Doorway pages have been part of SEO conversations for a long time. In the early days of search, agencies built them, CMS platforms generated them, and business owners were told “more pages means more traffic.” At the time, that logic felt airtight. More pages meant more keywords. More keywords meant more visibility. And more visibility was supposed to mean more business.
In 2015, Google addressed the issue directly in their blog post, An update on doorway pages, announcing a ranking adjustment targeting doorway campaigns. That was not a casual suggestion. And it was not a one-time warning. Doorway pages are still explicitly listed today under Google’s spam policies for doorways, reinforcing the same principle: build pages for users first, not for search engines.
Now it is 2026, and doorway pages haven’t disappeared; they’ve evolved. With AI tools making large-scale content creation easier than ever, the risk has quietly increased. If you are wondering whether your location pages, service pages, or AI-generated content could be working against you instead of for you, let’s walk through it clearly.
- Doorway pages are built primarily to rank, not to help users.
- Landing pages are built to convert and provide real value.
- Thin, repetitive, or AI-scaled pages often get suppressed, not penalized.
- Fewer strong pages outperform large groups of weak ones.
- Every page should earn its place.
What Is a Doorway Page?
At its heart, a doorway page is created primarily to rank well in search engines rather than to provide meaningful value to users.
In the real world, that usually looks like a page that:
- Targets a specific keyword variation
- Exists mainly to funnel users somewhere else
- Provides very little unique information
- Is part of a larger pattern of similar pages
For the most part, doorway pages appear as city-and-service pages with nearly identical content. Often, they’re pages with just the city name changed – this was a very popular SEO tactic for a long time. These days, it’s become even easier with AI-generated location pages pushing generic content, programmatically created keyword pages (spun pages), and thin category and filter pages.
The issue is not the URL or the keyword. The big issue is the intent behind it. If a page would not exist without search engines, and it does not stand on its own as genuinely helpful, chances are, it is drifting into doorway territory, whether that was the plan or not.
Why Google Still Targets Doorway Pages
At the end of the day, Google just wants to show people results that actually satisfy their query. When someone clicks a search result, lands on a weak or thin page, and immediately returns to the results to try something else, that behavior is often referred to as “pogo sticking.” It signals frustration, and when it happens repeatedly, it tells search engines the page did not meet the searcher’s expectations.
These days, we’re not talking about dramatic public penalties. It is usually quieter than that. For the most part, you may see::
- Pages indexed but not ranking
- Lots of impressions, but very low click-through rates
- Large groups of pages stuck on page two or three with little movement
- New pages getting indexed but never gaining meaningful visibility or clicks
Google’s algorithms look for patterns across your website. If a large portion of your site consists of thin, repetitive pages, that pattern weakens overall trust in your domain. And once trust drops, it is not just those pages that struggle. It spreads.
Are Location Pages Doorway Pages?
This is one of the most common questions we get, especially from service businesses that genuinely serve multiple areas.
The short answer is no, not automatically. But sometimes, yes.
Location pages are legitimate when done correctly. They become doorway pages when they are thin, duplicated, or created solely to capture keyword variations.
A strong location page, when built as part of a broader local SEO strategy, might include:
- Specific services offered in that city
- Local case studies or project photos
- Testimonials from clients in that area
- Staff details or proof of presence
A doorway-style location page usually looks like someone copied the same page 25 times and swapped the city name. If you can place two city pages side by side and 90 percent of the content is identical, that is a red flag.
We see this often: a company decides they want to “rank in every city within 100 miles,” so they publish 30 city pages in a week. In theory, it feels productive, but the reality is, none of those pages build trust, and most never rank. You would have been much better off spending time to strengthen two or three cities where they actually have traction.
Search engines have been spotting that pattern for years, and yet there’s still plenty of SEO “experts” saying to rince and repeat the process.
What Is a Landing Page (And How It’s Different)?
Before we compare the two, it helps to define what a landing page actually is.
A landing page is a focused page designed to guide a visitor toward a specific action. That action might be requesting a quote, scheduling a consultation, downloading a guide, or purchasing a product. In other words, it is built with conversion in mind.
Landing pages are not inherently bad; they are often necessary. The difference comes down to uniqueness and value.
A legitimate landing page has a few core items:
- Addresses a specific audience or problem
- Provides relevant information and context
- Builds trust before asking for action
- Can stand on its own without feeling thin
A doorway page, on the other hand, exists primarily to rank for a keyword variation and funnel users elsewhere. It often lacks depth and looks very similar to other pages on the site.
If you are swapping keywords inside the same template and hoping volume will win, that is not a landing page strategy. That is scale without substance. And scale without substance can receive a bump in rankings initially, but it rarely lasts.
