What Does A Landing Page For Google Ads Need?

Many people think that their landing pages are just part of a marketing funnel, directing leads to a certain page or sign-up form from an ad or other lead capture mechanism. While it does fulfill that role it is much more important than that when used in online advertising, especially Google Ads.

When running Google Ads, the landing page is a vital part in the success of your ads. Google expects each landing page to have several elements in it that it sees as necessary, if not required. If your landing page is not Google compliant, there is a good chance that your ad will not be shown as often as it should be. Your ads could be denied all together.

From the Ultimate Guide To Google Ads 6th Edition … There are two people that you need to please with your landing page. Of course, the user is always important, but comes in second in this case. The first is the gatekeeper at Google that is going to review your landing page (yep, it is a real person). If your landing page is bad enough, they can suspend or even ban your ads account. And that is a headache you don’t need.

So, what are the not so magic ingredients for a successful landing page? Here’s a quick list:

1.     Make the landing page an offshoot of your ad, keep the same theme

2.     It must be relevant to the ad

3.     Must be mobile friendly

4.     Must be easy to navigate

5.     Keep it and your business transparent

6.     Must load quickly

7.     Needs to make Google happy (it sounds simple, but they look for certain things)

Let’s get started and look at each of these elements.

1.     This one is easy. The entire list is easy. Make your landing page like your ad. Use the same colors and graphics. Have your main keyword in the heading or title of the page. Repeat your USP (Unique Selling Proposition). The landing page needs to be a direct continuation of your ad.

2.     The relevance of the landing page is like what I just talked about. Do not offer one thing in the ad and another on the landing page. Do not stray from the keywords that you use in your ad. Talking about additional or different topics is not recommended.

3.     As with everything on your website, it must be mobile friendly. There’s not much more to say about this. Make sure your design loads correctly and is easy to see and use. To test your page for its mobile friendliness, go to https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly and enter the URL for your landing page.

4.     This seems simple, but sometimes people mess it up. Make all the important stuff easy to find. Even the exit. Is the info or offer from your ad front and center? It should be. If you are trying to be sneaky about something, believe me, Google knows.

5.     Transparency and Google is an entire article all by itself. Basically, do not hide or omit basic info from your website or landing page. Your business name, address, phone number, and a link to your privacy policy should be on there. Make sure you are straight forward about how you will use their information that you collect.

6.     Google loves speed. It is one of the top elements that can hold a website back in the rankings. The same holds true for landing pages. If the click through from your ad does not load quickly and perform well, it hurts your ad and its performance.

7.     Ok, here’s the big one, keeping Google happy. Of course, all of this is to please Google, but this point will get split out into several points related to the actual content on your landing page.

a.     Is what your business does clear?

b.     Call to action

c.     Is your offer worth it?

d.     Quality copy

e.     Contact

A.    Making it clear what your business does should be a no brainer. Consider it from a different perspective, though. If your website was open on a computer screen and someone walked I to the room, would it be immediately clear to them what you do? As business owners, we inherently think it is because we never see our business from the outside perspective. I mean, you know what you do, right?

B.    A strong call-to-action is necessary for several reasons.

According to Sprout Social there are 5 key elements for a successful call-to-action.

1.     Exceptional design: A brightly-colored button or link that contrasts with the page design is excellent for attracting user attention.

2.     Proper placement: Call to action content needs to be the most visible thing on the page. The location of the CTA should command attention. 

3.     Clear benefits: Effective CTAs are benefit oriented. Highlight the advantages a user will access by completing a specific transaction.

4.     Actionable text: Writing in the imperative clarifies a CTA. Action-driven text like “Start Your Free Trial” promotes conversions.

5.     Short length: A CTA must be short enough to fit into button format. Stick to five words or less.

C.     This is pretty straight forward. Are you offering something people want? Is the offer good enough for them to follow through with your desired action? Whether you just want a simple email address or for them to make a purchase right from the landing page, your offer must be attractive enough to get that action completed.

D.    Quality content belongs on every page of your website, and your landing pages are no different. The content on your landing page needs to be an extension of what you have in your ad. You need to further develop the information and offer from your ad.

E.     Can the user contact you or your business? It is easy and obvious on the page how they can do that? Not only does your call-to-action need to clear and available, so does at least one way to contact you. Google sees this vital for you to be seen as a legitimate business. A link to your contact page, if it has way to get in touch with you or your business, is good enough. A phone number is a must. 

A landing page is a great sales tool, but it must meet certain criteria set out by Google to be deemed worthy of them showing your ad to users. Since some of the items necessary on a good landing page are related to your ad, it is likely that you will need a new landing page for each new ad campaign, if not each specific ad group or ad.

If your landing page is not optimized for the ads that you are running on Google, those ads may not perform well, or could be denied all together. Take the time to create proper landing pages for your ads. It will pay off in the long run.