What Is a Landing Page? The Definition and Every Essential Question, Answered

Equipped with a clear landing page definition and answers to the essential questions around it, you will be well on your way. This guide fills in the knowledge gaps and sets the record straight on the topics you might be too afraid to ask about:

1. What is a landing page (definition)?
2. Why are landing pages important?
3. What is the difference between a landing page and a website?
4. What is the difference between a landing page and a homepage?
5. What is a single-purpose landing page?
6. How do I choose a good landing page template?
7. What is my landing page conversion rate, and how do I find it?
8. What is a landing page A/B split test, and how do I run one?
9. What is a lead magnet?
10. What is a sales funnel?
11. Is growing an email list really that important?
12. Can I use landing pages to make online sales more quickly?

1. What is a landing page?

Let's start with the basics of a landing page definition.

A landing page is a page on a website that is specifically designed to prompt visitors to take a single "next action."

That goal "next action" is defined as the point of conversion: signing up for an email newsletter, registering for an event, downloading a lead magnet, starting a trial, or making a purchase. Your landing page's conversion rate is the percentage of visitors who make it over the finish line and take the action you hoped they'd take. So if you're wondering "what is a landing page used for?", the answer is simple: it's used to convert web traffic.

A landing page is the web page where your web traffic lands (after clicking through an ad, email, or link) and compels visitors to take a single "next action."

An alternative landing page definition from Google Analytics is "the webpage where people end up after they click your ad." We mostly agree, but landing pages can exist without a paid ad behind them.

What do landing pages do?

The mechanics come down to three steps: sending targeted traffic (paid ads, social, email, or search), to a single web page, to take one desired action. Where the traffic comes from matters less than the destination being dedicated to one job. Anytime you direct traffic somewhere, a dedicated landing page lets you steer it toward an action that's valuable for your business. (For a deeper look at the working parts, see our guide to landing page elements.)

Is this a landing page or not?

A quick game of "landing page or not":

• A registration page for a webinar you've promoted on social media: definitely a landing page.
• A page listing your business's address, hours, and contact information: not a landing page; it doesn't ask visitors to take further action.
• A pre-launch page where visitors sign up for updates on your next release: landing page.
• A sales page promoting one of your membership levels: could be, especially with a purchase button.
• An ecommerce page listing all your inventory: probably not; it offers dozens of choices, so the goal isn't well defined.

A landing page with no discernible call to action isn't much of a landing page. It gives people no strong reason to act, and it won't convince them to stay long enough to become customers.

2. Why are landing pages important?

Because there are five jobs a landing page does better than any other page on your site:

1. Speaking to one audience at a time. Your homepage caters to everyone, which means it speaks directly to no one. A landing page can be tailored to a single segment with its own message, offer, and imagery, and you can run as many as you have audiences.
2. Converting paid traffic. If you send ad clicks to your homepage, visitors arrive with no idea what to do next, and the spend leaks. A landing page that fulfills the exact promise of the ad, with no navigation to wander off into, is what makes advertising pay. (This is the message-match principle at the heart of conversion rate optimization.)
3. Filling webinars and events. Registration pages from webinar platforms are rarely designed for conversion. A dedicated landing page gets people excited to attend and captures their details into your email list at the same time.
4. Building your email list. Offering bonus content (a guide, a checklist, a template) in exchange for an email address is still the most reliable list-building play, and it runs on a landing page.
5. Running promotions without touching your website. A limited-time offer gets its own page you can spin up, send traffic to, and retire when the deadline hits, with no developer involved.

3. What is the difference between a landing page and a website?

Landing pages can act as lone rangers (standalone minisites) or supplement your business's primary website. Whether you need a full website in addition to landing pages depends on your business: one-off events or products may fit entirely on a landing page, while businesses built on long-term relationships and a suite of services usually want both.

That doesn't mean your landing pages should all link to your main website. Many successful landing pages don't even have a navigation bar, because minimizing the available actions makes visitors more likely to respond to the primary call to action. More on when to use a landing page.

