A landing page is a web page built around a single goal, such as an enquiry, a sign-up or a purchase, where visitors land after clicking an advert, a search result or a newsletter link. It contains only what's needed for that one decision: benefit, proof, call to action. Unlike a blog post, it doesn't inform broadly but leads to an action.
What landing page means
The name describes the function: the page where someone lands. But it means more than just an entry point. A landing page is built for a specific audience with a specific need and is designed to trigger exactly one action.
Typical structure: a headline that picks up on the visitor's need. A paragraph explaining the benefit. Proof such as references, figures or reviews. And a clear call to action: enquire now, book an appointment, request a quote. Anything that distracts from this decision is left out.
The distinction from a blog post matters. A blog post answers a question and can be detailed, link elsewhere, go into depth. It's read before someone makes a decision. The landing page comes afterwards: the visitor knows what they want and just needs a reason to do it here.
An example from everyday SME life
A driving school in Kreuzlingen runs Google ads for "driving school Kreuzlingen car". The ad leads to the homepage. There, visitors find motorbike, lorry, first-aid course, team profiles and a gallery. Many click around and leave. The cost per enquiry is high.
The driving school builds a page just for car driving students: price per lesson, steps up to the test, pass rate, three reviews and a form for the first lesson. No navigation, no detours. The ad now leads there. With the same ad spend, sign-ups double because visitors no longer have to search for what they already wanted.
Why this matters for your business
Every SME has pages where prospects land, whether planned or not. The question is whether these pages are prepared for the visitor's situation. Someone searching for "tax return Frauenfeld" wants to know the cost and how long it takes, not the company history.
Landing pages and blog posts complement each other here. The post draws readers in with a question and points at the end to the page that leads to an enquiry. Which page types an SME website needs and how they work together is explained in the overview on page types for SME websites. How the path from post to enquiry looks in detail is shown in From blog post to enquiry.
Common misconceptions
A landing page doesn't have to be short. For expensive or complex services, it can be long, as long as every section contributes to the decision. And it's not a page without content: Google ranks landing pages with thin text poorly, especially if they only exist for ads and barely differ from one another.
Frequently asked questions
Is the homepage a landing page?
In a broad sense, yes, because many visitors land there. In a strict sense, no: the homepage has many goals and leads to all areas of the website. A landing page has one goal and as few exits as possible.
Does every service need its own landing page?
Every service that customers specifically search for should have its own page where they can land. Whether this page is a landing page in the strict sense or a normal service page with navigation depends on whether you run ads to it. For organic search, the service page is usually enough.
Should a landing page hide the navigation?
For paid ads, this is common, because every way out costs money. For pages found through Google, the navigation is better kept visible, because visitors often still need other information and Google rates the link to the rest of the website positively.