3 Things Google Wants You To Do On A PPC Landing Page

So you’ve drawn the user in with carefully matched keywords, expertly crafted ad copy, and they’ve clicked on your PPC ad. Well done you have succeeded at step one in your Google ads campaign, but what you really want is for that customer to convert. There’s no point spending money to send users to a page where they can’t easily take the action you want. Here’s how to increase your chances of conversions and optimise your post-click landing page for a maximum return on ad spend.

A PPC landing page is defined as the page a visitor arrives at after clicking an ad, whether it be a Google text ad or display ad. Dedicated PPC landing pages can help with:

• Improved ROI (Return On Investment)
• Decreased CPA (Cost Per Acquisition)
• Increased conversion rate
• Increased Google Ad score (Therefore higher likelihood of your ad showing highly on the search results page)

Step One: Tell the User They’re in the Right Place

You want the relationship between your ad and landing page to be as clear as possible. You can make it easy for the user to accept your offering with these simple techniques:

• Align the headline, offer and call to action with the same or similar keywords and imagery.
• Make the copy persuasive, scannable and user-focused. The user wants to know how their life will improve, should they take action.

Step Two: Put Your Best Foot Forward

First impressions matter. But did you know that on average, users stay eight seconds on a landing page before either hitting the back button or converting. Here’s how you can make sure it’s the latter.

• Use quality imagery and video. Eye-catching and relevant content will improve user experience, as well as inspiring confidence and trust.
• Display your trust signals with the pride of a doting Mother displaying her kid’s soccer trophies. You don’t need dozens – even one or two can make a difference, especially if you’re still growing. These reassure the visitor and can include: testimonials, case studies, social media proof, awards and certifications, and associations you are a member of. You can add any details of guarantees you offer here as well.

Step Three: Get Out of Your Own Way!

The user has a need and they’re looking for something to solve their problem. Nothing should come between the visitor and the CTA. There should be no questions as to what steps are next for the user; anything other than your call to action is a distraction. We can assure you that they don’t care about your brand’s history or other offers. Not at this point in the conversion funnel. Here are a few ways of keeping paid users on the conversion path:

• Keep your conversion ratio 1:1. The conversion ratio is the number of clickable elements on the page compared to the number of page goals (and you have one clear purpose: conversions). Limit exit points on the page including links, buttons, footers, sidebars and pop-ups. You can include the information you remove here, on the thank you page (a polite inclusion if nothing else!).
• Keep the design crisp and straightforward while supporting your message and brand. What is the user’s initial experience, when they navigate to your page for the first time?
• Draw attention to the CTA with fonts, colours, arrows, or big, bold text.
• Don’t overwhelm your user with too much information or more than seven form fields. While most users are happy to provide their name and email address, for example, asking for phone numbers and birthdates can increase your drop-off rate by up to 50%.
• With a quick scan, a PPC landing page should offer all the essential information. Leave all questions answered without making the user ask any new ones.

Google Has Given You the Tools

Google Analytics reports make a good starting point for optimisation. The ‘Top Landing Pages’ report identifies your high-priority pages; ‘Final URLs’ within the ‘Google Ads’ menu of the ‘Acquisition’ tab will also show you where users are landing on your site. The ‘Cost’ column header will order your landing pages by the amount you are spending on traffic.

You can also conduct an A/B test in Google Optimize with Google Ads. A/B testing involves the tweaking of individual elements, seeing how the page performs against the previous setup. It is a simple yet flexible way of beginning the optimisation process and is less prone to errors and mistakes than other platforms. By creating a test variation of your landing page, you can test changes to your landing page on real-time visitors.

The quickest way to do this is by creating two ad variations inside Google Ads, with different final URLs. Using Google Optimize to generate a test variation, you can present this to half the people who land on the page. You can then monitor the performance of both, and know what specific page element is the cause of success or failure.

• Make sure you have linked your Google Ads, Google Analytics, and Google Analytics accounts.
• Once you create an experiment in Google Optimize, select ‘Targeting’ and then ‘Create Rule’. Click ‘Google Ads’ for the rule.
• Ensure you have conversions inside Google Ads, either directly or imported from Google Analytics. Select ‘Modify Columns’ and add your conversion metrics.

Test to See if These Ideas Work for You

• Heatmaps and website session replays allow you to see the user’s experience, highlighting any issues you need to address.
• Why not ask the users themselves? Website surveys can complement quantitative data with qualitative feedback, adding additional insight to the visitor’s pain points and actions on the page.
• See if your site is mobile-friendly. You can boost conversions by making your landing page effective and consistent on different devices.

Investing time and effort in your landing page is just as important as the ad itself. Not only does it mean you’ll get maximum ROI on your PPC campaign; your website conversion rate will improve as a whole. Major changes may seem daunting, but it’s always best to test these significant elements before moving on to more refining tweaks.

If you don’t know where to start or how to implement meaningful changes on your PPC landing page, the team at Vine Digital is experienced in the optimisation of landing pages for Google. Give us a call to find out how we can make the most of your Google Ads campaign today.