The AI Factor in 2026
AI has made large-scale content creation incredibly easy. That includes generating dozens or even hundreds of city pages, industry-specific pages, and keyword variations. Everything is generated in bulk. One click of a button and “poof”, everything is ready for publishing.
The issue is not the AI technology – we love AI. The problem is how it is being used.
When AI is used as a drafting tool and combined with real expertise and editing, it can support strong content. When it is used to generate 50 nearly identical pages in one afternoon, you have recreated the doorway problem at scale, just faster.
We are seeing sites jump from 40 pages to 400 pages in a matter of weeks. Again, when you look at SEO tools, that looks impressive. In practice howevr, most of those pages follow the same structure with minor wording changes. They read differently, but they say the exact same thing.
Search systems evaluate patterns across an entire site. Repeated structures and minimal differentiation are detectable signals.
Let’s face it, AI does not create doorway pages – poor strategy does. And unfortunately, poor strategy is often dressed up as opportunity.
The Problem With “Quick Win” SEO Advice
This is where things get interesting.
If you go on YouTube right now, you will find people recommending this exact approach – create dozens of doorway pages and a service page for each city. There are some software or services out there that promote automated AI tools that generate 1,000-plus pages of content with a few clicks.
Those tactics did work at one point, which is exactly why they became popular. But they were always tactics, or more accurately, tricks designed to influence rankings rather than build lasting value. Tricks wear off, search systems adapt, and what is left behind is often a bloated site full of content that never had much depth to begin with.
You are almost always better off investing your time in real work: strengthening your core service pages, adding meaningful case studies, improving clarity and structure, and building authority steadily, rather than chasing a short-term spike that looks good in a screenshot but does not hold up over time.
How Many SEO Companies Created Doorway Pages in the Past
In the early years of SEO, creating large numbers of keyword-focused pages was common practice. Agencies sold packages that included dozens or even hundreds of location pages. At the time, it worked because search systems were less sophisticated.
Many businesses still have remnants of that strategy buried in their websites. Old city directories, thin service variations, and long-forgotten landing pages.
If you hired an SEO company years ago and have not reviewed your site structure recently, it is worth running a website audit. Not to assign blame, that ship has already sailed. At this point, you’re in cleanup mode.
How to Audit Your Site for Doorway Pages
If you suspect doorway-style content, start with structure.
Crawl your site and review your URL list. There are online tools and of course one of our favorite softwares ScreamingFrog. Look for clusters targeting variations of the same keyword or city. Review title tags and headings for identical patterns with minor word swaps.
Then ask a simple question: would this page exist if search engines did not?
Review performance data as well – you can use Google Search Console for this. Pages that generate impressions but no engagement over time often signal low value.
Patterns tell the story, and they usually tell it pretty quickly.
What to Do If You Find Doorway Pages
If you identify thin or repetitive content, the solution is usually consolidation and strengthening rather than expansion.
Merging multiple weak pages into one authoritative page often produces better results. Fewer pages with more depth outperform large collections of shallow ones.
If separate pages are justified, make them truly distinct. Add real examples, specific details, and evidence that the page exists for users, not just rankings.
If a page provides no value and serves no strategic purpose, removing it and redirecting appropriately may improve overall quality signals.
The goal is not to reduce page count. The goal is to ensure every page earns its place.
The Bigger Picture
In 2026, SEO is less about volume and more about authority.
A site with 30 well-structured, deeply useful pages will often outperform one with 300 thin ones. Scale without depth is fragile.
Search engines reward clarity, expertise, and usefulness. Doorway pages align with none of those qualities.
Every page on your site should answer a real question, serve a real audience, and stand on its own. If it feels awkward explaining its purpose to a customer, it probably does not need to exist.
Doorway tactics from the past do not belong in a modern SEO strategy. Cleaning them up rarely hurts performance. More often, it strengthens it.
If you want steady growth over time, build fewer, stronger pages rooted in real expertise. That is what continues to work.
Need Help Cleaning This Up?
If you are not sure whether your site has doorway-style content, or you suspect older SEO work may be holding you back, we can help.
Doorway issues are often leftovers from past strategies or well-meaning attempts to “rank in more cities.” The pages are there, but they are not helping the site perform the way they should.
We can review your structure, identify thin or repetitive sections, and map out a clear plan to consolidate, strengthen, or remove what is no longer working.
Call us at (402) 522-6468 or contact Kim and Conor to walk through your site together. Sometimes the fixes are straightforward, but the long-term impact of cleaning this up can be significant.
Not sure if your pages are helping or hurting your visibility? Let’s take a look.