Do NOT believe what you have read from black hat SEO companies that promise huge amount of traffic from using doorway / portal pages. These techniques are dated and WILL get your website banned (especially with Google) for even trying this unethical tactic.
Why are search engines so harsh on sites that use Doorway / Portal Pages?
1. This is an advanced black hat SEO technique which requires much more thought then something as simple as keyword stuffing or duplicate content.
2. Search engines hate thieves and doorway pages are created from a piece of software that steals everyone else’s content and put’s it on your site.
3. They know it’s you. Unlike other tactics where your competitors can use to hurt your rankings (i.e. sending 10,000 spam links from guestbooks) Google knows you had to upload this yourself because you need the FTP information which only you would have.
Why are so many SEO companies still offering this service?
1. It’s Cheap: The main reason SEO companies still use portal pages to try and obtain higher rankings for their client’s rankings is price. In as little as an hour someone with no SEO experience can build 1,000+ doorway pages.
2. Limited Knowledge: Many of these black hat SEO companies believe that this outdated technique still works! This is because most of their clientele is a one time pop and they don’t monitor traffic generated from it.
3. Initial Positive Results: The worst part about door way and doorway pages is that often times the website will see a small increase in traffic which the owner believes is just the start of something bigger to come. What always happens next is Google drops the site completely and they’ll have to spend a huge amount of time and resources to try and get back in.
For more information on why you shouldn’t use doorway pages on your site watch the video above where Phil Laboon will discuss indepth the problems of using these types of unethical traffic generating techniques.
