Search Engines Glossary:
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Search Engines Glossary: Gateway Page
A web page submitted to a search engine to give the relevance-algorithm of that particular spider the data it needs, in the format that it needs it, in order to place a site at the proper level of relevance for the topic(s) in question.
This determination of topical relevance is called placement.
A gateway page may present information to the spyder, but obscure it from a casual human viewer. The gateway page exists so as to allow a web-site to present one face to the spider, and another to human viewers. There are several reasons why one might want to do this. One, is that the author may not want to publicly disclose placement tactics. Another is that the format that may be easiest for a given spyder to understand, may not be the format that the author wishes to present to his viewers for aesthetics.
Still another may be that the format that is best for one spider may differ from that which is best for another. By using gateway pages, you can present your site to each spider in the way which is known or thought to be best for that particular spider.
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