Landing pages vs home pages: when and why to use each

Executive overview

Sending paid traffic to a homepage wastes money. Home pages serve broad audiences with multiple questions; landing pages serve specific audiences responding to a specific offer.

A landing page's singular focus — one goal, one call to action, minimal navigation — is what makes paid traffic convert.

Audience and intent

• Homepage visitors arrive from organic search; they have broad, exploratory intent
• Landing page visitors clicked an ad, email, or social CTA; they expect something specific
• Homepage visitors may know you; landing page visitors usually don't, but they responded to something
• Match the page to the intent of whoever is arriving there

Purpose and goal

• Landing pages serve a single goal: lead capture, product sale, e-book download, free offer opt-in
• Homepages serve multiple goals: answer questions, showcase offerings, direct to other pages
• Landing page goal = one specific outcome, immediately
• Homepage goal = orient the visitor and move them to a relevant next step

Navigation and layout

• Landing pages: minimal or no header navigation; logo only if anything
• Footer: clean, policy or terms link at most
• Content: centre-focused, no visual distractions on the sides
• Homepage: full header with links, multiple content sections addressing different aspects of the offering

Call to action

• Landing page: one CTA only — download, fill out a form, or click through
• Homepage: multiple CTAs are acceptable, e.g. pricing page, benefits page, video, content read
• Homepage CTAs may nurture rather than convert immediately
• Even with multiple CTAs, a homepage still needs clarity on what the primary next step is