A Short Guide to a (Good) Landing Page
You can’t cut corners with Google to become visible in search results. Nor should you. The core idea behind your website should be to deliver content that aligns with your business and the needs and desires of your potential customers. That’s why your landing pages must also meet users’ needs—but there are also many other “must-haves” and “nice-to-haves” when it comes to writing good landing pages. I’ll share those with you in this article.
What is a landing page?
When you search on Google, you’re presented with a list of search results. By clicking on one of these search results, you’re directed to a specific page on a website. This page, which Google has selected as a relevant answer to your search, is called a landing page in marketing terminology. In other words, it’s the page you “land” on after your search.
The more relevant Google considers a particular page to be, the higher it will appear in the search results.
You’ve probably figured out the value of a well-written, relevant, and data-driven landing page, but let’s summarize it just to be clear:
A top ranking on page 1 of search results → more traffic to the website → potentially more sales-generating conversions
But what are the key things to consider when designing your landing page?
Let's dive into the details.
1. Figure out what you want to achieve
One of the first things you should consider is what the purpose of your landing page is.
What do you want the reader to do? What should the reader gain from reading this particular page? And along the same lines—what should you gain from it? In other words, you need to consider the user’s search intent: Why is the user interested in reading this in the first place, and how can this page best meet their needs and goals?
Don't mislead your users—your landing page should give them exactly what they're looking for
2. Conduct a thorough keyword analysis
If you want to rank high in search results (and you do), you need to analyze how many of your potential customers are searching for what and why—and which results Google currently considers the best answers.
A keyword analysis helps you identify the keywords that are most valuable for you to rank highly for in Google's search results.
Such an analysis involves, among other things:
- Your competitors' rankings on Google.
- What words your target audience uses and how often they use them.
- What is the purpose of using that keyword?
- How difficult it will be for you to rank at the top of the search results for a specific keyword.
Once you've conducted a keyword analysis, keep the keywords and search phrases in mind as you write the landing page. The analysis should ensure that your landing page aims to answer the questions people are asking on Google
It must meet a need. Fill a gap in understanding. Offer solutions to users’ problems. And it can only do that once you’ve researched what people are actually Googling.
3. Make the Most of Your Keyword Analysis
Once you’ve identified your primary keywords through your keyword analysis, the next step is to integrate them effectively into your landing page. To maximize the impact of your primary keywords, you should include them in strategic locations:
- In the URL
- In the H1 heading
- At least one H2 heading
- In the first paragraph (preferably in the very first line)
- Distribute them evenly throughout the body of the text—but be careful not to overuse or underuse them.
- In the meta description and page title.
Let's take an example, just to be clear
The broad keyword:Rye bread
The more specific (long-tail) keyword:Gluten-free rye bread
- URL:www.rugbroedsopskrifter.dk/glutenfrit-rugbroed*
- H1:“Recipe for Delicious, Gluten-Free Rye Bread”
- H2:“Why choose gluten-free rye bread?”
- First paragraph:Include the keyword “gluten-free rye bread” as early as possible (preferably in the first line)
- Body text:Use the keyword once per H2 section, or use tools like Yoast to find the right balance.
And remember to avoid using “æ,” “ø,” and “å” in URLs—it’s not good practice.
The list above is purely for guidance, and fortunately, Google is constantly getting better at understanding content. Search intent therefore remains the most important factor when creating landing pages.
Method to the madness – there are best practices behind an SEO-friendly landing page
4. Think about who you're writing to
Remember, there are real people reading your text on the other side of the screen. They aren’t automatically interested in everything you say. They’re looking for help. They’re looking for guidance. They want to find what they’re looking for.
A landing page isn't good just because it exists. It's good when it adds value for your potential customers while also supporting your business goals.
That's why it's important to understand who your reader is. Ask yourself:
Who am I writing to? What does my target audience look like? What problems, questions, and challenges do they face? And how can I help them? Get to know both your current and potential customers and understand what they want from you.
To gain an even better understanding of your target audience, you can:
- Talk to your sales department and current customers.
- Analyze data from your website and behavioral patterns on your social media platforms.
- Conduct surveys of potential and current customers.
With this knowledge under your belt, it’s much easier to write focused, relevant, and valuable content.
5. Where should you focus in the customer journey?
Alltext content—such as landing pages, blog posts, newsletters, and so on—can be tailored to different stages of the customer journey. It’s important to consider which stage of the journey—from the awareness stage to the delight stage—each individual landing page should be written for.
Right now, you can find a sea of versions of the customer journey online—and most marketing geeks have written a blog post or two about it.
I’ll therefore spare the internet any further comments on the subject—and instead recommend that you read one ofHubSpot’s blog posts about the buyer’s journey.
6. Highlight a clear value proposition in your introduction
Your introduction should be informative, to the point, persuasive, and engaging. You may have heard that our average attention span has dropped from 12 to 8 seconds at a time. That’s shorter than the average goldfish’s attention span.
Whether it's true or not, we're all competing to hold people's attention online—and that takes a lot of effort.
So how do you do that in your introduction on a landing page?
It's actually pretty simple. You'll need:
- A concise summary of the key points the reader should take away from the page.
- A clear value proposition. Tell the reader what they’ll gain from either reading your page—if it’s a blog post, for example—or what benefits they’ll receive from becoming your customer, if your page is about your product or service.
- Contact information with links so that readers can contact the company right away.
I've taken the liberty of including an example from Amplify's Google Ads landing page.
I've taken the liberty of including an example from Amplify's landing page about Google Ads.
Here, we highlight the value of our service (clicks and customers), provide a concrete summary (“Let an experienced Google Ads agency show you the way to more leads and sales”), and give the reader the opportunity to quickly get in touch with us (free Google Ads analysis).
