PPC professionals often use the term landing page and assume you know what that means. Even if you have some understanding of what a landing page is, you might ask, why are landing pages important? Why should I care about them? So let’s start at the beginning… what is a landing page?

What is a landing page?

A landing page is the page on your website where you send paid traffic, sometimes called your destination URL. It’s where visitors “land” after they click on your ad on Google, Facebook, or on a link through another channel, like email. A landing page could potentially be any part of your website, like your homepage or your services page. As a best practice, however, you should build landing pages specifically for your paid search campaigns, always keeping conversions in mind. This means that you almost never want to use your company’s homepage as your landing page.

Building landing pages that convert

Define the conversion goal

A high-converting landing page is purpose-built for a particular stream of traffic. Let’s say you’ve set up a Google Ads campaign around a valuable keyword theme. Once visitors have clicked on your ad, what do you want them to do? 

Example conversion actions:

  • Downloading a file
  • Watching a video
  • Submitting an email address or phone number
  • Making a purchase
  • Signing up for a free trial
  • Calling or texting your business

A strong landing page makes it dead simple for your visitor to take the conversion action you’ve defined. How?

5 features of a high-converting landing page

1. The vital stuff lives above the fold

The term above the fold originates in the newspaper industry. The paper is usually folded in half, with the most important news stories in the top half. Everything else requires a reader to open the paper up to read what’s below. On the internet, the “fold” is where the user must scroll to view the rest of the page. The most important information of your landing page should not require much scrolling.

With different monitor sizes, screen resolutions, browser setups, and sizes of phones and tablets, it is impossible to define a single fold placement for a website. However, for an average desktop placement, the fold line is at approximately 1,000 pixels wide and 600 pixels tall.

Take this example from Deluxe Logo Design. You understand immediately that you can purchase a logo package starting at $99. When you scroll below the fold, you get much more detail, including logo samples, information about the company, and customer testimonials. But the most important information (the headline, offer, and Get Started call-to-action button) all reside up top.

Landing page example to illustrate the idea of above the fold.

2. Limited navigation

Remember, you’re building a landing page for the sole purpose of getting visitors to take the conversion action you defined. Keep them focused on that task by limiting your use of links. This doesn’t mean you want to eliminate navigation altogether, however. Give your visitors the freedom to click around if they’re interested in learning more about you, but be purposeful in the links and navigation you include.

One of the links you provide should be your business’s contact information. This link might point to a contact page, your help center, or your company’s About Us page. If you create a landing page on a domain other than your main company site, include a link to your full site. This tip comes straight from the search engine. To improve landing page experience, Google writes, “Openly share information about your business and clearly state what your business does.”

Take this example from Gusto payroll services. On its landing page, you can click on Features, Pricing, and Integrations in the top left navigation, and Sign In and Free trial links over on the top right.

Example that demonstrates limited navigation

Meanwhile, over on Gusto’s full website, the navigation (highlighted by the red box) is more robust, with drop-down menus offering even more links. The landing page simplifies the navigation but still lets the user discover more about the company and its payroll services.

Website example that shows the full navigation on a homepage, as opposed to the limited navigation of a landing page

3. A valuable offer that focuses on the user’s needs

With each landing page you create, understand where the customer is in her decision cycle, and tailor your offer to meet those needs. For instance, if the campaign is targeting people early in the decision-making process, keep your offer educational and related to further research. You might offer a checklist or buying guide.

Then, create a compelling headline and craft your copy to explain what value you will deliver in exchange for the conversion action (e.g., submitting an email address). While you want to help visitors understand who you are and why your brand should be trusted, keep the focus on the customer, not on yourself. Talk to her, not at her. Address her needs, not yours.

I like this example from Barnes & Noble Press. The headline “Stunning Editions Made By You,” empowers the reader to print her own cookbook, photo album, or book. The copy further speaks to what you can do with your personalized printed books (give to family and friends, business, fans, etc). Even more compelling, further down the page, there is a nifty tool to estimate your printing cost. This personalizes the offer to the individual who’s thinking about printing a book.

Example page that demonstrates a valuable offer that focuses on the user's needs

4. A clear call-to-action (CTA)

Remember, your landing page should be purpose-built for what you want your visitor to do. Experiment with different buttons, text, or designs to make your CTA stand out.

Here’s an example from TaskRabbit. Even though TaskRabbit offers help for all kinds of household tasks, this landing page was built specifically for a furniture assembly campaign. The green CTA button says, “Find help now.” From there, you’re directed to fill out a form about the furniture you want to be assembled.

LP example that demonstrates a clear call to action

5. It gets the basics right

One often overlooked step in landing page creation is making sure your website is built correctly. That means your landing page is secure, mobile-friendly, includes a privacy policy, and loads quickly. Refer to my article How to Structure Your Landing Page for Better Google Ads Results for all the details, including why website structure is critical, and how it affects how Google judges your page.

How to Make a Landing Page

Oftentimes, building new landing pages within your existing website is inconvenient — especially if your full site isn’t already mobile-friendly or has universal navigation that is difficult to change. In that case, you can use software to build landing pages quickly. Some leading landing page providers include

These companies offer easy-to-use templates that make design and implementation of landing pages easy. In addition, you can set up A/B tests to experiment with different headlines or CTA buttons and see which works better.

Kim Kohatsu
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