Landing pages are a powerful marketing tool that every business getting into digital marketing should be aware of. They come in multiple shapes and sizes, and they’ve influenced how most businesses and content writers create pages on their websites. Landing pages, also known as lead capture pages, are web pages that serve as a destination for ads and website content in the marketing funnel.
Landing pages usually try to capture a potential customer/client who has interacted with the brand through a number of other marketing avenues. This landing page is where you finally capture their information and move them from a place of interest to a state of consistent interaction. But, if landing pages are supposed to be the final move in lead generation, should they also be targeting SEO?
How Do Landing Pages Work with SEO?
This situation isn’t so cut and dry. Landing pages have the goal of lead capture, but some businesses need them to multitask. Most landing pages are the end step. This means their purpose isn’t to bring leads in. The leads have been brought in from somewhere else. The landing page’s job is to convert the leads.
If a landing page needs to focus on converting leads rather than garnering them, there’s no reason for it to focus on SEO. It shouldn’t ignore SEO, but first and foremost, it should focus on conversion.
On the other hand, a landing page will sometimes be required to attract leads as well. In this case, lead capture is a goal alongside lead generation. Here, you would want to spend time focusing on keywords and utilizing the same SEO techniques you would for any other page.
How Do You Decide Which One To Focus On?
While the language used in SEO-focused content and lead capture-focused content don’t always come into conflict, it’s not uncommon for them to do so. You can decide which to focus on based on the goal you have for the landing page. If the goal is to get your brand name out there, then lead generation is more important, and you want to focus on SEO. If the goal is to capture contact information from consumers who know what your brand is, then you focus on lead generation.
But why do you need to choose in the first place?
How is Lead Generation Different from Lead Capture/Conversion?
Lead generation is all about using SEO and ads to get people’s attention. This means using language that will get you into the best spot in online search results or justify a paid ad site giving you the best ad spots.
Lead capture/conversion is all about pushing someone over that edge to give you their contact info. Now, you can message them directly through email or text messaging. It’s far more effective to contact them directly when trying to persuade potential customers into making a purchase.
How Does Lead Generation Conflict with Lead Capture/Conversion?
The language you use for a landing page that targets lead capture needs to be more about a product or service and what that does for the consumer. This directly conflicts with how you write for SEO.
SEO wants to hit keywords and generate traffic. This means adding links and focusing on keywords. While writing for lead generation would use the same keywords, they don’t need links to anywhere but a sales page. They can lead to the contact form, but the best landing pages have their own contact forms.
This means that lead generation actively prefers that you don’t do things that would improve SEO. Writing for SEO actively detracts from writing for lead capture. Since many landing pages are all about lead capture, it makes sense that they should ignore SEO.
What Should You Choose for Your Landing Pages: SEO or Lead Capture?
Ultimately, you should do whatever you need the most. In most cases, we would recommend that you create a landing page to capture leads generated from your ads and web pages with strong SEO. Make the landing page that will convince your potential customers/clients to make a purchase.
In most cases, don’t even think about SEO when making your landing page. Remove your landing page from even being in competition with your web pages for SEO. Make your landing page on a separate domain, don’t focus its content on SEO, and make it the place that your ads lead to. Let your website focus on SEO and getting as many leads as possible.
Not every aspect of digital marketing has to do multiple things. Sometimes, they can do one thing really well, and landing pages can be one of them.
Contact ENX2 Marketing for Help with Your Landing Pages & SEO
ENX2 Marketing has been working in digital marketing for years, with SEO experts and skilled web page developers who can help you generate leads and convert them. We can update the content on your website so you show up in search results while designing a landing page that will capture consumers who click on your ads. For marketing expertise, contact us today.