Short answer
- A PPC landing page is a page built for one ad and one action, not your homepage.
- The essentials: the headline matches the ad, the offer and button are visible without scrolling on a phone, the page loads fast, and there's proof you're real.
- Remove anything that doesn't help someone take that one action.
- Track the action (call, form, booking) before you judge the ads.
Why not just send ads to your homepage?
Your homepage has to serve everyone: new visitors, returning customers, job seekers, people checking your hours. A visitor from an ad came for one specific thing, the thing your ad promised. Every extra link and section is a chance for them to get distracted or confused.
A simple test: if your ad says "Spring AC tune-up, $89" and the visitor lands on a page that opens with "Welcome to Smith Heating & Cooling, serving the community since 1998", they now have to search for the offer they clicked. Some will. Many won't.
Anatomy of a landing page that converts
| Section | What goes there | Example (AC tune-up ad) |
|---|---|---|
| Headline | Repeats the ad's promise | "Spring AC tune-up: $89, this month only" |
| Subheadline | Who it's for and the main benefit | "For homes in north Dayton. Avoid a breakdown in the first heat wave." |
| Primary action | One button, plus click-to-call | "Book my tune-up" and "Call now" |
| Proof | Rating, reviews, licenses, photos | Google rating, 3 short reviews, licensed and insured |
| What's included | Clear bullet list | 21-point check, filter change, written report |
| Objections | Short FAQ | "What if you find a problem?" "How long does it take?" |
| Repeat the action | Button again at the bottom | "Book my tune-up" |
Seven best practices
1. Match the message
Use the same words and offer as the ad. If you run several ads with different offers, give each its own page or section. Google also looks at landing page experience as part of an ad's quality, including how relevant and useful the page is for the people who click (see Google's help page on Quality Score).
2. One page, one goal
Decide the single action: call, book, request a quote, or claim an offer. Remove the main menu if you can, or at least make it quiet. Every other link competes with your button.
3. Design for the phone first
Most local ad clicks come from phones. On a small screen, the headline, offer and button should be visible without scrolling. Buttons should be big enough to tap with a thumb, and the phone number should start a call when tapped.
4. Make it fast
Every second spent waiting is a chance to hit "back". Compress images, avoid heavy sliders and auto-playing video, and test the page on a phone with mobile data, not just office wifi.
5. Keep the form short
Ask only for what you need to call back: name, phone, and maybe one question (service type or postcode). You can get the rest on the call.
6. Show you're real
Real photos of you, your team and your work. Your Google rating and a few genuine reviews with first names. Licenses, insurance, guarantees. Your address or service area. For a local business, these matter more than clever copy.
7. Track the action
Set up conversion tracking for form submissions, calls from the page and bookings before the ads go live. Otherwise you'll judge your ads on clicks, which tells you very little. I explain why in CPC vs CPM.
Common mistakes
What loses leads
- Sending all ads to the homepage
- Offer hidden below three screens of "About us"
- Prices missing when the ad mentioned a price
- Forms with 8+ fields
- Stock photos of smiling models
What wastes ad budget
- No conversion tracking
- Pop-ups that cover the page on mobile
- Phone number as an image, not a tap-to-call link
- Page loads slowly on mobile data
- Changing the page and the ads at the same time, so you can't tell what worked
Do landing pages help SEO?
Usually not much, and that's fine. A PPC landing page is built for one offer and paid traffic. It may have little text and might even be excluded from search results (with a "noindex" tag) so it doesn't compete with your main service pages. Your SEO work belongs on your permanent service pages and guides. The exception: if a landing page is genuinely useful and permanent, such as a standing service with prices, it can serve both purposes.
20-point checklist
Run through this before you spend more on ads:
- Headline repeats the ad's main promise
- Offer and price (if any) visible without scrolling on a phone
- One clear primary action
- Tap-to-call link on mobile
- Button text says what happens ("Book my tune-up", not "Submit")
- Form asks for 3 fields or fewer
- Page loads quickly on mobile data
- Images compressed, no heavy slider
- No pop-up blocking the content on mobile
- Main navigation removed or minimal
- Real photos of your team or work
- Google rating or real reviews shown
- Licenses, insurance or guarantees mentioned where relevant
- Service area or address clear
- What's included is listed
- Short FAQ answering the top 3 objections
- Button repeated near the bottom
- Conversion tracking tested with a real submission
- Privacy policy link if you collect personal details
- Thank-you page or message tells people what happens next
What I'd do
For Facebook and Instagram ads, I build a dedicated landing page whenever the offer is specific enough to deserve one. It's a $149 add-on to Facebook & Instagram ads. If your website is the problem, Website design fixes the foundation first.