SEO for PPC landing pages

[scanlin]

After completing several months of on-page SEO for my site (one keyphrase per URL) and getting an "A" from SEOmoz on each page, now I'm venturing into PPC AdWords for the first time.

From what I've read you pretty much want one landing page per keyword/ad. So if I want to target 100 PPC keywords I need 100 landing pages. And each landing page needs to be SEO'd as if you were doing it for organic search purposes so that your ad has a chance at a high Quality Score (8 to 10).

I realize that an ad's QS is 2/3rds driven by its CTR but in the beginning when the ad is new the initial QS assigned seems to be driven more by landing page relevancy and some historical attributes of the AdWords account in which the ad or Campaign is located.

My question is: What, if anything, do you do different on a page designed to be a PPC landing page as compared to a regular page you would SEO for organic search benefits? Also, should you do any of the off-page things (external links with relevant anchor text) for PPC landing pages? I'm envisioning landing pages that only exist to receive PPC ad clicks and that will not be linked to from my site directly. Each landing page talks a bit about the keyword the user was searching on and then directs them to the most relevant page(s) within my site. Maybe that's flawed?

Thanks for any tips...

[WebMarkets]

Every page should be constructed in a Google compliant structure and optimized toward specific keywords and user behaviors.

[jaraca]

Thank you all for the comments. Thanks to the answers I have much clearer the differences between them

[Laurean]

KeriMorget,

Thanks for that!  Realized that AFTER I posted it... but hey - I ran across this... the answer may help somebody else out too!

[KeriMorgret]

Hi Laurean,

Thanks for the answer! I wanted to make sure that you knew this was an older post (from February of 2011), so you may not be hearing back from the original poster at all regarding their question.

[Laurean]

PPC landing pages and SEO landing pages ARE NOT THE SAME!  Nor should they be treated the same.  Sure, every page on a website that is exercising SEO should be treated liked a "landing page" - but not in the same way.  Let me explain.

SEO Landing Pages When you have rolled up your sleeves, written your content, worked it to a Flesch-Kinkaid grade level and optimized it, it would be a total bummer if your visitor couldn't convert.  Conversion could be, reading the next blog page, next blog article, signing up for newsletter, signing up for trial offer, or actually buying x. In other words, on an SEO page, there are lots of options for conversions or browsing beyond the actual page itself, including bookmarking for later reference.

PPC Landing Pages Now, let's take the visitor who you paid to visit your website. Those visitors, you don't want them to browse or look around, you want them to buy or convert RIGHT THEN AND THERE!   That conversion should be there only option.  There should be no other leaks out of the page to keep browsing and tire kicking... either sign up, enter email to download, start the trial or buy RIGHT NOW, or back out.  Those pages should have the on-page meta done OK.  They clicked on your ad, if written properly, because they wanted to buy/try/sign up right now.  The page needs to have enough content on there to help them make the conversion and actually convert.  But not so much that it deters the conversion.These are the pages you can roll up your sleeves on and have fun testing with A/B conversions, customizing meta, etc...  One well written landing page can serve the purpose for several, if not a handful of keyword ads. They key is that the content (message) needs to match the intention (ad).  So, if your ad promises a free trial for white apples - then your LP better offer a free trial for white apples.  However, if you ad promises super cheap white apples with free delivery, don't take them to a landing page that offers a free trial for white apples.  Capisce?

I hope that makes sense.  Good luck to you!

[jcolman]

Assuming that your PPC landing page is going to be pretty similar to your main/SEO landing page in terms of <title>, <meta>, and other content, then don't forget to block your PPC landing page using <a title="http://www.robotstxt.org/" href="http://www.robotstxt.org/">robots.txt</a> so as to avoid the creation of duplicate content.</p> <p>Another option is to use the <a title="http://www.seomoz.org/blog/duplicate-content-block-redirect-or-canonical" href="http://www.seomoz.org/blog/duplicate-content-block-redirect-or-canonical">canonical <link> element</a> on your PPC page pointing to the SEO page, but I'm not sure how effective this would be - better to simply avoid competing with yourself.  :)</p></title>

[perfectweb]

One of the most important factors on a PPC landing page is message match. You must ensure that your ads message is cleearly repeated on your landing page.

From an SEO perspective, this means making sure that your page title and h1/h2 tags align with the messaeg you are putting across in your ad copy.

Something I have been working on is having my ad headline as the H1 on my landing page, and my ad body as a H2 on my landing page. Then having the title of my page be something like "%Ad heading% | My Site".

It is definitely worth trying this out as part of your A/B testing. some of my landing pages using this technique are getting conversions around the 8% mark.

