Optimising landing pages for SEO — in 6 clear steps

SEO is anything but standalone, it touches every other marketing channel. It is precisely by combining your activities that you unlock large amounts of traffic. So it pays to strengthen your paid landing pages with SEO as well. The more landing pages you have, the more leads you bring in, because sites with 10 to 15 landing pages see their conversions rise by around 55%. Above 40 pages, that heads towards a fivefold increase.

Every page Google indexes deserves optimisation. Skip that on a paid page and a thin page like that slows down your existing SEO pages, partly because Google has assessed helpfulness in its core algorithm since March 2024. Below are five ways to get it right.

1, publish on your own domain

Your site needs a short, easy-to-remember address that reflects your brand. If you work with a CMS such as WordPress or Webflow, place your landing pages in a subfolder instead of on separate domains. That way you put every page in the right place in your structure and send targeted traffic through it, organic and paid.

2, do keyword research

Yes, even for a paid page, because it is essential. The more research, the sooner you find relevant keywords your competitor misses, good for extra traffic from both sides. Long-tail terms of three to five words are the easiest to rank for. For our clients, well over 80% of traffic comes from exactly there. Work them into your title, your description, your headings, your alt texts and above all into your copy itself.

3, go the extra mile

"A paid page should be short, SEO needs long texts", I hear you thinking. Yet that is rarely the case. SEO is about giving the searcher their answer as quickly as possible. You can do that in 200 words just as well as in 2,500. It depends entirely on the topic. Do you get to the point quickly, give clear CTAs and serve the visitor instead of burying them under text? Then you are on the right track. And think beyond text alone, because images and video convert just as hard. Google also indexes videos separately, so a landing page with a strong video attracts its own traffic.

4, improve your load time

Aim for around 2 seconds for a webshop and 3 for a regular site, because 40% of people drop off after just three seconds. Every second counts. Google puts usability first. The visitor never checks your source code first. They simply want to know whether you solve their problem, preferably right away. So compress your images, disable unused plugins, use a CDN and clean up your code. All those small tweaks add up.

5, secure your backlinks

Backlinks still make the difference, on your paid landing pages too, even if they are usually the last thing people think of. Open the backlink gap in Semrush, enter your own URL plus a few competitors and you see which sites already link to them and still skip you. Those very sites show interest in your topic. Find out which content they link from and invite the relevant ones to link to you too. Some will say yes and your paid pages climb along with them.

Frequently asked questions about optimising landing pages for SEO (FAQ)

Q: Why would I invest time in SEO for a temporary, paid landing page? Doesn't that sound contradictory?

A: On the contrary, it is a smart way to strengthen your marketing activities. Every page Google indexes benefits from SEO. A poorly optimised landing page can even drag down the ranking of your existing SEO pages and harm the performance of your whole site. Google weighs the lessons of the Helpful Content update in its core algorithm since March 2024. Apply SEO and you improve the user experience and discover relevant long-tail keywords that boost both your paid and your organic traffic.

Q: I thought landing pages had to be short and conversion-focused, while SEO calls for long, in-depth content. How do I combine these two worlds?

A: This is a common misconception. The core of good SEO is how quickly and how well you answer the searcher's question, regardless of the length of the text. You can do that in 200 words or in 2,500. Focus on offering a direct solution. Content is also more than just text. Use videos, images and clear calls to action to get your message across powerfully and concisely. Google also indexes videos, so that route lets you attract valuable SEO traffic to your landing page.

Q: My landing page is all about direct conversion through ads. Are external factors such as backlinks really that important?

A: Definitely. Although the focus is on the page itself, backlinks still make a significant difference. Building links to your paid landing pages is an often forgotten tactic that gives you a head start on the competition. Analyse which websites already link to your competitors (for example with a "backlink gap" analysis) and do targeted outreach. Every quality backlink increases the authority of your page, which improves your organic ranking and strengthens the credibility and performance of your campaign.