A landing page is a standalone web page built for one campaign or traffic source, with a single goal such as a purchase, signup or lead form.
A homepage serves every visitor and points them in many directions; a landing page serves one audience and asks for one action.
Google Ads uses a narrower, traffic-based definition: the landing page is "the webpage where people end up after they click your ad", usually the ad's final URL.
By that definition any page can be a landing page, including your homepage.
In CRO work, the term usually means a page built on purpose for that click.
What is a landing page in CRO and A/B testing?
In testing, a landing page is where you control the most variables at once.
You know where the visitor came from, often down to the ad or email (tracked with UTM parameters), so you can match the headline and offer to that promise.
That match is the main reason dedicated pages tend to beat general ones.
The visitor sees that the page continues what they clicked, which keeps information scent strong.
Fewer links and fewer competing offers also cut friction.
The usual landing page test pits a dedicated page against the page traffic was going to before, such as the homepage, a product page or a collection page.
That page is the control, and the new page is the variant.
Landing page vs homepage
| Landing page | Homepage | |
|---|---|---|
| Audience | One segment from one source (an ad, email or partner) | Everyone, from every source |
| Goal | One action | Orient visitors and route them |
| Navigation | Often reduced or removed | Full site menu |
| Message | Matches the ad or email that sent the click | Broad brand message |
| Lifespan | Often tied to a campaign | Permanent |
| How you judge it | Conversion rate for that traffic | Click-through to deeper pages, plus overall sales |
A homepage is the right destination when visitors arrive with no specific intent, such as branded search or direct visits.
A dedicated landing page is the better bet when you paid for the click with a specific promise.
Real examples from the database
Oliver Kenyon's team tested new listicle-style landing pages against the homepage for one ecommerce brand.
Over 22 days, the listicle pages produced +50% conversions, +57% revenue and +137% revenue per session.
Oliver Kenyon described it as "not masses of data," so read it as an early signal rather than a settled result.
Journey Further sent paid traffic for High Street TV's Yawn Bed to a dedicated PPC landing page instead of the standard product page.
Purchases rose 32.62% over 6 weeks, with about 7,500 users per arm and 98.56% confidence.
Simple Modern replaced a standard Shopify collection page with a custom landing page for its Spidey Kid design.
Conversion went from 0.60% to 0.88%, a 46% lift.
The lines can blur. Fishwife built a collab landing page designed to work like a homepage for first-time visitors and saw +24.5% revenue per visitor.
What mattered was fitting the page to who was arriving, not the label.
@oliverkenyonThese are wins people chose to publish. Dedicated pages do not always win, and pages built for paid traffic may not hold up for other sources.
Browse all tests to see losing and flat results as well.
Related terms
- Hero section: the top of the landing page, where message match is won or lost.
- Information scent: how well the page signals it has what the click promised.
- Conversion rate: the main metric for judging a landing page.
For the full method, read the landing page optimization guide, or see landing page examples. More terms are in the glossary.