7. Think about how lazy you are
You may not be lazy when it comes to your work. Or your workout.
But if you’re like so many others, you’re a lazy and impatient online reader. The hard truth is that most of us skim text online. We scan it to find exactly the information we’re looking for—and then we decide whether or not to keep reading.
To make your text easy to skim and navigate, you should:
- Include suggestedheadings.
- Use short line breaks and new paragraphs to make the text easy to read—both on a computer and, especially, on a mobile device.
- Remember CTAs (read more in section 8).
The flow of information on the Internet has made us hopelessly lazy
8. Guide Your Reader with CTAs
To guide your reader in the direction you want, you need to consistently tell them what action to take. You do this through calls to action.
CTAs give readers an opportunity to take an action that benefits everyone, rather than just leaving.
A call to action could include, for example:
A call to action could also be to encourage the reader to sign up for your newsletter, contact you, or add a product to their cart. The important thing is simply that you guide the reader to take an action that makes sense given the situation and where they are in the customer journey.
Well-placed CTAs help guide your users in the right direction
9. Filler words are the bane of writing
Imagine the following scenario: You've come home after a long day at work. Your mind is exhausted. It's a quarter past midnight, and you suddenly realize that your keys are on the wrong side of the door. You take out your phone and Google it.
You search for “locked out of apartment” or “locksmith.” You land on a website, and the first 8 sentences are filled with unnecessary comments like “Isn’t it annoying to be locked out? Many people find it frustrating… etc.”
Do you get it? Filler words won’t help you find a solution any faster. If you’re in a situation where you need urgent help, you don’t want to have to wade through 8–10 sentences about how annoying your situation is.
The point is: Make sure to quickly provide your reader with specific information. After that, you can add any other information that might also be relevant to the situation.
Filler words can be a dangerous pitfall on your landing pages
10. Talk to the reptilian brain
We’ve touched on this a bit: Your readers decide within the first 10 seconds whether or not they’re going to pay attention to your text.
But is there anything you can do to influence their decision? Marketing expert William Avila suggests a neuroscientific approach that is simpler than it sounds.
According to Avila, you can capture and hold the reader’s attention by appealing to basic emotions such as fear, anger, pleasure, and territoriality—known as the reactions of the “reptilian brain.”
When you're writing a landing page, think about what basic emotions you want to evoke.
If this has piqued your curiosity, you can read much more about the topic in Ahrefs’ blog post “How to Create Great Content for Search” right here.
11. Avoid “keyword stuffing”
In the past, a basic rule ofsearch engine optimizationwas to include your keyword X number of times on your landing page to ensure that the page would indeed be found when people entered that word into a search engine.
That's no longer the case.
Google has become much smarter. So write naturally, and both Google and your readers will understand what your page is about. This practice is also known as “semantic SEO.”
12. Write consistently—not erratically
It almost goes without saying. Don't switch from being "Des" to the reader to being the cocky kid in class.
It’s important to be consistent in your tone of voice, writing style, and the way you address the reader—this also helps create a consistent image of your brand.
13. Include links to helpful websites
Google users are Google's customers.
Yes, it seems obvious, but it’s actually the key to many questions—such as: “Why should I include links to other websites on my landing page?”
The answer is just as simple. Anything you do to help and guide the user makes the user happy. And when the user is happy, Google is happy.
Your goal is to create the best possible experience for your readers on your landing page—also known as a good user experience. One way to do this is by directing them to relevant articles, news stories, or blog posts on other websites that complement your content and help the reader.
By guiding the user, you create a positive experience that Google will reward.
BUT! Makesure your internal links open in the same window so you don't spam the reader with multiple windows from the same site, while your external links should always open in a new window so you don't direct the reader away from your own website.
14. Appeal to the visual sense as well
When we take in information, there is a significant risk that we will remember only about 10% of it after just 3 days. However,statistics show that if the information is presented along with images, the likelihood of remembering about 65% of it is significantly higher!
That’s why it’s important to make a landing page easy to digest by breaking up the text with images and videos—for example, just like in the branding video from Amplify below.
15. Write engaging and relevant meta descriptions and page titles
Your landing page should also present itself in an appealing way in search results. To increasethe click-through rate (CTR)from search results to your landing page, it is therefore important to write compelling meta descriptions and page titles for the various pages.
That's exactly what readers see first when your page appears in search results, and it needs to convince them to click and explore your landing page.
In our view, the page title should describe what the reader can expect to find on the page, convey clear value, and end with the name of your website. It should be specific, direct, and transparent.
The meta description can elaborate on the value and end with a clear call to action, such as “Read more here to get this great offer/these helpful tips/view the entire handbook here.”
Meta descriptions and page titles are your website's storefront on Google
16. Showcase your business’s social proof on all landing pages
When we’re unsure of what to do, we often tend to go with the flow and do what others are doing. That’s why social proof on a website is extremely important. It helps your visitors understand that you offer popular products or services that they, too, can benefit from.
An obvious way to incorporate social proof into your website is by including reviews from Google, Trustpilot, or Facebook at the bottom—also known as the footer—of your website, which will be displayed on all your landing pages. This builds trust and shows that others have already had positive experiences with your products or services.
With Google’s latest E-E-A-T Core Update, social proof is more important than ever if you want to succeed with SEO.
In a nutshell
For those of you who scroll straight to the bottom of a page to read the conclusion—this is for you:
When you're writing a good landing page, you can choose to follow our advice. In short, it's all about presenting information in a way that's easy to digest and relevant to both your readers and Google.
And please feel free to share your tips or ask questions about the blog post at seo@amplify.dk.
You can also reach one of our specialists through our contact page.
Thank you so much for reading!
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