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Gateway pages provide an index of resources and basic keyword information to attract search engines and users. However, spammers have made them less effective. Websites must carefully structure them to avoid being seen as spam. SEO specialists can help design effective gateway pages.
A gateway page is a page designed to attract the attention of search engines and potential users by quickly outlining the purpose and function of a website and providing people with an index of resources. Historically, gateway pages were considered very important for search engine optimization (SEO), and many websites used them. However, spammers have adopted the technique so effectively that some gateways can actually lower their search rankings because search engines can read them as spam and remove a website or demote its rank.
The idea behind a gateway page is that it should be simple, quick to load, and easy to navigate. It contains basic keyword information about the website, ideally labeled with different keywords and variations on those keywords for a search engine to pick up. A gateway page for a florist, for example, should include terms like “online florist”, “flower delivery”, “florist”, “florist”, “fresh flowers” and so on so that people searching for these terms would more likely to get to the gateway page.
Some sites may use several gateway pages designed to provide information about various areas of the site. For example, a pharmaceutical company might have separate gateways for doctors and patients and another gateway for job seekers interested in working for the company. Each gateway is customized for the target audience with specific keywords and key phrases designed to make search engines see the site as relevant.
The practice of spamdexing has undermined the effectiveness of the gateway page. In addition to being useful for websites that wanted to drive traffic, gateway pages were often useful for site visitors who liked to have a quick resource to use when searching for material on a website. Websites that continue to use such pages need to carefully structure them so that it is clear that the page is not spam and neither is the website linked to it. People generally think carefully about the percentage of content versus links and keywords to find a balance high enough for a search engine to find the page, but not so high that it looks suspicious.
It can be difficult to get information directly from search engines about the thresholds used to determine whether a site is a spam site or not, because the search engine doesn’t want to provide spammers with a list of things to avoid. However, web designers who specialize in search engine optimization can help people structure a website that will be attractive to search engines without looking like spam.
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