Did you know that landing pages have an average conversion rate of 9.2%, with the top-performing pages converting well above these?
But to achieve those kinds of results, you need to optimize your landing pages for improved search visibility, user experience, and conversions.
In this post, I’ll discuss the best practices for creating landing pages that rank and convert easily.
Why does SEO matter for landing pages?
Search engine optimization is the process to optimize the elements of a web page to increase its chances of showing up in search results for relevant keywords.
And why is that important?
Because the main goal of creating a landing page is to drive visitors to the page, engage them, and convince them to take an action. The action could be anything from downloading your resource to buying a product or booking a ticket for your upcoming event.
You’ll only be able to drive conversions if people visit your page and you can get more conversions if the right people visit it.
That’s why you want to create SEO-friendly landing pages.
Optimizing your landing page for search engines can help you:
- Drive targeted organic traffic to your site.
- Generate qualified leads for your landing page.
- Improve your conversion rate.
- Increase sales.
- Boost ROI.
You should spend time on landing page optimization to achieve these results. You can either leverage professional SEO services to create well-optimized landing pages or do it yourself by following the tactics I mention below.
Which landing page SEO tactics can help rank your page?
Let’s take a closer look at six SEO best practices for optimizing your landing page for search engine results.
1. Determine the keywords you want to target
When it comes to search engine optimization, it has to start with keyword research. You need to pick the keywords that you want search engines to rank your landing page for.
You should:
- Make a list of words relevant to your landing page.
- Use keyword research tools such as Semrush to find related keywords and identify keywords with high search volumes.
- Make sure that you include long-tail keywords on your list because they are easier to rank for.
- Finalize the main keyword and a few relevant sidewords for landing page optimization.
2. Optimize your landing page for targeted keywords
Once you’ve determined the target keywords you want to rank for, you need to place them strategically on your landing page.
You should include your target keywords in your:
- Title tag: The page title will display at the top of your page on the browser’s tab and will represent your page in the search results pages. You should try to make it catchy and also include the keyword.
- Meta description: This is the short description of the page you see in search results. You should include the main keyword at the beginning of the meta description and also include one or two sidewords.
- Header tags: The title of your landing page has to be in the H1 tag. You can keep headings in H2 and H3 tags. Include keywords in all of the header tags to make your page rank higher in organic search results.
- Image file names: Add keywords in the file name and alt text of your images to help Google understand what the picture is about. Optimizing product images with the right keywords is an excellent way to increase their Google search visibility.
- Landing page copy: The most important part of landing page SEO is to publish quality content. Your landing page content should include keywords, social proof, impressive product images or tool screenshots, and compelling call-to-action buttons.
3. Use an SEO-friendly URL structure for your landing page
Getting your landing page URL structure right is important for Google and your visitors. The URL of your page should be readable, short, and should tell what the page is all about.
Here are a few other tips to create an SEO-friendly landing page URL:
- Make sure that the URL includes your target keyword.
- It is also a good idea to keep the URL similar to the title tag of your page.
- Use lowercase for the URL.
- Use hyphens (-) to separate words in the URL.
- Keep your URL as short as you can.
For example:
You want to create a landing page to introduce subscription services to your existing customers and prospects. Then, the URL of your landing page should be as short and crisp as “www.yoursite.com/subscription-services.”
4. Boost page speed
Search engines like Google value user experience the most. Therefore, page speed is an important SEO ranking factor that you need to take care of.
You should optimize your landing pages for improved loading speed using the following tips:
- Use smaller image files without compromising the quality of your product images.
- Choose a good web hosting provider.
- Remove plugins and extensions that you’re not using.
- Don’t use many animations that reduce the loading speed of your page.
- Test your landing page’s loading speed from time to time and optimize the elements that may be slowing it down.
People are always in hurry. They are likely to abandon pages that take too much time to load. If you want to reduce your bounce rate, you should make sure that your page loads fast.
5. Optimize your page for mobile devices
Another important factor that affects the search visibility of your landing page is its mobile-friendliness.
Make sure your SEO landing page is responsive to different mobile devices as a majority of people visit sites via their smartphones. You should test your page on various screen sizes.
Check if it is easy to navigate, read the text, scan QR code, and CTAs, click on links, fill out forms, and make payments across devices.
Many website builders allow you to choose mobile-responsive landing page templates, which can make it easier to optimize your pages for mobile.
6. Build high-quality backlinks to your landing page
Link building is one of the best SEO practices you can follow to build your site’s authority and rank better on the search engine results pages for relevant keywords.
And the best way to build high-quality backlinks is to create insightful infographics that people will love to share and republish. There are many design tools that provide you with impressive infographic templates to make it easier for you.
You can also consider guest posting on high-authority websites in your niche to build backlinks to your landing page. Along with improving its search visibility, these backlinks can also help redirect targeted traffic to your landing page.
Are you ready to boost your conversion rate with landing page SEO?
Want to rank your landing page on the first page of Google? Make sure that you optimize it well for all of the factors I’ve discussed in this post.
When done right, SEO-friendly landing pages can help you generate more organic traffic, drive targeted leads, increase conversions, and boost ROI as per your marketing plan.
