Having never been a black hat kinda guy, I think I have always had a different understanding of what a doorway page is...
If I run a business that offers services in Brisbane, Sydney, New York, Tokyo etc - I would like to create individual pages on my site to target phrases like "[business description] Tokyo" and "[business description] New York"
Until now I have only ever had one client with a global operation and I solved the problems that might occur from doorway pages by researching the destinations they serviced and writing two or three paragraphs of unique content for each page.
Ok - Now I am working on a few sites that provides that would be targeting search phrases like "used cars brisbane" or "accounting jobs Sydney". Our code guys can tailor each page so that the search app for each of these landing pages has the region field pre-populated or alternatively can remove the region selector and auto return only results from the region the page is targeted at.
The problem I see with this approach is that the site is going to have a very large number of pages that have essentially identical content.
So - how's this for an idea...we tailor a page for each search term and rather than providing any search function for the visitor, we pass the relevant search info to our database - Holden + Commodore + Toowoomba and the page is just a dynamic list of all the Holden Commodores we have listed in the Toowoomba area.
Avoids duplicate content and actual improves the integrity of google's search results.
> Having never been a black hat kinda guy, I think I have always had a > different understanding of what a doorway page is...
> If I run a business that offers services in Brisbane, Sydney, New > York, Tokyo etc - I would like to create individual pages on my site > to target phrases like "[business description] Tokyo" and "[business > description] New York"
> Until now I have only ever had one client with a global operation and > I solved the problems that might occur from doorway pages by > researching the destinations they serviced and writing two or three > paragraphs of unique content for each page.
> Ok - Now I am working on a few sites that provides that would be > targeting search phrases like "used cars brisbane" or "accounting jobs > Sydney". Our code guys can tailor each page so that the search app for > each of these landing pages has the region field pre-populated or > alternatively can remove the region selector and auto return only > results from the region the page is targeted at.
> The problem I see with this approach is that the site is going to have > a very large number of pages that have essentially identical content.
> So - how's this for an idea...we tailor a page for each search term > and rather than providing any search function for the visitor, we pass > the relevant search info to our database - Holden + Commodore + > Toowoomba and the page is just a dynamic list of all the Holden > Commodores we have listed in the Toowoomba area.
> Avoids duplicate content and actual improves the integrity of google's > search results.
We set up a heap of doorway pages with titles like "New and Used Cars Sydney" or "Holden Commodores Brisbane"
If the content of each of these pages is essentially identical to search4cars home page ie, then banners, the search box and the links by vehicle style or manufacturer, then Google could reasonably say these are doorway pages set up with the sole intention of targeting different search terms that offer no added functionality to the visitor.
Ok so the alternative could be we set up a page that still has the banners and the search box on left, but rather than the text links to category and manufacturer, we just dynamically generate a list of all vehicles that fit the title tag of the page - so the page we create for Subaru Brisbane, lists all of our subaru's that are listed in brisbane. This page will constantly have new content so G should like that and it also means that the quality of G's serp will be improved - they can link directly to a page that shows all vehicles for sale that match the searchers query.
> > Having never been a black hat kinda guy, I think I have always had a > > different understanding of what a doorway page is...
> > If I run a business that offers services in Brisbane, Sydney, New > > York, Tokyo etc - I would like to create individual pages on my site > > to target phrases like "[business description] Tokyo" and "[business > > description] New York"
> > Until now I have only ever had one client with a global operation and > > I solved the problems that might occur from doorway pages by > > researching the destinations they serviced and writing two or three > > paragraphs of unique content for each page.
> > Ok - Now I am working on a few sites that provides that would be > > targeting search phrases like "used cars brisbane" or "accounting jobs > > Sydney". Our code guys can tailor each page so that the search app for > > each of these landing pages has the region field pre-populated or > > alternatively can remove the region selector and auto return only > > results from the region the page is targeted at.
> > The problem I see with this approach is that the site is going to have > > a very large number of pages that have essentially identical content.
> > So - how's this for an idea...we tailor a page for each search term > > and rather than providing any search function for the visitor, we pass > > the relevant search info to our database - Holden + Commodore + > > Toowoomba and the page is just a dynamic list of all the Holden > > Commodores we have listed in the Toowoomba area.
> > Avoids duplicate content and actual improves the integrity of google's > > search results.
