Every Google Ads landing page should answer the exact search that brought the click. If someone in Bowling Green searches “catering in Bowling Green” and taps your ad, they should land on your catering page. Not your homepage.
It sounds like a small change. It can be the difference between paying for a click and getting a phone call.
Why the homepage is the wrong landing page
Your homepage is built for everyone. It has the full menu, the story of how you started, the hours, the events calendar and a photo of the patio. That’s great for someone who already knows you.
The person who searched for catering doesn’t need any of that yet. They want to know if you cater, what you offer, how many people you can feed and how to get a quote. On the homepage, they have to hunt for it. On a phone, hunting usually means hitting the back button and tapping the next ad instead.
You paid for that click either way.
What a matching landing page looks like
A matching landing page picks up right where the ad left off. Go back to the catering example. The search says catering, the ad says catering, and the page they land on says catering at the top.
A good catering landing page would show:
- A headline that says you cater in Bowling Green
- The kinds of events you handle, like office lunches, weddings or graduation parties
- Sample menus or packages
- Photos of real trays and setups you’ve served
- One clear way to ask for a quote, like a short form or a tap to call
The same idea works for any business. A plumber running ads for water heater installs sends those clicks to the water heater page. A roofer running ads for storm damage sends them to the storm damage page. Each service gets its own ad and its own page.
What Google says about landing page experience
Google says landing page experience is one of the three parts of Quality Score, next to expected clickthrough rate and ad relevance. Google describes it as how relevant and useful your landing page is to people who click your ad.
Google’s advice comes down to two things. Give people what they’re looking for, and keep the message the same from the ad to the page. Its help page uses a clothing example: if someone searches “flannel shirts” and clicks an ad for flannel shirts, the page should feature your flannel shirts.
Google also lists a few things that shape that experience:
- How useful and relevant the information on the page is
- How easy the page is to navigate
- How many links are on the page
- Whether the page matches what people expected from the ad
Google also points to mobile-friendly pages and fast load times. Someone searching from a parking lot or on a lunch break won’t wait on a slow, cluttered page.
Does the page need the exact search words?
No. Google says the word-for-word search term doesn’t need to be on your landing page. The page just needs to give the person what they came for. “Catering for 50 people in Bowling Green” can land on a strong catering page that never repeats that exact phrase.
How to match each ad to the right page
Start with what you already run ads for, then work through it one service at a time.
- List your ad groups. Write down each service or product you advertise.
- Find the best page for each one. If a page exists, use it. If the only match is the homepage, that service needs its own page.
- Check the page against the ad. Does the headline repeat the offer? Is the next step easy to find on a phone?
- Update the final URL. In Google Ads, the final URL decides where each ad sends people. Point every ad to its matching page.
- Watch what happens. Google suggests using conversion rate as a rough check on your landing pages. If calls and form fills go up for a service, the page is doing its job.
When you need a new landing page
Sometimes the right page doesn’t exist yet. A restaurant might mention catering in one line on the About page. A contractor might list ten services on one long page.
In those cases, build a focused page for the service you advertise most. Keep it short. Match the ad, show proof with real photos and details, and give one clear next step. Our website design team in Bowling Green builds pages like this so they load fast and read well on a phone.
Let’s look at where your ad clicks land
If your Google Ads send everyone to the homepage, you’re probably paying for clicks that never turn into calls. Hangout Creative manages Google Ads and pay per click campaigns for businesses across Kentucky, and we build the landing pages those ads point to.
Schedule a time to talk with Hangout Creative about your ads and landing pages. We’ll walk through where your clicks go today and which pages to fix first.
