Homepage vs landing page: where should traffic go?

Key takeaways

Homepage vs landing page comes down to the visitor's promise. A homepage serves mixed visitors who mostly know your name, and routes them. A landing page serves one audience with one promise, usually from an ad, email or QR code, and asks for one action. Send campaign traffic to landing pages and let the homepage do the routing.

• Homepage: mixed visitors, several routes, one primary action.
• Landing page: one audience, one promise, one action, little navigation.
• Paid clicks belong on a landing page that matches the ad.
• Google Ads rates landing page experience in Quality Score.

What is the difference between a homepage and a landing page?

A homepage is the front door for everyone: it explains the whole business and routes visitors to the right service or contact route. A landing page is built for one campaign or audience: it repeats one promise, removes distractions and asks for one action. The homepage is broad and stable; landing pages are narrow and often temporary.

• Why your homepage is not converting visitors into customers
• Landing page structure for enquiries

Should I send traffic to my homepage?

Send traffic to the homepage when visitors already know you and have no specific promise to keep: branded search, word of mouth, vans and business cards. Send it to a landing page when it comes from an ad, an email campaign or a targeted post with a particular offer, because the homepage makes those visitors look for what they were promised.

• Social ads that land on the wrong page
• Vans, flyers and word of mouth: visitors who type your URL

Why do paid clicks to a homepage cost more?

Paid clicks to a homepage usually convert at a lower rate because the visitor has to find the advertised service themselves. Google Ads also assesses landing page experience as part of Quality Score, which affects what you pay per click. A page that matches the ad and loads fast helps on both counts.

• Landing page speed: are slow pages wasting your ad spend?

When is the homepage the right landing page?

The homepage is the right landing page for brand campaigns, for businesses with one main service and for very small budgets where building a separate page is not yet worth it. In those cases, make sure the hero matches the ad's wording closely and the main action is the one the ad asked for.

• One primary call to action on your homepage

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see: a firm runs ads for one service, sends every click to the homepage, and reports that 'ads do not work'. Moving the same budget to a page about that one service, with the ad's headline and one form, is often the cheapest improvement available.

• See client work
• Website Design & Development for UK businesses

Homepage or landing page checklist

• List every campaign that sends traffic to the homepage.
• Match each campaign to the page that keeps its promise.
• Build landing pages for ads and offers with one action.
• Keep the homepage for branded and mixed traffic.
• Check the hero matches any ad that still points there.

• Who visits your homepage, and what each visitor needs
• Give your homepage one conversion goal

Next step

Check your ads, email links and QR codes this week. Any that point at the homepage while promising one specific service should point at that service page instead.