The Halo Effect: Your Paid Media Went Offline, Can You Survive Without It? via @sejournal, @jonkagan

Hello, my fellow digital marketers! This study was born out of a question that gave me a combination of irritation and renewed curiosity: “If I turned off all paid media, would my business actually suffer?”

This is a question that is as old as time (in digital marketing time that is), and just like swallows returning to Capistrano, I am posed this question every Q1, when a brand reviews my annual paid media budget recommendation.

What I thought was going to be a four-week test, actually turned out to be a three-month test with a one-month analysis.

The Scenario

The analysis was done for a fast-casual dining restaurant chain that operates 50+ restaurants across 10+ U.S. States that I was asked to do some auditing on. But, honestly, this repeats for most brands and verticals (much less so in B2B, I will note).

As alluded to earlier, the brand had a noticeable disconnect between the restaurant deciphering the impact of its website revenue and the media dollars spent, vs. wondering if it was just cannibalizing its name recognition and organic efforts. It challenged the belief that media was not contributing, and wanted to turn it off in a trial period. But more so, it just didn’t think the paid media was contributing, and it wanted to save some cash. So, we obliged.

Due to the disconnect in restaurant dining revenue being passed back to digital media, we elected to focus on its direct on-site online order of food to validate the data.

Before and after the test period, it was using search, Performance Max, paid social, digital OOH, and Display. All channels covered both prospecting and retargeting efforts.

It ran limited email efforts to its customers registered for rewards, but it does not have a mobile app, so the customer list is quite small, while its annual digital media investment is around $1.1 million.

For the analysis, we planned to pause media for five weeks in the middle of its low season (which is about four months long), and then compare the overall impact on the site before it was paused and after we brought it back.

Thrilling? Well, let’s just say some folks do get all hot and bothered around a mid-to-low impact media holdout aggregate site activity analysis.

The Important Parameters

So, there are some important things to note around this test:

• Traditional media was never stopped, but always ran at a low level, mostly billboards and radio.
• For unexplainable reasons, they never hooked up Search Console.
• They run a consistent SEO effort.
• The analysis was done on the same restaurants for all three time periods (they had a couple shutdown and one open in this time period, so that data was removed from the assessment).
• Their primary key performance indicator is in-restaurant visits, but they struggle to connect the source back to media initiative (we use three different foot traffic tracking vendors to measure it, but they don’t have the ability to pass back the in-restaurant sales data to the visit).
• Foot traffic leads are actually worth 15-25% more than online order sales, but we do not have true pass-through revenue for them.

Against the recommendation to do this test on an isolated market was not taken, and they did a full blackout.

Hypothesis

In my typical (and often inappropriate snarckastic manner, or so I am told), I referred them to my 2021 article, “How Paid Search Incrementality Impacts SEO (Does 1+1=3?),”  and told them that this should be their baseline for anticipated impact. For those who don’t want to click on the link and read the article, my stance was that removing paid media and running organic only would have a grand net loss for the brand in terms of traffic and sales.

To give you a sense of performance, prior to the test, paid media accounted for ~28% of incremental site traffic and ~23% of online orders. Which in turn supports the following beliefs:

• With paid search engine-driven traffic exiting, we expect organic to rise, but not enough to offset what paid drove.
• With paid social out, we expect a net loss of overall social traffic, in addition to any halo impact driven by social awareness (i.e., direct to site, organic search).
• With programmatic traffic out, we expect a decrease in aggregate search traffic and direct to site traffic.

Net-net, the loss of paid media will result in a net loss of site traffic, leading to a net loss of online sales, which will be greater than media cost that would’ve been used to generate those sales.

The Pre-Test Data

Having selected a five-week period as our control period, we reviewed the initial data upfront:

*Digital Out-of-Home advertising (DOOH)

Additionally, organic search had 131K+ site visits (42% of total), along with 12K+ online orders (46% of total) and $532K+ of revenue (47% of total).

While direct to site traffic had 78K+ site visits (25% of total), along with 8K+ online orders (29% of total) and $315K+ of revenue (28% of total).

Based on pre-test data, every site visit (from all traffic sources) was equal to $3.61 in online order revenue.

The Test Itself

• Organic search site visits rose 14% (+18K), orders rose 31% (+4K), and revenue rose 30% (+$161K)
• Direct to site visits dropped 4% (-3K), orders dropped 3% (-277) and revenue dropped 5% (-$15K)
• The single largest channel loss of traffic was social (organic+paid), which dropped 98% (-39K) in visits, and dropped 55% in orders (note this was from 80 to 36) and 27% in revenue (a loss of $400)
• All other site non-paid media traffic channels remained relatively flat
• Overall site visits dropped 22% (-68K+), orders dropped 9% (-2,500) and revenue dropped 9% (-$105K)
  • Since total site visits decreased by 68K+ and not 123K+, this means the halo effect from paid media of site visits is ~55K

This means that, despite organic search growing, as it was not being “cannibalized” by paid media, it could not offset the traffic or sales volume that paid search and performance max contributed.

