Introduction

PPC doesn’t just stop when a user lands on your site. Though this is part of the equation, the main aim is to get conversions and revenue for your business. Well optimised pages are a key component of ensuring this happens. If users find the page confusing or hard to use, it is likely they will leave your site in preference of another. Ensuring your pages are set up correctly and optimised will lead to increased conversion rates and lower cost per conversions. 

Why Landing Page Optimisation Matters for PPC

Poor landing pages can waste ad spend. If your users are landing on your page and immediately bouncing, your paid traffic is costing you money and not converting. Making your pages clear, informative and with a concise conversion path means this risk is reduced. 

Landing pages are a key component of the Google Ads Quality Score. This quality score impacts where your ads are shown in the PPC auction. If your landing page quality is low, your auction ranking is lower, even if you spend more on PPC overall. 

Key Elements of a High-Converting PPC Landing Page

a) Compelling Headline

A clear, attention-grabbing headline is needed to engage the viewer and draw them in to read further down the page. Anything that can stand out and begin to answer the question the user is asking is ideal.

b) Strong Call-to-Action (CTA)

What makes a CTA effective? Ensuring that it is clear, action-oriented, and easily visible is a great starting point. Make sure you aren’t confusing the user, having more than one action can divert the attention and path of the user. Make sure the path is clear, and starts above the fold. Having one CTA too far down the page can sometimes never be seen, keeping CTAs front and center is the way forward. Keep the wording clear and concise, don’t overcomplicate what you want the user to do, if it’s call, simply put “call now” or if you want a contact form fill, use “Get in touch” or something similarly short and snappy.

c) Page Load Speed & Mobile-Friendliness

We live in a mobile first society. The vast majority of your traffic will be finding you on their mobile phone. If your site isn’t mobile optimised or set up for that view, your viewers will often be frustrated and bounce. If your pages are slow to load, users will often bounce before viewing the page further, potentially thinking the site is broken. There are several tools that can be used to see the performance of your site and what elements can be adjusted to speed up your site. Try using page speed insights to see where your performance can be improved.

d) Minimal Distractions & Clear Layout

Got too much going on within your landing page? This can often be a distraction for the user, resulting in either no conversions or the user bouncing. The importance of a clean, distraction-free design cannot be understated. Make sure the key info is at the top and that your CTAs stand out. Having lots of info can be great for ensuring your audience is educated, but not at the risk of an overcrowded site. Remove any unnecessary links and make your navigation clear and easy to use. This allows your audience to explore and understand more about you, without getting lost in a maze of pages. 

e) Trust Signals & Social Proof

Adding testimonials, reviews, trust badges, and case studies are all great ways to show a user that you are trusted, well known and deliver well. Knowing that well known brands have used your services and are your clients can greatly influence the behavior of your potential users. This phenomenon is called social proofing, it greatly boosts your credibility and trustworthiness.

f) Relevant & Persuasive Content

Making sure you are sending your PPC traffic to the right page is key to drawing your user in. Aligning with their intent and answering their questions is a building block to keeping their interest and producing a conversion. Informative and persuasive content with benefit driven messaging is ideal for pushing users down the conversion funnel to learn more and get in touch with your business.

g) A/B Testing & Continuous Optimization

Having a landing page that looks ok for now isn’t enough. Times change and new trends are constantly appearing for websites. Trialling and testing different aspects of your landing page is the key to success. This can be anything from the whole layout to small tweaks to headlines, CTAs and images. These factors can all influence the conversion rate of your page. 

Landing page creation sites such as Unbounce can allow you to AB test page variants and compare the results. This can be fantastic for understanding your audience better and informing future landing page additions or alterations.

Conclusion

Landing page optimisation is key to the success of PPC campaigns. Helping your audience navigate through your page and site, easily reaching the conversion funnel can greatly impact your revenue and ROI. Making sure your pages are optimised, clear, concise and mobile optimised can transform your website and marketing returns. Not sure where to start? Take a look at how our PPC services can help your business or get in touch with us today.