What are doorway pages?
Doorway pages are pages made mainly to rank for a group of similar searches rather than to help the person who lands on them. Google's spam policies call this doorway abuse: "when sites or pages are created to rank for specific, similar search queries. They lead users to intermediate pages that aren't as useful as the final destination."
Google lists these examples:
- "Having multiple websites with slight variations to the URL and home page to maximize their reach for any specific query"
- "Having multiple domain names or pages targeted at specific regions or cities that funnel users to one page"
- "Generating pages to funnel visitors into the actual usable or relevant portion of a site"
- "Creating substantially similar pages that are closer to search results than a clearly defined, browseable hierarchy"
The second example describes a common moving-company pattern: dozens of "Movers in [City]" pages built from one template.
What is a service area page?
A service area page tells visitors how the business serves a specific place. For a moving company, it answers the questions someone in that area actually has: whether the company works there, what kinds of moves it handles there, and what is different about moving there.
These pages matter more for moving companies that are service area businesses, which visit customers instead of serving them at an office. Google allows a service area business only one Business Profile for its whole area. See what is a service area business.
What is the difference between a service area page and a doorway page?
The difference is whether the page is useful on its own:
| Service area page | Doorway page | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Help someone in that area decide whether to hire the business | Rank for "[service] in [city]" searches |
| Content | Specific to the place and to how the business works there | The same text with the city name swapped |
| Relationship to other pages | One part of a clear site structure | One of many near-identical pages |
| Visitor experience | Answers the visitor's questions | Sends the visitor somewhere else to get answers |
Google's guidance on helpful content asks related questions, including whether content provides "original information, reporting, research, or analysis" and whether it was "primarily made to attract visits from search engines."
What makes a service area page useful?
Information that only applies to that place and that a visitor would want. For a moving company, that can include:
- Services offered in that area, including any that differ from the main location.
- Local logistics, such as building types, parking or elevator rules, or the distance from the company's base.
- Common moves from that area, such as frequent routes or move types.
- Proof from that area, such as reviews from customers there, used accurately.
- Clear contact and quote options.
The details have to be true. Inventing local facts or customer stories to make pages look different doesn't fix the underlying problem.
How does Google treat scaled or templated location pages?
Google's spam policies include a related category, scaled content abuse: "when many pages are generated for the primary purpose of manipulating search rankings and not helping users." Google says this applies "no matter how it's created," and its examples include "using generative AI tools or other similar tools to generate many pages without adding value for users."
Google says sites that violate its spam policies "may rank lower in results or not appear in results at all."
How should a moving company decide whether to create a city page?
Ask three questions before building a page:
- Does the business really serve this area? If not, the page shouldn't exist.
- Is there something specific and useful to say about moving here? If the only difference from another page would be the city name, the page adds nothing.
- Would a visitor from this area find what they need on this page, without having to go elsewhere on the site?
A smaller set of strong pages, each with its own useful content, fits Google's guidance better than a page for every town on a map.