It’s the Destination Not the Journey

Sonya Wood - September 14, 2009

Have you ever done a very specific search, for example “iPhone 3g” and gotten taken somewhere that doesn’t even mention the iPhone? Many advertisers using paid search don’t realize they are not only missing a great opportunity, they could also be losing business to frustrated or impatient visitors.

Picking the right landing page is highly important in paid search advertising. If an advertiser is bidding on product specific keywords and directing traffic to those product pages, they have an opportunity to capture the buyer toward the end of the buying cycle. The visitor knows what they want, has already done the research and should be close to buying. In addition, bidding on more specific keywords will usually be cheaper than general keywords because there is less competition. Eliminate the need for your visitors to do an internal search. Pick a destination page that is relevant to what visitors are searching for and prevent visitors from leaving the site because they do not see what they are looking for.

Using Google Analytics is a great way to get insight into landing pages performance. Businesses can view top landing pages and exit pages. This is valuable because it can show where the best or worst places are to drive traffic on your site.