Additionally, the lack of paid awareness media (i.e., display, social, etc.) leads to a contraction of total related searches to the brand name, as illustrated by the aggregate drop in total search traffic to the site, but also a drop in direct to site traffic as well.

“But Jon, they saved on ad spend, that should be helping them come out ahead?”

Wrong.

While they didn’t spend $80K on ads. Thus, the paid media cost per paid site visit dropped from $0.64 to $0. But they lost an aggregate 68K+ visits. On average a visit to the site in the pretest period (for all traffic sources) had a revenue value back to the brand of $3.61, during the test that rose to $4.20 (increased as more direct to site and organic search took a bigger piece of the traffic contribution pie).

This means, the actual Sales Value Impact=((Avg Revenue per Paid Media Site Visit)*Direct Paid Media Visit Lost/Gained)-/+Ad Spend Saved or Spent

Another way to write that formula is SVI=((ARPMSV)*DPMVLG)-/+Ad Spend)

Meaning on the conservative side it would be:

(($2.12)*-123,572)+$79,626.40)= -$182,346.32

But the reality is, organic search rose as it was no longer being cannibalized by paid. But not by enough to offset the loss of paid, so it requires separating the loss into direct impact and halo impact.

The direct impact is similar to the formula above, but you swap paid media visits out for total site visits change (68,652), which then brings the net loss down to $65,915.84.

Then there is a halo effect of paid media on organic. Which is why non-paid visits couldn’t offset the total loss in visits when paid was out. To calculate out the halo effect impact, we would do a formula of:

Halo Sales Value Impact= (((Avg Revenue per Paid Media Site Visit)*((Paid Media Traffic Lost or Gained-Total Traffic Loss or Gained in Test Period)) 

Or, written as HSVI=(((ARPMSV)*((PMTLG-(PPMT-TTLGTP)))

Meaning on the conservative side, it would be:

((($2.12)*((123,572-68,652)))=$116,430.40

Combine the 2 outcomes together, and you get your loss of $182,346.24 explained.

This means, that by not running paid media, full impact was a net missed revenue opportunity of $182,346.32, between direct and halo.

This goes to an extremely conservative method, and does not account for store visit revenue, or any shifts in revenue per visit over time.

In addition to the traffic that would’ve stood to gain additions to their email/audience lists.

Bringing paid media back

After the 5 weeks offline, we brought media back, in fact we increased investment by 48% (no change of channels, but all incremental went to social awareness and display).  This generated 29% fewer clicks from pre-test, but increased impressions 107%.

In the post-test period, vs the test period, the return of media, at the increased investment, lead to a 21% decrease in organic search traffic. But with paid search and performance max generating enough gain to have a net positive in all of search of +6% in site visits. Overall search driven online orders and revenue both saw a 2% increase when paid was reintroduced.

The only true net loss in growth was direct to site (which was believed that it would rise when media was back in market), which decreased in traffic by 6% and orders by 10%. Overall saw a 38% lift in total site visits, but a drop of 1% in online orders (revenue was flat). The loss in online orders was exclusively direct to site traffic.

What Does This All Mean?

A variety of things.

No matter what way you cut it, the presence of paid media had a halo effect on all activity, most notably, the aggregation of paid and organic search.

But the post-click impact on the site may not follow the same path.

Which means, a larger view must be taken to examine additional impact (i.e., foot traffic, loyalty club sign-ups, and LTV).

It also reinforces the concept of 1+1=3, the theory of incrementality. While no other changes were made beyond the exiting of paid digital media, and the brand remained in low season the whole way through, the actual impact of inbound traffic lost (not covered by organic) was considerable.

It also stands as a reminder: Just because a site visit doesn’t generate immediate sales/revenue, it does not mean it doesn’t serve a purpose (i.e., foot traffic).

The Takeaway

Any brand that has more paid media site traffic than non-paid site traffic, and thinks they can turn off paid and coast equally on just non-paid traffic alone, has the same mindset as any NY Jets fan (the inability to accept a very harsh reality).

But, despite my writing, I am an optimist, and I encourage brands to do a similar study, if for no other reason than to have the data on hand for when the CMO comes in saying they want to turn off paid because they don’t think they should pay for it.

But word to the wise: Don’t do what we did here, do a market holdout, so that if things go south, it isn’t system-wide.

More Resources:

Featured Image: Roman Samborskyi/Shutterstock

How Much Of Your Paid Media Budget Should Be Allocated To Upper Funnel?

Determining a budget split between upper and lower-funnel is a recurring topic in paid media.

