Tips for Landing Pages

Why Landing Pages Are Important

The Function of Landing Pages

Think of a landing page as the table of contents for a section of your website. Landing pages are a very helpful way for some people to navigate through websites, leading them to the content they are interested in through a series of on-page choices.

Landing Pages Are the Default

Landing pages are typically the default page in a section of a website, sometimes called an “index page.” This means they are the default page a web browser will load when they get a partial URL.

For example, if you enter “tamu.edu/about” into your web browser, it will automatically assume you want to load the default page and will direct you to https://www.tamu.edu/about/index.html.

Because of the way web browsers work, it is critical that every folder on your website has an index page.

Content Strategy for Landing Pages

Write to orient readers within the website

Often, landing page visitors arrive directly on that page from a search engine or other means, not from your homepage. To help visitors understand where they are within your website, the page’s primary H1 heading should match (or nearly match) the navigation item that leads to that page.

Writing for wayfinding means writing straight-forward headings like “How to Apply” instead or more “marketing” headings like “Begin Your Journey.” Straightforward headings also help with search engine optimization, as they are more likely to match search queries.

Write teasers of all content in a section

The primary function of a landing page is to give readers an overview of the content that’s available in that section of a website (as opposed to having lots of unique content). Pages that are in the same section (or folder) as a landing page are referred to as that page’s child pages.

In order to preview content on child pages, we recommend using “teasers” — small pieces of content with at least a heading, description and links. These are often displayed using various types of card groups. A teaser should have enough information to make it clear to a reader whether or not the information they seek may be on that page.

It also may help to write teasers to related content that doesn’t live in the same section as the landing page. This is especially useful for linking to pages that could logically live in multiple places on a website.

Write to make your content easy to read

When writing for the web, it’s important to help website visitors know what they want to read — and what they don’t.

• Use helpful headings: Break up content with helpful headings that clearly indicate what type of content is beneath them.
• Write helpful page introductions: Give a clear overview of the type of content a reader will find on the page or what the page’s main topic is.
• Write descriptive link text: It should be clear where a reader will go if they click on the linked words without having to read anything else.
• Group like content together: Use components to visually and semantically group related content.