Creating a high converting landing page isn't rocket science, but it does have to contain the right elements. Landing pages are an essential part of almost all digital advertising campaigns, so it's important to ensure it meets a checklist of key components. Whether you're new to building landing pages or you're an expert, here's a quick overview of what you should consider.

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Why Landing Pages are Important

Landing pages are the first-place consumers are directed to after clicking on your ad. Whether the goal is lead generation, e-commerce sales or content promotion, it must leave a good first impression. You do not want users to bounce right away as this will affect your SEO ranking.

Landing pages are important for efficient paid search campaigns. Ad platforms, like Google & Bing, have criteria that determine how well an ad will perform. For example; click-through rate (CTR), ad relevance, and of course, landing page experience are the three most important factors. Google claims that landing pages are one of the most important factors in determining the quality score of a sesrch ad. If it doesn't meet a certain amount of said criteria, the ad can decrease in CTR, causing the cost per click (CPC) to increase, and ultimately lower the ad ranking. This will lead to higher costs and lower conversion rates, costing you money!

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What Makes the Best Landing Pages?

Landing page quality score is based on a few different factors. They may differ depending on who you talk to. However, there are some key questions you need to ask about your landing page:

• • Is the landing page relevant and useful?
• • • Does the landing page consist of information people are searching for?
  • • Does it offer a solution to their problem?
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• • Is the landing page trustworthy?
• • • Does the website look legitimate?
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• • Is it easy to navigate?
• • • Can the audience easily find what they are looking for?
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• • Is the landing page mobile-friendly? 
• • • Does the landing page load quickly?
  • • Is it uniform on a mobile device?
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• • Is the landing page easy to read?
• • • Are there spelling and grammatical errors?
  • • Is the copy clear?

If the answer to any of these questions is "no," then you know where landing page improvements should start.

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How to Improve Landing Page Quality

Thankfully, there are improvements that can be made to make any landing page better:

• • If possible, review any landing page experience information provided by PPC platforms, like Google.
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• • Improve load times to decrease bounce rates. The best landing pages load quickly.
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• • Update keywords for SEO. Run a Google keyword volume forecast around your top keywords and include those keywords on the page.
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• • Optimize for mobile. If your landing page (or website for that matter) isn't mobile-friendly, you're going to lose a lot of traffic. To put it into perspective, 54.25% of internet traffic is from mobile phones.
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• • Use the right elements when designing landing pages. While designing creative and unique landing pages is encouraged, there are a few elements that should be implemented to make it easier to navigate and read. F and Z layouts, white space, and a clear call to action make all the difference.
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• • Add credibility through social proof such as customer reviews, video testimonials and a privacy policy link to increase trustworthiness.
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How to Maintain Landing Page Quality

Building the best landing page isn't hard, but it is something that needs to be maintained and improved. With algorithms constantly changing and technology advancing, it's important to keep an eye on the user's experience. The best way to maintain landing page quality is by monitoring it weekly through dashboards like Google Analytics that analyze bounce rate and time spent.

Keep the landing page updated with the most recent information and content. Landing pages often need a facelift to keep up with the times.

Always A/B test. Whether it is the color of the CTA button or the size of the text the smallest tweak can improve conversion rates. Always split parts of the landing page and find areas to improve.

If you would like assistance in building landing pages that will generate conversions, feel free to contact us at info@kingstarmedia.com.