEO technique, can boost your traffic in the short term but may cause your website more damage in the long run. Sooner or later, your website will be blacklisted on Google.


Before 2015, doorway pages were a common practice in SEO. Webmasters manipulated search engines using keyword stuffing and hidden text to gain higher rankings. In March 2015, Google updated its webmaster guidelines and penalized the doorway pages. Now, they are considered a form of cloaking and should be avoided.

When using doorway pages in SEO, you should be prepared to deal with the consequences:

Search engines like Google actively penalize websites that use doorway pages, which they consider a form of spam and manipulation. Penalties can range from lowered rankings in search results to complete removal from search engine indexes.
Doorway pages typically offer a poor user experience, often containing thin or irrelevant content. This can frustrate visitors and drive them away from your website, increasing bounce rates. This can harm your website’s reputation and credibility, diminishing users’ chances to engage with your content later.
While doorway pages may temporarily boost traffic by targeting specific keywords, they will unlikely provide sustainable, organic traffic growth. Once search engines detect and penalize these pages, your website’s visibility and organic traffic will suffer, leading to a decrease in overall website performance.