GATEWAY
PAGES
WHAT'S A GATEWAY PAGE?
ateway pages (crawler pages, pointer
pages or hallway pages) in contrast with doorway pages, are pages
NOT created to rank high on search engines.
A gateway page, it is a page that exists
independent on your web site. Meaning that you can't access to it
from the main site. Once someone
goes from your gateway page to your main site, it can only return
to the gateway page with the back button.
WHAT ARE GATEWAY PAGES FOR?
They are created for three reasons:
People
create gateway pages because some engines seem to give a boost to pages
which their spider find, rather than pages that are submitted by hand
to the search engines.
So instead of submitting all your main
site's pages to the search engines, you would submit your gateway page
and help the search engines "find you".
And the spider, being so happy that "it
found you" will give you a little bit of a boost in the search
engine's ranking.
They
also exist because it's virtually impossible to rank well for more than
a couple of keywords and phrases with only one web page. So if you want
to target to some other keywords related to your site, you must construct
gateway pages.
The
third reason is: if you create an affiliate program and allow your members
to send prospects directly to your main site, sooner or later you will
have a member that likes spamming and you will find your site closed
by his fault.
To avoid this risk, you should never
allow your members to point their ads directly to your main site. They
should point them to gateway pages that will redirect the visitors to
your main site.
SHOULD YOU USE MORE THAN ONE
DOMAIN FOR GATEWAY PAGES?
Yes you should, because if your gateway
page is hosted on a separate domain from your main domain, this will
supposedly result in another small boost for your pages. A
different domain can also in a very small degree increase your inbound
link popularity. And as it's really
easy to find free hosting services, and it might help you, it won't
hurt you try it.
HOW DOES A GATEWAY PAGE LOOK
LIKE?
There is no one specific way to build
a gateway page, but some ideas could be:
The
first thing you must know about them is that they are not supposed to
be just a redirecting page, they usually do have some interesting content
that might even rank well on search engines.
All
the links are keyword phrases
The
links some times take you directly to an URL, and others to named anchors
on an URL, that are also keyword phrases (engines often consider links
to named anchors more relevant).
It should have the same look and feel as the rest of the site
HOW MANY GATEWAY
PAGES SHOULD YOU HAVE?
The gateway pages will make
your site easier to find, so you can create as many as you need, as
long as they add good content to your main site. Remember
that they look as your main site and they point towards its pages, so
it must be as good written as your main site is if you don't want to
damage your site's image.
Gateway pages are really
useful because if you include too many keywords in your main site, you
will dilute its main theme keyword density, and that will make you drop
on search engine's ranking.
HOW TO MAKE A
GATEWAY PAGE?
There are many people that
offer special software or service to create gateway pages...
You can find free gateway
creation places at:
http://www.manyhits.com/
http://www.katcom.net/userpages/
And fee gateway creation places at:
http://www.signposter.com/
http://www.iepromoter.com/ds2000.html
http://www.cherryade.net/
Note:
Due to the dynamic nature of Internet, some of this sites might not
work any more when you read this, but you can always look for "gateway
pages" on your favorite browser.
If you rather use one of these services
rather than writing your onw pages, make sure they build you authentic
gateway pages and not doorway pages (many people think
they are the same).
Finally, you have to upload the web
pages you have created to your web server, and submit them to the
search engines
MY ADVICE
Search Engines are focusing more and
more towards good Content Sites and in such places not all your pages
need to rank well. The most important value they are looking for is
that your site must provide: GOOD
ORIGINAL AND VALUABLE CONTENT
Your pages should not be created for
the search engines, but must deliver excellent content to your visitors.
And then you will please your
visitors AND the Search Engines!
And you can do it while you put special
emphasis for certain keywords, thus ranking well for them.
So my advice is:
CONCENTRATE
ON FILLING YOUR SITE WITH GOOD CONTENT AND FORGET ABOUT RANKING TECHNIQUES
AND
YOU WILL FIND YOURSELF
RANKING BETTER THAN EVER!
