Landing Page set as homepage...Good or bad?

[alxvallejo]

My client requests that we keep the landing page as the homepage because someone searching for one of our services might also be interested in the similar services that we show on our homepage and it provides a warmer welcome for our brand.

What opinions do you have about this? Does AdWords still penalize you for this? In my view, it does make sense to keep the homepage as the landing page.

[nicktyler]

I am unaware of adwords penalising you for using your home page as the landing page. Why would they do that. The home page is normally the most usefull and important page on the site.

The only reason to have landing pages is to optimise and target specifically for KW's and users when the homepage can't facilitate in terms of volume of content and number of target words etc...

[dburk]

Hi alxvallejo,

So you have targeted a specific keyword along with highly relevant ad text that aligns perfectly with the intent of users, but then you drop them off at the home page instead of the most relevant page? Hoping they find their way to the page they expected to land on and not get distracted along the way? Yeah, that sounds like a way of optimizing conversions.

Why not confuse you vistitors, make them browse you entire website before they are allowed to view the page they came for, based on your reasoning, wouldn't that be an even warmer welcome? Maybe go all out and track the pages viewed and keep redirecting them until they have viewed every other product except the one they came for. That would be in line with your reasoning, right? Of course that is taking your logic to a more complete utilization, but hey, if it is sound reasoning, why not full implementation?

Ask yourself "when you click an ad about a product you are specifically interested in, do you want to be taken instead to a page about other products?" When that happens, does it give you a warm feeling? I never really thought of bait-and-switch as generator of warm feelings, how about you?

[alxvallejo]

Originally Posted by nicktyler

The home page is normally the most usefull and important page on the site.

Hi dburk,

It's not a specific product. Every campaign is different. In my case, the homepage does make the most sense because it provides an overview of what your business is about. Our service (not product) is featured on the home page along with an About Us and Other Services We Provide.

So I think Nick Tyler answers your question.

Depending on the goal of the campaign, you may want to send them to a specific product description page with a call to action. Or, the purpose of the campaign may be to build trust in your brand vs your competitors and the best way to do that would be to route to the homepage. So in this case it does make sense to route to the homepage and keep your ad groups specific to each product (or in this case service).

[dburk]

Originally Posted by alxvallejo

Hi dburk,

It's not a specific product. Every campaign is different. In my case, the homepage does make the most sense because it provides an overview of what your business is about. Our service (not product) is featured on the home page along with an About Us and Other Services We Provide.

So I think Nick Tyler answers your question.

Depending on the goal of the campaign, you may want to send them to a specific product description page with a call to action. Or, the purpose of the campaign may be to build trust in your brand vs your competitors and the best way to do that would be to route to the homepage. So in this case it does make sense to route to the homepage and keep your ad groups specific to each product (or in this case service).

If the goal of your advertising campaign is branding, not conversions, then yes the homepage as the landing page is just fine.

[alxvallejo]

Isn't the goal of branding to ultimately increase conversions?

I think my question was more based around if there were any negative consequences for Quality Score, not conversion rate. The landing page will be something to test but as a local service, it's much more about building trust.

I should have stated my position more clearly.

[dburk]

Originally Posted by alxvallejo

Isn't the goal of branding to ultimately increase conversions?

I think my question was more based around if there were any negative consequences for Quality Score, not conversion rate. The landing page will be something to test but as a local service, it's much more about building trust.

I should have stated my position more clearly.

Hi alxvallejo,

The main purpose of branding is to get people to recall your company, service or product from memory. The primary benefit is that they may recall your company name and seek you out at some point in the future, or choose your ad the next time they are shopping. It is very different from direct response advertising where the goal is an immediate conversion to a lead or a sale.

Quality scores are based primarily on CTRs. Generating a large number of impressions is the main objective of branding campaigns, and higher CTRs drive the CPM costs up, which is at cross purposes with primary goal of Branding campaigns, generating the highest number of impressions at the lowest cost.

Generally, it is a good idea to run separate campaigns for branding and direct response. And to take full advantage of your branding campaigns you may want to run a simultaneous direct response campaign.

