Landing page conversion checklist: fix these before bidding

Aug 22
3 min read

Updated: 2 days ago

Introduction

Raising a bid buys more visitors. Fixing the page makes every visitor worth more, including the ones you already paid for.

Moving a page from 2% to 3% cuts cost per customer by a third with no change in spend. Nothing in bid management reliably does that, which is why the page should be checked first.

1. Landing page conversion checklist: does the message match the advert?

The single most common leak. Someone clicks an advert about weekday lunch offers and lands on a general homepage.

The first line of the page should echo the promise that earned the click, in recognisably the same words. If the advert says one thing and the page says another, the visitor concludes they are in the wrong place and leaves — and that reads in the report as a targeting problem.

One page per offer. A homepage cannot match five adverts.

2. Is there exactly one action?

A landing page with a navigation bar, a newsletter box, a chat prompt and a contact form has four actions, which means it has none.

Pick the single thing you want and remove competing routes. That usually means stripping the main navigation entirely — counterintuitive, and it consistently lifts conversion, because the only way forward is the one you wanted.

3. Are the practical details actually on the page?

People do not abandon because a page is ugly. They abandon because something they needed to know was missing and finding it felt like work.

For most businesses that means price or a price range, location, opening hours or lead time, what happens after they enquire, and how long the form takes. Absence of a price is the most common omission and the most damaging: uncertainty reads as expensive.

4. How much are you asking for?

Every additional required field costs completions. Ask for the minimum needed to continue a conversation — usually a name and one contact method.

Everything else can be collected once someone is talking to you. Company size, budget, how they heard about you, full address: none of it is needed to establish interest, and all of it reduces the number of people who finish.

5. Does it work on a phone, quickly?

Most paid traffic is mobile. Check the page on an actual phone on a normal connection, not a desktop window resized.

Look for the things that only break on mobile: a form field that zooms awkwardly, a button below a tall hero image, a pop-up with no visible close, a page that takes several seconds to show anything. Each of those quietly discards a share of the traffic you paid for.

6. Is there any reason to believe you?

A page making claims with nothing behind them converts poorly, particularly for services.

Add the cheapest available proof: a specific result, a named customer, a photograph of the actual place or team, a review with a real name. Specific and modest beats impressive and vague — and if you commit to a number, make sure something backs it.

7. Can you tell whether it worked?

A page with no conversion tracking cannot be improved, because you will never know which version was better.

Confirm the form submission or call registers as a conversion, then leave the page alone long enough to gather real data before changing anything. Changing three things at once means learning nothing from the result.

8. What can you remove?

Run through the page once more and delete anything that is not helping someone act: the stock photograph, the paragraph about company history, the second testimonial, the social icons.

Shorter pages usually convert better for a single offer, because there is less between arriving and acting. Removal is free and it is the change most people never try.

Conclusion

Match the page to the advert in the same words, leave exactly one action, and put the practical details — especially price — where they can be found.

Ask for as little as possible, test on a real phone, add one piece of concrete proof, confirm the conversion registers, and then delete whatever is not helping. Every item here is cheaper than a higher bid and improves the traffic you are already buying.