Doorway Pages
Doorway pages are pages or sites created to rank for specific, similar search queries, which then funnel visitors elsewhere or offer little unique value. A common example is dozens of near-identical location pages. Google’s spam policies name doorway abuse as spam, so these pages can drag down rankings.
Examples of doorway pages
Google’s spam policies describe doorways as pages that act as intermediate steps rather than useful destinations. Examples include:
- Many pages targeting town or city names where only the place name changes, such as ‘plumber in Bolton’, ‘plumber in Bury’ and ‘plumber in Wigan’ with copied text.
- Multiple domain names or pages that all send users to the same main page.
- Pages generated to capture searches for a product range, where each page is almost identical.
- Thin pages that exist only to push users to another, more useful part of the site.
Why they are a problem
Doorways clutter search results with similar pages, and users who click often land somewhere with no real answer. Google can demote doorway pages, or the sites using them, and can issue a manual action.
Doorways also overlap with other problems:
- Scaled content abuse, when pages are mass-produced to manipulate rankings.
- Thin content, when pages offer little or no unique value.
- Keyword cannibalisation, when many similar pages compete for the same searches.
Location pages: doorway or legitimate?
Location pages are not automatically doorways. A business with real branches, or one that genuinely serves distinct areas, can have useful local landing pages. The difference lies in the value each page provides. Ask:
- Does the business actually operate in, or serve customers in, this place?
- Does the page have unique content, such as local staff, reviews, projects, photos, opening hours or directions?
- Would a visitor find this page useful if it were the only one they saw?
- Is the page part of the site’s navigation, or only reachable from search?
- Would you still create the page if search engines did not exist?
How to fix doorway pages
- Audit pages that share templates and differ only by a keyword or place name.
- Merge near-identical pages into one stronger page, and use 301 redirects from the removed URLs.
- Rewrite the pages you keep with genuinely unique, local detail.
- For businesses with many branches, follow a proper multi-location SEO structure, with one page per real location.
- Remove pages for areas you do not actually serve.
- Link the pages you keep from your main navigation or a clear location index.
A better alternative
For a service-area business with no local offices, one strong service page listing the areas covered is often more effective than many weak location pages. Add individual area pages only when you have something specific to say about each, such as local case studies or reviews.
Key Takeaways
- Doorway pages target similar searches and funnel users elsewhere with little unique value.
- Google lists doorway abuse in its spam policies.
- Near-identical location pages are the most common example.
- Real location pages with unique, useful content are not doorways.
- Fix doorways by merging, rewriting or removing them.
Related Terms
Browse more terms in the SEO Encyclopedia.