That's my understanding of "adding value for users". Just make sure that you apply a noindex,follow meta tag on localized pages w/o these listings. And search for public webcams to tell the user "how's driving in brisbane today", or suck a list of local traffic jams from somewhere, feature listings and catch the visitors eye with a pic of awesome vehicles ... you get the idea. Sebastian
> We set up a heap of doorway pages with titles like "New and Used Cars > Sydney" or "Holden Commodores Brisbane"
> If the content of each of these pages is essentially identical to > search4cars home page ie, then banners, the search box and the links > by vehicle style or manufacturer, then Google could reasonably say > these are doorway pages set up with the sole intention of targeting > different search terms that offer no added functionality to the > visitor.
> Ok so the alternative could be we set up a page that still has the > banners and the search box on left, but rather than the text links to > category and manufacturer, we just dynamically generate a list of all > vehicles that fit the title tag of the page - so the page we create > for Subaru Brisbane, lists all of our subaru's that are listed in > brisbane. This page will constantly have new content so G should like > that and it also means that the quality of G's serp will be improved - > they can link directly to a page that shows all vehicles for sale that > match the searchers query.
> On Jul 12, 7:28 pm, dockarl wrote:
> > I'm not following the difference volvox..
> > On Jul 12, 7:08 pm, Volvox777 wrote:
> > > Having never been a black hat kinda guy, I think I have always had a > > > different understanding of what a doorway page is...
> > > If I run a business that offers services in Brisbane, Sydney, New > > > York, Tokyo etc - I would like to create individual pages on my site > > > to target phrases like "[business description] Tokyo" and "[business > > > description] New York"
> > > Until now I have only ever had one client with a global operation and > > > I solved the problems that might occur from doorway pages by > > > researching the destinations they serviced and writing two or three > > > paragraphs of unique content for each page.
> > > Ok - Now I am working on a few sites that provides that would be > > > targeting search phrases like "used cars brisbane" or "accounting jobs > > > Sydney". Our code guys can tailor each page so that the search app for > > > each of these landing pages has the region field pre-populated or > > > alternatively can remove the region selector and auto return only > > > results from the region the page is targeted at.
> > > The problem I see with this approach is that the site is going to have > > > a very large number of pages that have essentially identical content.
> > > So - how's this for an idea...we tailor a page for each search term > > > and rather than providing any search function for the visitor, we pass > > > the relevant search info to our database - Holden + Commodore + > > > Toowoomba and the page is just a dynamic list of all the Holden > > > Commodores we have listed in the Toowoomba area.
> > > Avoids duplicate content and actual improves the integrity of google's > > > search results.
> That's my understanding of "adding value for users". Just make sure > that you apply a noindex,follow meta tag on localized pages w/o these > listings. And search for public webcams to tell the user "how's > driving in brisbane today", or suck a list of local traffic jams from > somewhere, feature listings and catch the visitors eye with a pic of > awesome vehicles ... you get the idea. > Sebastian
> On Jul 12, 12:08 pm, Volvox777 wrote:
> > Sorry doc, I'll try again.
> > We set up a heap of doorway pages with titles like "New and Used Cars > > Sydney" or "Holden Commodores Brisbane"
> > If the content of each of these pages is essentially identical to > > search4cars home page ie, then banners, the search box and the links > > by vehicle style or manufacturer, then Google could reasonably say > > these are doorway pages set up with the sole intention of targeting > > different search terms that offer no added functionality to the > > visitor.
> > Ok so the alternative could be we set up a page that still has the > > banners and the search box on left, but rather than the text links to > > category and manufacturer, we just dynamically generate a list of all > > vehicles that fit the title tag of the page - so the page we create > > for Subaru Brisbane, lists all of our subaru's that are listed in > > brisbane. This page will constantly have new content so G should like > > that and it also means that the quality of G's serp will be improved - > > they can link directly to a page that shows all vehicles for sale that > > match the searchers query.
> > On Jul 12, 7:28 pm, dockarl wrote:
> > > I'm not following the difference volvox..
> > > On Jul 12, 7:08 pm, Volvox777 wrote:
> > > > Having never been a black hat kinda guy, I think I have always had a > > > > different understanding of what a doorway page is...
> > > > If I run a business that offers services in Brisbane, Sydney, New > > > > York, Tokyo etc - I would like to create individual pages on my site > > > > to target phrases like "[business description] Tokyo" and "[business > > > > description] New York"
> > > > Until now I have only ever had one client with a global operation and > > > > I solved the problems that might occur from doorway pages by > > > > researching the destinations they serviced and writing two or three > > > > paragraphs of unique content for each page.
