Best Practices for Optimizing a Landing Page for Google Ads

If you’ve run a Google Ads campaign before, you know that creating the ad itself is only half the battle. Perfectly optimized ad copy and smart keyword targeting can only get you so far.

You’ve also got to nail your landing page design. Optimize your landing page for Google Ads, and you’ll turn those clicks to conversions.

Read on for our best practices for landing page optimization.

What Belongs Above the Fold?

What’s above-the-fold — or what the user sees before having to scroll — is arguably the most important part of your landing page. Here’s how to optimize yours from top to bottom.

• The Navigation: Remove it. Seriously. You want to remove the navigation you have present on the rest of your website. The only thing you want clickable on this landing page is your CTA button.
• Hero Image or Video: Include an eye-catching hero image or video. Videos are becoming a popular feature of landing pages, so include one that shows your product or service in action.
• Headline: Have a strong headline. This headline should summarize the main benefit or reason someone should fill out your lead form or click through to buy. Think of it as your elevator pitch, but just one sentence.
• Lead Form: If you’re optimizing a B2B landing page for Google Ads, your goal will be to capture leads. Remove any hesitation for those who click on your ads with a short lead form. Limit your form fields to name, email, and phone if you can.
• CTA button: This is the pièce de résistance of any landing page! Your CTA button should stand out and feature prominently on the page. Draw attention to it through the eyes of your photo subjects, an arrow pointing to it, or a bold color. Encourage people to take action now with phrases like “Buy Now.”
• Trust Signals: If you’ve still got room above the fold, give visitors one last reason to trust you. Include logos of prominent publications your product or service has been featured in, short phrases from rave testimonials, or five star ratings. 

For example, this landing page for CRM software Monday.com has no navigation and a bold headline. With bright pink “Get Started” buttons, there’s no confusion about what to do next.

What About the Rest of the Page?

Ideally, everything you included above-the-fold is enough to make someone convert. But, there will always be some people who need a little more persuading. 

So, focus the rest of your Google Ads landing page to encourage these people to convert. 

• Use punchy, persuasive copy that’s easy to read and clearly spells out the benefits of your product or service.
• Avoid long, boring paragraphs. Instead, use bullet points and short sentences to highlight key features and benefits of your products, supplemented by graphics or photos.
• You can also include longer versions of testimonials here, but they should still be relatively short — no more than 1 to 2 sentences tops.

For example, as you scroll down this landing page for Peel, you see stunning product photos and short sentences that explain what’s great about their AirPods case. You’ll also notice the CTA button stays docked at the top right, highlighted in a contrasting green color. 

Don’t Forget the Basics

Give your landing page one last look-over before you use it in your Google Ads campaigns. 

• Make sure it loads fast and is mobile-friendly. This is especially important if you’re targeting mobile device users!
• Review your landing page in the context of the ads you’re running it with. Does it match the offer you present in your ads? Are you speaking to the same benefits? You don’t want to create friction by confusing the visitor with a landing page that sounds like it’s for a different offer.
• How does the landing page look? Is the design simple and easy to follow, with a clear focus toward the call to action? The color scheme should draw attention to the most important parts of the pages, with your CTA and headline emphasized with a bold, contrasting color.
• Set up your Google Analytics tracking. Double-check your URL is correct and everything is configured for you to be able to view the reporting.

Ready to Optimize Your Landing Page?

There’s a lot you can do to optimize your landing page for Google Analytics, and squeeze just a few more conversions out of your efforts. How many more conversions, exactly? For one of our clients, our landing page optimizations delivered a 101% boost in conversion rate. 

Talk to our paid search experts to find out what we can do for your landing pages.