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Victims of the ‘Google Slap’ listen up! Although my tips in part one of Improving Your Quality Score were essential, they were also quick fixes. In part two, I am going to dig a bit deeper and share tips on developing easy navigation on your landing pages. Pens at the ready…

Landing page navigation refers to the path your user takes once on your page. The less steps and ultimately less clicks involved, the better chance of success. Navigation is key to turning your visitors into customers. Keep your eye on the prize people! Your strategy begins with your keyword selection and your adword ad copy, which I will delve into in another segment of this series, however it is important to have your goal and this complete path in mind when building your landing pages.

For example,

• If your keyword includes specific ‘ready to buy’ clues such as ‘buy pogo sticks online‘ (I know shockingly obvious, but you’d be surprised how many times this notion is over looked), you can safely point these searchers to a landing page very close to the end of the buying cycle, ie a form page with a killer submit button or a product page with a shopping cart, and the like.

• If your keyword is more generic or informational, such as….. ‘pogo stick information’ or just ‘pogo stick’, your navigation will have to work harder for you by providing more product content and guidance.

The key is to drop visitors into the correct navigational pool. Some may sink and some may swim but either way, it is up to your landing pages to help them find the correct path to your ultimate goal.Once you’ve spent time researching and implementing your ‘path to purchase’, don’t lose out on conversions by overlooking Google’s landing page rules and regulations! It’s no fun spending time training only to be stopped at the gates. First, do not alter your user’s browser behavior or settings, without acquiring permission first. To be completely honest, unless it is a crucial function for achieving your ultimate goal, don’t bother with the permission, just don’t do it. Attaining permission involves additional clicks which are not ideal. So, ensure the back button functionality is enabled and you do not alter browser window size, simple.

Right off the Google Guidelines Slapees, No Pop-Ups or Pop-Unders! This one is relatively easy, build your landing pages for the user experience, ie do you like pop ups? Before you discover competitors out there with pop ups using Adwords, please keep in mind that some advertisers do slip through editorial, however, they will eventually get caught and disabled. Feel free to report them to your friendly neighbourhood Adwords rep, if you have the time, or spend more time perfecting your landing page navigation. In it to win it!

Avoid excessive linking on your landing pages. By excessive I mean any at all…. well I guess I do exaggerate, but you get my point. You should of course have links to pages that authenticate your site, Contact Us, About Us, Home page, etc…. If you can avoid them, don’t add any others! You don’t want to give your paid for visitor any other option other than conversion, especially on search terms further along in the buying cycle. If your search terms are more generic, as I mentioned above, additional links to other areas of your site may be necessary. Generic terms suggest searchers are just shopping, not necessarily buying, therefore you will need to provide more product information and also work harder at your pitch.

My favorite tip last….include a KILLER submit button. This is where I beat the old ‘call to action’ fundamental to death. Whether your ultimate goal is a submit button at the end of a form, a newsletter sign up or, filling a shopping cart, your call to action is the money shot! Don’t miss this one! It must stand out on the page and should ideally be above the fold. Draw attention to it through your content ie “Complete this short form for your free gift” or “Get your free gift” or an old favorite “Add to shopping cart”. I for one am a fan of changing it up a bit, but I’ll elaborate more on testing in a later post.

So, I think that’s it! Get out there and get navigating, it’s the only way to “Quality Score Bliss”.

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