Ever wonder why the use of "doorway pages" in search engine
optimization is getting such a bad rap?
One day, you hear they’re the best way to get ranked in the search
engines. But the next day, you read that they'll get you banned!
Is this criticism valid?
Let's raise the curtain, and expose the truth about doorway pages,
and how they can affect your search engine rankings.
The truth is that doorway pages, themselves, are not the problem.
The development and use of doorway pages are what make
the difference between a site that gets black-balled from the
engines and one that’s listed at the top of the search results.
Getting your pages accepted by the engines is as simple as
making informed decisions... and using means acceptable by
the search engines’ current preferences.
Here are some simple guidelines you can use to stay on track
with your doorway pages.
1) Content is King
The search engines are becoming more sophisticated in their
ways of selecting who gets the top spots. And now, more than
ever, they look closely at the content or body text of your web
pages.
For instance, they use text filters to detect duplicate text, code
or META tags. If you steal someone’s content, the search engines
can block YOUR web page and possibly your entire website.
This is done to filter out the repetitive material (and other garbage)
from the search results.
Probably the most effective doorway pages are those containing
brief articles, or other informative info, relevant to the topic and
keyword(s). Articles should be approximately 300-600 words in
length and focus on no more than a few related keywords.
Attempting to focus one page on too many keywords will dilute
your efforts and diminish results.
(This article is a great example of content that could be used to
get ranked on the term “doorway pages.” It contains 629 words,
and the phrase “doorway pages” is used 11 times.)
2) Proper Keyword Use
Search engines have detailed formulas for ranking pages, based
on your use of keywords on the page. They consider things like
“keyword weight” (the prominence of the keyword, based on the
total number of words used) and “keywords frequency” (how
often a keyword is repeated).
Here are some tips for proper keyword use.
Use your keyword(s) in:
o- the URL of the page
o- the beginning and end of your body text
o- bold headings (size 14 or 16 font)
o- in hyperlinks to other pages
o- in the alt tags and names of your graphic images
But this checklist gives you the fundamentals. You may need to
get more heavily involved, if your trying to claim top positioning
on the most popular keywords.
3) Accurately-Timed Submissions
Again, search engines have different regulations on what you
can and cannot do. You don't want to submit too often, but…
frequently enough to maximize results. Once or twice a month
should be sufficient for most engines.
As long as you strategically deliver valuable content, and promote
within acceptable means, doorway pages (or whatever you want
to call them) are still the leader in helping you achieve top search
engine placement.
Of course, knowing how each of the major engines operate is an
important part of speeding up results. And there are many more
advantageous details than I can share in this article. Achieving
search engine prominence (and dominance) can be an exhaustive
effort. To do it yourself is only recommended for technically-driven
people or those with some spare time to work the process.
So whether you hire a team of professionals or you do it yourself,
be sure that your doorway pages are produced according to the
latest “unwritten” rules of search engine placement.
About the Author
Michael Buck is Chief Operating Officer of www.GuaranteedTopRankings.com specializing in
getting top-20 search engine rankings for your website. Backed by a rock-solid guarantee,
you'll get dynamic positioning to propel your traffic to new heights. Visit the site for a fact-filled
mission on the latest search engine know-how and a free report: “Ethical Search Engine
Secrets.” Or give us a call at (509) 328-5858.
Copyright 2001 - reprint permission required.