> > > > Ok - Now I am working on a few sites that provides that would be > > > > targeting search phrases like "used cars brisbane" or "accounting jobs > > > > Sydney". Our code guys can tailor each page so that the search app for > > > > each of these landing pages has the region field pre-populated or > > > > alternatively can remove the region selector and auto return only > > > > results from the region the page is targeted at.
> > > > The problem I see with this approach is that the site is going to have > > > > a very large number of pages that have essentially identical content.
> > > > So - how's this for an idea...we tailor a page for each search term > > > > and rather than providing any search function for the visitor, we pass > > > > the relevant search info to our database - Holden + Commodore + > > > > Toowoomba and the page is just a dynamic list of all the Holden > > > > Commodores we have listed in the Toowoomba area.
> > > > Avoids duplicate content and actual improves the integrity of google's > > > > search results.
My understanding of a black-hat doorway page is a page created for search engines to get them indexed but when a human goes to that page, they get redirected to a page that is likely totally unrelated to what was being searched for.
Other than that, yeah, what Sebastian said. :-()
But, you might want to be careful that you don't end up with the possibility that too many pages end up getting generated. What I am thinking of is the case where so many pages get automatically generated to the extent that Google might think it is a spam or scrapper site. I don't think the process you outline would be susceptible to that but it might be good to keep in mind in any event.
> Having never been a black hat kinda guy, I think I have always had a > different understanding of what a doorway page is...
> If I run a business that offers services in Brisbane, Sydney, New > York, Tokyo etc - I would like to create individual pages on my site > to target phrases like "[business description] Tokyo" and "[business > description] New York"
> Until now I have only ever had one client with a global operation and > I solved the problems that might occur from doorway pages by > researching the destinations they serviced and writing two or three > paragraphs of unique content for each page.
> Ok - Now I am working on a few sites that provides that would be > targeting search phrases like "used cars brisbane" or "accounting jobs > Sydney". Our code guys can tailor each page so that the search app for > each of these landing pages has the region field pre-populated or > alternatively can remove the region selector and auto return only > results from the region the page is targeted at.
> The problem I see with this approach is that the site is going to have > a very large number of pages that have essentially identical content.
> So - how's this for an idea...we tailor a page for each search term > and rather than providing any search function for the visitor, we pass > the relevant search info to our database - Holden + Commodore + > Toowoomba and the page is just a dynamic list of all the Holden > Commodores we have listed in the Toowoomba area.
> Avoids duplicate content and actual improves the integrity of google's > search results.
>From this post and the last regarding how to handle deleted pages from
the classifieds - ie item is sold and page removed, here is my plan:
White Hat Doorway Pages We create a directory structure as follows: carsite.com/brisbane/ and carsite.com/sydney/ and carsite.com/gympie/ carsite.com/brisbane/manufacturer/ carsite.com/regions/manufacturer/model/
The default page in the brisbane directory returns all vehicles listed in Brisbane. The default page in the brisbane/toyota directory recturns all Toyotas listing in Brisbane and so on.
These pages will be linked to via a site map.
Handling deleted vehicles - 2 options Option 1 - We could just leave the page intact, but have some code written that when the vehicle is sold, the page converts to a list that matches the details the DB has for the vehicle that was there - eg Holden Commodore, Brisbane. The page says "Sorry, you missed out on that car but here is a list of cars that match your search and location" The problem I see with this is that the total number of pages on the site is going to become monstorous very quickly. Option 2 - We get our developers to write some code that automatically 301 redirects the page to the pages created above that already provide lists of vehicles by model and location. ie the car that was sold was a Toyota Corolla and it was sold in Brisbane. So after vehicle is deleted, the page 301's to carsite.com/brisbane/toyota/corolla/ index.htm
I'm too much of a tech dunce to know if this is possible, but I work on the assumption that anything is possible if you throw enough money at it.
It is more than possible :) Would probably take a few days working out HOW (within the constraints of your CMS) and a few weeks implementing and testing.
> >From this post and the last regarding how to handle deleted pages from
> the classifieds - ie item is sold and page removed, here is my plan:
> White Hat Doorway Pages > We create a directory structure as follows: > carsite.com/brisbane/ and carsite.com/sydney/ and carsite.com/gympie/ > carsite.com/brisbane/manufacturer/ > carsite.com/regions/manufacturer/model/
> The default page in the brisbane directory returns all vehicles listed > in Brisbane. The default page in the brisbane/toyota directory > recturns all Toyotas listing in Brisbane and so on.
