Doorway pages are still one of the most misunderstood SEO violations. Here’s what they are, how Google detects them, and how to build scalable, ethical content strategies without triggering spam algorithms.
Doorway pages are among the oldest and most damaging SEO patterns — and yet, in 2025, they are returning in a new form through AI-generated content, scaled landing pages, and “programmatic SEO” done without editorial oversight.
What Are Doorway Pages?
Google defines doorway pages as pages created to rank for specific queries but offering little unique value to users, often funneling them toward a different destination. They are not designed to inform, explain, or help — they are designed to manipulate search traffic.
Classic examples include city-based duplication (“Dental Clinic Rome / Milan / Turin” with identical content), keyword-stuffed categories, mass-generated AI articles, or pages whose only real purpose is redirection.
Why Google Punishes Them
Doorway pages degrade search quality. Users click expecting information, and instead land on thin templates that immediately push them somewhere else.
Google’s algorithms — particularly SpamBrain and the 2024–2025 Site Reputation System — now identify doorway patterns at scale:
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Near-duplicate templates with minimal change
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Large clusters of pages with the same structure
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Internal linking funnels designed only for rankings
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“Scaled content abuse” from AI
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Pages that exist only as intermediaries, not destinations
Doorway pages violate Google’s spam policies and can lead to:
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page-level deindexing
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domain-level trust loss
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manual actions
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long-term recovery problems
Doorways in the Age of AI Search
AI-driven engines (SGE, Perplexity, ChatGPT Search) expose doorway pages even more clearly because LLMs struggle with thin, repeated, low-value pages.
If content isn’t uniquely helpful, AI simply ignores it.
How to Avoid Doorway Pages in 2025
The modern alternative is entity-based, high-value, editorial-led content.
Stop creating 200 copies of the same page.
Start creating:
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comprehensive topic hubs
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unique local intent pages
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content that answers real questions
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structured guides based on experience
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pages that stand on their own, not as funnels
High-quality, human-validated, editorial content — even short — outperforms scaled templates.
Final Thoughts
Doorway pages were an SEO trick from the past. In 2025, they are a liability.
Google, AI search engines, and users all want the same thing: clarity, value, and authenticity.
If a page can’t survive on its own, it shouldn’t exist.
