What is a landing page?
A landing page is a page with a single objective, built for people arriving from a specific source — an advert, an email, a QR code on a van. Its defining characteristic is what it leaves out: no menu of eight services, no company history, no links tempting the visitor elsewhere. That focus is why it typically outperforms sending the same traffic to a homepage.
The short definition
A landing page is a page with a single objective, designed for people arriving from a specific source — an ad, an email, a QR code on a van.
The defining characteristic is what it leaves out. No menu of eight services, no company history, no links tempting the visitor elsewhere.
Landing page or service page?
They are often confused and they are different things.
A service page lives in your navigation, is written to be found in search, and links to the rest of the site. It serves people who arrive from anywhere.
A landing page serves traffic you are sending. It usually does not appear in navigation, is not necessarily optimised for search, and deliberately removes exits.
A business can want both. Many only need service pages.
Why it works
Every choice offered to a visitor is a chance to choose nothing. A homepage listing eight services asks someone with a blocked drain to find the one relevant to them, which some will do and others will not.
A page that opens with drain clearing in their area, and a phone number, asks nothing of them.
What has to be on it
Message match. If the ad said emergency drain clearing in Katy, the page says emergency drain clearing in Katy — in the first line. This single factor decides more paid campaign outcomes than any other.
What happens next. How soon you can come, what it costs or how pricing works, what the visit involves.
Proof. Reviews, real photos, years in the trade.
The action, repeated. Phone number at the top and again where the decision is actually made — usually further down than designers assume.
Nothing else. Every additional link is an exit.
The common mistakes
Sending ad traffic to the homepage. The most expensive habit in local paid search.
Building one before there is traffic. A landing page with nothing pointed at it is an expensive way to have an opinion.
Removing the phone number in favour of a form. For urgent service work, the phone is the conversion.
No tracking. Without conversion tracking and a tracking number you will know how many clicks you bought and nothing about what they were worth.
Do you need one
Only if you are sending traffic somewhere deliberately. If your visitors arrive from organic search, invest in proper service pages instead.
Checking yours
Click your own ad and read the first line of the page. If it does not repeat what the ad promised, that is the first fix.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a landing page and a service page?
A service page lives in your navigation and is written to be found in search. A landing page serves traffic you send deliberately, is usually not in navigation, and removes exits on purpose.
Why not send ads to my homepage?
A homepage listing eight services asks a visitor with one problem to find their own way. It is the most expensive habit in local paid search.
What matters most on a landing page?
Message match. If the ad named a specific service and area, the page has to name it in the first line. That single factor decides more campaign outcomes than anything else.
Do I need a landing page?
Only if you are sending traffic deliberately. If visitors arrive from organic search, proper service pages are the better investment.