A doorway page is an entry-point Web page that is built and optimized with the specific objective of gaining a high search engine ranking. Because a doorway page's sole purpose is to attain a search engine ranking it will generally be keyword-intensive, but offer little or no actual content. The doorway page will contain one or more links to the page it fronts.

In search engine optimization, the usage of doorway pages is a rather controversial issue. The technique itself is entirely legitimate, but the method has proven a popular tool for search engine spamming, and many search engines therefore refuse to index doorway pages. A doorway page with no or minimal bona fide content is more likely to be considered spam than one that offers actual content that is relevant to the search phrase it was built to match. Note that a doorway page that lacks any real content might irritate or mystify some Internet users.

There are no exact rules or limitations that address the usage of doorway pages. In fact, a single doorway page will not necessarily create any problems with Internet search engines. However, the more doorway pages that lead to one site, the more likely a search engine is to scrutinize the pages and their content. As with any other gray-area rank-boosting method, the line that separates spamming and legitimate site optimization is a fine one.