> These pages will be linked to via a site map.
> Handling deleted vehicles - 2 options > Option 1 - We could just leave the page intact, but have some code > written that when the vehicle is sold, the page converts to a list > that matches the details the DB has for the vehicle that was there - > eg Holden Commodore, Brisbane. The page says "Sorry, you missed out on > that car but here is a list of cars that match your search and > location" > The problem I see with this is that the total number of pages on the > site is going to become monstorous very quickly. > Option 2 - We get our developers to write some code that automatically > 301 redirects the page to the pages created above that already provide > lists of vehicles by model and location. ie the car that was sold was > a Toyota Corolla and it was sold in Brisbane. So after vehicle is > deleted, the page 301's to carsite.com/brisbane/toyota/corolla/ > index.htm
> I'm too much of a tech dunce to know if this is possible, but I work > on the assumption that anything is possible if you throw enough money > at it.
This bothers me a bit. It would seem that you could quickly end up with a sitemap that is difficult to use.
Wouldn't navigation that follows your directory structure, which I like by the way, make it possible for visitors to browse, just in case they don't really know what the want?
Also, maybe some list sorting options such as by price, color, year, make, model etc.?
While you are at it, once things are indexed fairly well, putting up a Google Site Search thingy might be good. Let them pay for the database indexing and searching. :-() If you do decide to use it though, I've seen a couple of online articles about how to work it into your site's layout and I can dig those up if you want.
Like dockarl said though, probably a couple of days to work out the logistics, depending on the experience of the one doing it, and a few weeks building it although I'm thinking allocating more time for testing would be good.
cass-hacks - agreed, the site map would be a bit cumbersome but I am looking at these pages as being entry points for very specific long tail searches. We have the search box on the left of the site that provides full search functionality if the site visitor just wants to brwose - have a look if you like www.search4cars.com.au
I am meeting with the AdSense team next week and while on the phone they told me of a new "collaborative search" they are offering which allows us to tailor to some extent both results and appearance and also displays contextual AdWords ads which we can receive income from - so I am holding off on making a final decision until we see what google adsense can offer
> This bothers me a bit. It would seem that you could quickly end up > with a sitemap that is difficult to use.
> Wouldn't navigation that follows your directory structure, which I > like by the way, make it possible for visitors to browse, just in case > they don't really know what the want?
> Also, maybe some list sorting options such as by price, color, year, > make, model etc.?
> While you are at it, once things are indexed fairly well, putting up a > Google Site Search thingy might be good. Let them pay for the > database indexing and searching. :-() If you do decide to use it > though, I've seen a couple of online articles about how to work it > into your site's layout and I can dig those up if you want.
> Like dockarl said though, probably a couple of days to work out the > logistics, depending on the experience of the one doing it, and a few > weeks building it although I'm thinking allocating more time for > testing would be good.
> cass-hacks - agreed, the site map would be a bit cumbersome but I am > looking at these pages as being entry points for very specific long > tail searches. We have the search box on the left of the site that > provides full search functionality if the site visitor just wants to > brwose - have a look if you likewww.search4cars.com.au
> I am meeting with the AdSense team next week and while on the phone > they told me of a new "collaborative search" they are offering which > allows us to tailor to some extent both results and appearance and > also displays contextual AdWords ads which we can receive income from > - so I am holding off on making a final decision until we see what > google adsense can offer
> On Jul 14, 2:08 am, cass-hacks wrote:
> > > These pages will be linked to via a site map.
> > This bothers me a bit. It would seem that you could quickly end up > > with a sitemap that is difficult to use.
> > Wouldn't navigation that follows your directory structure, which I > > like by the way, make it possible for visitors to browse, just in case > > they don't really know what the want?
> > Also, maybe some list sorting options such as by price, color, year, > > make, model etc.?
> > While you are at it, once things are indexed fairly well, putting up a > > Google Site Search thingy might be good. Let them pay for the > > database indexing and searching. :-() If you do decide to use it > > though, I've seen a couple of online articles about how to work it > > into your site's layout and I can dig those up if you want.
> > Like dockarl said though, probably a couple of days to work out the > > logistics, depending on the experience of the one doing it, and a few > > weeks building it although I'm thinking allocating more time for > > testing would be good.
