Before going live with your AdWords campaigns, are your pay-per-click landing pages working their hardest for your money? You only have a brief period when the customer hits the page to engage with them, so what are the common pitfalls that can prevent pages converting?

If you’re a newcomer to PPC, or a search marketing expert, we’ve put together a list of the common mistakes people make with pay-per-click landing pages.

Pre-Populated Forms

Somewhere on your site will be a form that you hope potential customers will fill out and send. Tests have shown that people are more likely to input the information you want them to if the fields on your form have been pre-populated.

This basic functionality can have a significant impact on conversion rates. A good example can be seen below from the website golivebutton.com

Look where they look

We all look at what other people are looking at. It’s natural human behaviour typically displayed when there’s been an accident. The same behaviour can apply to images on your landing pages.

Instead of subjects in your images looking directly at the viewer, have them look at the ad copy or branding. People will tend to look where the subject of the image is looking.

In the example above, an eye-tracking heatmap has been applied to highlight where people look. The red areas follow the eyeline of the baby to the creative. So, if your landing page is going to have people in it, make sure they’re looking where you want your customers to be looking.

Blow your own trumpet

What better way to show potential customers how great your company or product is than by having existing customers tell them. Customer testimonials help to build trust between you and prospective customers so include them on your PPC landing page.

Trust Icons

Nothing assures potential customers more than placing a visual assurance that your company is legit and accredited on a landing page. If you place these icons next to a call to action such as a phone number or submit button of a form you’re more likely to achieve a conversion.

Make the most of your headline

Google AdWords quality score comprises many parts including keyword relevance and ad copy so ensure you’re maximising the headline of your landing page. The headline also assures potential customers that they’ve landed on the page they clicked through to and it has the information they were looking for.

One company that has used their landing page headlines to good effect is ratedpeople.com who successfully connect customers with tradesman and service professionals.

One simple call-to-action

A common mistake on many websites is too much information on a landing page. If you expect visitors to carry out numerous tasks the likelihood is they’ll bounce straight off the page and on to a competitors site. Try to focus on one single action and you’re more likely to get the result you want.

The old adage of less is more is true. Pick a simple action and drive your visitor to take that action.

Hopefully the information above and the examples we’ve shown will help you to understand some of the key principles which you can easily apply to your landing pages before launching your Google AdWords campaigns.