Doorway Pages, Startpages, and Google's Fight Against Spam

[Kristijntje]

Google may say it fights spam but I'm beginning to have my doubts. A recent post on Google's Webmaster Central blog offers advice on how to build "startpages."

What is a "startpage"? "Basically, it's a Web page with a lot of links about a specific topic," explain Selina & Jos, two members of Google's Search Quality Team in Dublin.

So here's the question: How is a "startpage" different from a "doorway page"?

Wikipedia offers this definition: "Doorway pages are Web pages that are created for spamdexing, this is, for spamming the index of a search engine by inserting results for particular phrases with the purpose of sending you to a different page."

In practice, a doorway page looks like…well, a Web page with a lot of links about a specific topic...

full article: http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main..._spam.html

more:

There've been some fine lines walked lately by Google's Webspam team. Not too long ago, it was paid links reporting, and now the line is between startpages and doorway pages. The definitions are quite similar, but Google says it's all about intent, which makes the argument reminiscent of the art versus indecency squabbles of the past...

full article: http://www.webpronews.com/insiderreports...ges-differ