A gateway page, also known as a doorway page, is a webpage created primarily to rank for specific search queries and direct users to another destination rather than providing standalone value. These pages often target multiple keyword variations to funnel traffic into a single site or page.
While gateway pages were once used in SEO to capture search visibility, modern search engines classify them as manipulative if they offer little original content or serve only to redirect visitors. Ethical optimization focuses instead on high-quality, user-centered landing pages.
Advanced
Gateway pages use keyword-heavy content and internal links to attract traffic for related search terms. However, search engines like Google penalize such pages under spam and quality guidelines if they lead users to similar destinations or provide no meaningful distinction.
Advanced digital strategies discourage the use of gateway pages. Instead, marketers employ structured landing pages with optimized content, relevant user intent alignment, and proper navigation. Consolidating duplicate or thin gateway content into authoritative pages helps improve SEO performance and maintain compliance with search policies.
Relevance
- Historically used for search engine ranking manipulation.
- Now recognized as a black-hat SEO tactic that risks penalties.
- Highlights the importance of relevance and user value in content creation.
- Encourages ethical SEO practices and quality-driven landing page design.
- Helps webmasters understand and prevent duplicate or low-value pages.
- Reinforces search engine emphasis on authentic user intent.
Applications
- An outdated SEO tactic creating multiple keyword-targeted pages for one product.
- Pages designed solely to redirect users to another internal page.
- Affiliate websites using doorway pages to funnel users toward sales offers.
- Multi-location business pages with identical content and minimal value.
- Old SEO campaigns that generate duplicate search results with slight keyword changes.
Metrics
- Number of pages flagged by search engines for duplication.
- Bounce rate and session duration on low-value entry pages.
- Organic traffic drop after gateway page detection.
- Indexing and ranking visibility across similar URLs.
- Manual action or penalty reports from search engines.
Issues
- Risk of penalties or deindexing from search engines.
- Damages domain authority and brand reputation.
- Creates poor user experience with redundant content.
- Reduces content quality and trustworthiness.
- Complicates website structure and crawl efficiency.
Example
An e-commerce company created multiple gateway pages for different city names, each redirecting users to the same main store page. After a Google algorithm update, these pages were penalized for duplicate content, causing a significant loss in organic traffic until they were consolidated into a single optimized location page.