With Leadpages you don't have to choose: create a full website and unlimited landing pages with the landing page builder and website builder.

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

Your homepage is a hub built for exploration: navigation, multiple audiences, many possible next steps. A landing page is a destination built for one action. The practical rule: traffic you control (ads, emails, campaigns) goes to landing pages; traffic that's exploring goes to the homepage. For the full breakdown of when each one wins, see landing page vs. homepage: when to use each.

5. What is a single-purpose landing page?

A single-purpose landing page directs a user to one action, and one action only. This gives visitors an uncluttered path to conversion. Most landing pages should have a single purpose: provide exactly enough information for a visitor to decide to engage further.

6. How do I choose a landing page template?

Landing page creators face analysis paralysis: Leadpages alone offers well over 200 landing page templates. Choose based on:

• Information architecture: what story does your page need to tell, and how much information does your audience need to decide?
• Multimedia integration: which content formats will you use (video, bullets, interactive elements, calls to action)?
• High-converting design: good templates encode conversion research, so you benefit from a large body of testing knowledge before you customize a single word.

7. What is my landing page conversion rate, and how do I find it?

A "conversion" is the point at which someone takes the next step in their relationship with your company: joining your list, registering for a webinar, purchasing, booking a consultation. Your conversion rate is the percentage of visitors who take that step.

If 800 people visit your landing page and 400 buy, that page converts at 50 percent. If 100 people click your call-to-action and 60 submit the form, the form converts at 60 percent. Leadpages shows conversion rates for every page in your dashboard:

What counts as "good" varies enormously by industry and traffic source; judge against industry benchmarks and, more importantly, against your own baseline.

8. What is a landing page A/B split test, and how do I run one?

A landing page test shows different versions of a page to equivalent random groups of visitors, then compares conversion rates to crown a winner.

Setting up randomization and statistics by hand would be formidable; inside Leadpages it takes a few clicks, with no traffic caps. Before you declare any winner, check the math with our free A/B test calculator, and if you're deciding what to test first, use the landing page testing plan.

9. What is a lead magnet?

A lead magnet is anything you give away in exchange for someone's contact information.

Getting contact information converts a prospect into a "lead," since you now have a way to stay in touch. The classic flow: a landing page offers a valuable resource (a lead magnet like a PDF guide or video), visitors enter their email to access it, the file arrives automatically, and they're now on your list for appropriate future offers.

10. What is a sales funnel?

A sales funnel is the series of steps you set up to guide potential customers from first contact to purchase: for example, a Facebook ad that leads to a landing page, that offers a lead magnet, that triggers an email sequence, that links to a checkout page. Prospects enter at the top and, if the funnel is designed well, slide smoothly toward their first purchase. The full picture (stages, variants, and how to measure the drop-off at each step) lives in our plain-English guide to what a funnel is.

11. Is growing an email list really that important?

Yes, and the reason is control. Your email list is the one audience you can reach directly, one inbox at a time, for as long as they stay subscribed. Social platforms change their algorithms and throttle organic reach without warning; your list doesn't belong to a platform. A strong email list is one of the most valuable assets your business can own, and building it is the core of what landing pages do.

12. Can I use landing pages to make sales right now, not just generate leads?

Remember the core landing page definition: a page designed to prompt one next action. That action can absolutely be a purchase, either by linking to your checkout or integrating payments directly on the page. Marketers focus on lead generation because they're playing the long game, but when you need a short-term burst of revenue, a focused sales landing page is exactly the tool.

How Leadpages helps

Everything above (targeted pages, A/B testing, conversion analytics, lead magnet delivery) is built into the Leadpages landing page builder, so you can go from idea to published page without a developer. Try it free for 7 days. Full access, and you're not charged until day 7.

The bottom line

A landing page is the simplest tool in marketing with the clearest job: one page, one audience, one action. Master the definition, give every campaign its own destination, measure the conversion rate, and test your way up from there. For the complete deep-dive, download our ultimate landing page guide.