[alxvallejo]

Originally Posted by dburk

Quality scores are based primarily on CTRs. Generating a large number of impressions is the main objective of branding campaigns, and higher CTRs drive the CPM costs up, which is at cross purposes with primary goal of Branding campaigns, generating the highest number of impressions at the lowest cost.

This is why branding campaigns are not common anymore and why so many advertisers choose PPC and not CPM.

Originally Posted by dburk

Generally, it is a good idea to run separate campaigns for branding and direct response. And to take full advantage of your branding campaigns you may want to run a simultaneous direct response campaign.

I'm confused by your advise because on the one hand, I am shooting for conversions and a high QS. On the other hand, all of my competitors also direct their ads to the homepage as well. And like you said, branding campaigns conflict with a QS model. Are my competitors using a CPM model or do we all have our heads in the sand on this one?

[dburk]

Originally Posted by alxvallejo

This is why branding campaigns are not common anymore and why so many advertisers choose PPC and not CPM.


I'm confused by your advise because on the one hand, I am shooting for conversions and a high QS. On the other hand, all of my competitors also direct their ads to the homepage as well. And like you said, branding campaigns conflict with a QS model. Are my competitors using a CPM model or do we all have our heads in the sand on this one?

Hi alxvallejo,

Branding campaigns are still common, but not quite as popular as direct response campaigns since the introduction of PPC advertising. Many folks use PPC campaigns for branding, but they try to keep the cost per impression rate as low as possible. The goal is to get millions of impressions at the lowest Cost-Per-Impresssion as possible.

When AdWords introduced Quality Scores it made it much costlier to do branding campaigns within the search network. Most branding campaigns moved to the content network (display network), where they are still popular today.

If you are advertising in the search network you are probably better off sticking with direct response campaigns. A great way to do this is create a custom landing page designed to generate a response in the form of a lead. An example might be a landing page optimized for converting ad clicks into a leads via a form for a free estimate or something along that line.

Once you get them on your landing page, engage them with sales copy written in a conversational style. Make a compelling case to fill out the form. Then after you get that lead you can redirect them to your homepage or perhaps optional products or services. The point is to try to prevent them from being distracted with multiple choices and too many decisions before you get their contact information.

[alxvallejo]

Originally Posted by dburk

Once you get them on your landing page, engage them with sales copy written in a conversational style. Make a compelling case to fill out the form. Then after you get that lead you can redirect them to your homepage or perhaps optional products or services. The point is to try to prevent them from being distracted with multiple choices and too many decisions before you get their contact information.

You know what? I like this advise a lot. I received some similar advise to make a landing page that resembles the link below but my client said it was too much of a hard sell.

Smart Parenting

But I get your point on landing pages. They do have to be targeted, although, as the first response noted, the landing page will not affect QS, only conversion rate. And this can be tested in Website Optimizer. Now the tricky part is convincing the webmaster...

[dburk]

Originally Posted by alxvallejo

You know what? I like this advise a lot. I received some similar advise to make a landing page that resembles the link below but my client said it was too much of a hard sell.

Smart Parenting

But I get your point on landing pages. They do have to be targeted, although, as the first response noted, the landing page will not affect QS, only conversion rate. And this can be tested in Website Optimizer. Now the tricky part is convincing the webmaster...

Hi alxvallejo,

Your client is right, that would be too much of a hard sell for a lead generation form.

You don't need a long sales letter for lead generation. just a short paragraph or two that provides a clear description of what your client provides and why they should choose your client over similar offers. When it comes to lead generation less is more.

[FrankRumbauskas]

Originally Posted by alxvallejo

What opinions do you have about this? Does AdWords still penalize you for this? In my view, it does make sense to keep the homepage as the landing page.

No, unless the page is totally irrelevant to the search phrase used and ad copy. I wouldn't worry about it too much as long as it's relevant. For my site NeverColdCall.com for example I have over 8,000 keywords that all point to the home page as a landing page since it makes sense for such a targeted product.

Quality Score is based on click-through rate for the particular keyword/ad combo, historical click-through rate for your entire account, relevancy of the landing page content to the ad/keyword combo, overall 'quality' of the landing page (i.e., does it have full navigation (preferable) or is it a squeeze page?) ... and lots of little factors like your page's load time, etc.

I can verify from my reps at Google that they don't reveal everything that goes into it but those are the biggies.