Issue: Google makes following specific recommendation: Avoid "doorway" pages created just for search engines or other "cookie cutter" approaches such as affiliate programs with little or no original content (http://www.google.com/intl/az/webmasters/guidelines.html).

This article addresses issue of doorway pages, proposes an acceptable alternative and offers some insights into basic principles of search engine optimization.

To frame issue of doorway pages it is important to understand why content is so critical to search engine optimization. In order to do this we need to step back and take a look at search engines themselves:

•Google, Yahoo, MSN, and all other search engines want to provide same thing: A prioritized list of links that point to most relevant web sites satisfying users search criteria.

•Relevance is defined as “best content” with “best fit” to user’s search. That’s a search engine’s value – providing efficient access to information a user wants when they want it.

•The search engine that does best job of delivering largest quantity of most relevant results attracts most users.

•Obviously speed, ease-of-use and “marketing” impact popularity but in end quality of results counts most.

The best way for you to get long-term results is by “partnering” with search engines. Partnering means recognizing and supporting value-proposition that search engines provide to their end-users:

•Provide lots of highly relevant content •Follow accepted (i.e. ethical) search engine optimization principles

Is there an alternative? Sure, like many situations there are always short cuts and quick fixes that purport to let you “game system.” Instead of partnering with search providers you compete with them. By “compete” I mean all effort (and dollars) expended to chase their constantly evolving algorithms and artificially increase your site’s rankings. These techniques may get you short-term results but many are considered equivalent of “spamming” and could get your site de-listed. From a search engine providers point of view, anything that gets better results for sites with inferior content (and fit) is compromising their product and is temporary until they tune their algorithm so that it correctly ranks your site (down).

One of these shortcuts is use of “doorway pages.” The rest of this article discusses use of doorway pages and recommends an alternative approach.

What is a doorway page? Doorway pages are pages of content that have been specifically designed to achieve high rankings in search engines. They are often used by websites that don’t have an abundance of content within main pages of their site due to technology issues or design conflicts. They can be an effective tool for garnering short-term placement in search engine rankings when used appropriately, but doorway pages have been abused by websites for many years, to point that they are frowned upon by search engines who now attempt to exclude them from their result pages.

Here are some points to consider when building a website:

1. Website Text Most recently Google is looking for exact keyword phrases in a websites text. In past it would look at text on index page and put keywords together, even if they were in different paragraphs. Google still does this, but now is putting more relevance on exact keyword phrases, rather than putting keywords together separately. Example: If a website is selling 'checks', it should have exact keyword phrases in text for all its related services: 'business checks' 'order business checks' 'deluxe checks' 'designer checks' etc.

* On your main (index) page, text should be informational and tell your visitors what your site is all about. * Make sure your text contains your keywords and phrases, but don't make it hard for your visitors to read.....stuffing keywords into text, just for sake of higher rankings, will not do you much good for your visitors, if text doesn't flow well. * Conventional wisdom calls for around 250 words of text on index (opening) page, in order to insert our needed keywords. Its not so important how much text. What is important is that you need enough text in order to insert all your important keyword phrases, without text sounding 'spammy'. * Search engines (Google especially) love information. This means that more info you offer your visitors, better you may rank. If Google sees that you are offering your visitors helpful information, they will reward you for it. If you have .pdf articles or files, create article in HTML (and .pdf if you like, its fine to use both methods together). This will allow search engines to read article and index information. Many .pdf files are images, which search engines won't index well. Convert it into HTML, and they will. * Not only does Google like information, but other websites will link to you, if your site offers information that their visitors would be interested in. More links means a higher rank in search engines. * Create separate pages with information. Example: If you have a hotel website, create a page about local attractions. If your service is real estate, then have articles on 'How to Obtain a Home Mortgage' or 'Home Inspection Tips'. Not only will Google love you, but so will visitors to your site. * Don't use promotional language in your text like 'we're best' or 'the number 1 real estate service in USA!'......just reading that last sentence makes me ill. Your visitors aren't stupid, don't treat them like they are. Not only will it displease your audience, but it won't help with search engines either. Do you think a search engine spider cares that you're service is 'absolute best service ever offered on planet'? Nope. * Be sure to use good text on your subpages as well.......the major search engines love text and will see ALL text on your site, not just index page. Google is trying to 'figure out' what your site is about. It will look at whole site to do this. So, if one of your main keyword phrases is 'laser printed business checks', you should have a page devoted just to that. * The key to good website rankings is to take advantage of many keywords that relate to services you offer, not just a few, and create pages for them.