It is also worth trying to get your message match in your URL title as well. If you are ad heading was "Top 10 SEO Tactics" for example, why not have your landing page URL be something like http://www.mysite.com/top-10-seo-tactics.

On another note, I don't think you would need to create 100 different pages for 100 keywords. you could have just one page that does some text replacement to ensure you keep your message match. I usually create a landing page and then replace some tags within the page depending on what ad users come from. This is pretty simple to do in .net/php and will save you recoding up lots of pages.

[goodnewscowboy]

After rereading my answers and yours, I'm inclined to agree with you G. I interpreted the question very narrowl Most of my experience has been with sites selling things, and  the PPC used has always been to drive traffic into regular permanent pages.

I'll tell you, this Q&A is harder than I thought! I'll have to be more circumspect when I answer a question!

[gfiorelli1]

Ciao GNC, nice that we are disagreeing sometimes

even though I believe that we are not really disagreeing; in fact I too firmly believe that every page in a site has to be considered as a landing page.

What I wanted to express, and maybe I was not so able to do, is that the user intention of an user coming from PPC and coming from Organic are different.

The first one is surely commercial driven, the second - depending on the grade of the search - not so surely.

Therefore the languages that has to be used has to be different. In a PPC Landing Page the objective is clearly a sell, in a Organic Landing Page is more "explication & discovery then sell".

That is why I suggest that a PPC LP is different than an from Organic Search One.

In my answer, then, I did not excludev to commit some SEO actions in the PPC LP, especially because some of the factors of a good Quality Score are clearly SEO ones (for instance the relevance and matching of the Ad Message with the copy of the LP). But I don't believe that external SEO tactics like link building toward a PPC LP are necessary when it comes strictly to Adwords.

An exception to my conclusion is when you build such a compelling PPC LP, that it starts to receive naturally backlinks. In that case, yes, I would start to consider my PPC LP as an SEO instrument in order to promote my site, to the point that - once the campaign is over - I would suggest to 301 it to its corresponding organic landing page in order to transfer the link juice it could have gained.

[goodnewscowboy]

"Landing Pages for organic traffic are very different from Landing Pages for PPC"

While I don't disagree completely Gianluca, I'm from the camp that believes every page on a website should be treated like a Landing Page. It should be able to guide the visitor to a desired action.

The reasoning behind this is  that when a site recieves organic traffic,  there's no way to ensure that the visitors will enter your aite where you want them to enter.

That's the rationale behind my stating that PPC best practices are equally valid for organic.

[gfiorelli1]

Ciao Mike,

first of all my compliments for having "A" grade on every page of your site.

And now I will try to answer to your question.

• When it come to PPC, is not really necessary to create one Ad Copy for keyword and, therefore, one Landing Page for Keyword. The Ad would have to be written in order to well respond for a semantically related group of words. And the same it for the Landing Page.
• Landing Pages for organic traffic are very different from Landing Pages for PPC one (or Social Media). So they must be planned (and tracked) differently. Therefore, I would not do any external SEO for a PPC Landing Page but yes I would pay attention to some basic On Page factors (Title, URL, H1).
• From your last phrase, I see that you are going to use the Landing Page as a step to the real Landing... I wouldn't  do that. Remember, a commercial lead is something that can be a succes or a fail in question of seconds, so I would not make think the user that have to click to discover more about the service/product and then, maybe, again in order to contract/buy it. So, try whenever it is possible to make the conversion take place in the same landing page.
• PPC landing pages are usually the most bounced LP of all. In order to obtain a valid goal from the visit (and so give a profit to the visit), I always offer a second conversion objective. It could be a subscription to a newsletter or a like/follow me. Most of the time people don't buy the first time visit you, but yes, probably will sign to your newletter or social media profiles in order to stay informed about your products/services. This is an old marketing tactics whose purpose is to not loose the contact with a potential customer
• Finally I give you the link to a wonderful Unbounce post: http://unbounce.com/landing-page-examples/your-landing-page-sucks/ where are described 10 great example of landing pages and that can be an inspiration for yours.

Good luck with PPC, it is a great marketing tool, but can be a real pain in the... if not well planned.

[goodnewscowboy]

Hi Mike: I'm not sure this answer will be specific enough, but it will address some of your question at least. I wouldn't separate your landing pages from your site for starters. If people end up linking to them, you want that juice to flow into your site. It will also enhance usability and enable the visitor to discover other parts of your site.

Each of your LP's should have a clear call to action. You are paying for every visitor so make sure you get your best return on your PPC spend by crafting the best LP you can, and then test. test. test them with A/B testing to optimize your  results.

While this advice holds true for PPC, it's equally valid with best practices for  organic traffic.