Upper-funnel campaigns (typically awareness and interest) create future demand, while lower-funnel campaigns capture existing demand and are built to drive action.

Knowing where the sweet spot is with budget allocation is a skill, and requires a sound knowledge of incrementality and how to balance immediate efficiency with long-term demand creation.

In this post, I’m going to explore the data, strategies, and channel considerations to help you find an optimal mix.

The Importance Of Upper Funnel Investment

Within paid media, it’s very tempting to pour the majority of budget into the quickest wins that yield the highest returns. It makes sense on many levels, especially when teams are budgeting (and working to) strict forecasts and targets.

However, neglecting upper-funnel spend can hurt your long-term growth, with research showing that cutting brand awareness campaigns to save money or simply avoiding this type of activity can backfire.

For example, a BCG analysis found companies that slashed brand marketing saw significantly worse outcomes, having to regain their lost market share later, requiring $1.85 in spend for every $1 saved from cutting back.

In a roundabout way, suggesting that saving a dollar today on branding can (in some cases) cost nearly two dollars tomorrow.

And it’s not just efficiency; the growth impact of neglecting brand building can be detrimental, too.

In the same study from BCG, bottom-quartile brand spenders had sales growth rates 13% lower than top-quartile brand spenders, indicating brands that underinvest in awareness suffer from lower sales growth in the long term.

They also converted aware consumers to buyers at a lower rate (a 6% weaker conversion from awareness to purchase than top-brand spenders).

Studies like this prove that upper-funnel activity isn’t just a nice-to-have, or a place to use budget left over from lower-funnel spending; it directly influences revenue trajectory, market share, and even shareholder returns.

At this point, you’re probably thinking, “What do you mean by upper-funnel activity?” So let’s have a top-level run-through.

Upper-funnel campaigns plant the seeds by reaching new audiences and generating interest in audiences who may not yet be familiar with your brand.

Think Meta or Pinterest campaigns serving ads to new users as part of broad audiences, interest-based cohorts, or lookalike lists, all excluding your current customer base and/or users who have interacted with your brand.

Think YouTube or GDN campaigns serving ads to in-market, affinity, or custom audiences, again, all while excluding your current customer base.

For this post, we’re focusing specifically on paid search and paid social, with a supporting role from display advertising served through Google and Microsoft.

While programmatic, out-of-home, TV, connected TV, PR, and other channels can all be effective for upper-funnel advertising, they fall outside the scope of this piece.

My aim here is to focus on how to allocate budget toward top-of-funnel activity, specifically through paid search and social platforms.

Balancing Short-Term Performance And Long-Term Brand Building

While the exact percentage will vary by business, a number of frameworks and studies offer guidance on balancing upper vs. lower-funnel spend.

The most well-known being Les Binet and Peter Field’s research into marketing effectiveness, which suggests roughly a 60/40 split.

This translates into 60% of ad budget for brand building (upper-funnel) and 40% to direct activation (lower-funnel) as a rough starting point.

This 60/40 rule isn’t rigid, but it underscores that at least half (if not more) of your spend should typically go toward awareness and brand in order to maximize long-term growth.

Other models follow suit and emphasize a hefty allocation to upper-funnel activities.

For instance, many marketers use a 70-20-10 rule  (adapted from a learning model) to diversify marketing investments: 70% on proven “always-on” channels, 20% on new or emerging channels, and 10% on experimental ideas.

Often, those proven channels include your core lower-funnel performers, while a portion of the 20% and 10% go toward upper-funnel initiatives.

Another approach, specific to paid media funnel stages and widely used in paid social campaign structuring, is a 60-30-10 funnel split: about 60% of budget for prospecting and awareness, 30% for mid- to lower-funnel retargeting, and 10% for closing at the bottom of the funnel.

This model ensures the majority of spend focuses on feeding the funnel with new prospects, while still dedicating budget to nurture them down to conversion.

Is every business other than yours running these exact models? Nope.

Does every business ensure it allocates sufficient media budget for upper funnel? Nope.

A 2024 CMO survey, found that only 31.2% of budget was allocated to long-term brand building vs. 68.8% to short-term performance on average, the opposite of what we’re told from industry leading studies, and this imbalance shows how pressure for quick ROI can overshadow brand investment and from working within paid media for a decade and a half, this is something I see time and time again.

Studies and guidelines are great, but in reality, there really isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer to the exact percentage of budget to allocate for upper-funnel, and it depends on factors like your industry, growth goals, and brand maturity.

For example, a new market entrant or a brand in a highly consideration-driven category (like automotive or B2B tech) may need to invest heavily in awareness and education since customers won’t convert without multiple touches and trust-building.

In contrast, a well-known brand in a transactional ecommerce vertical might get by with a lower percentage on upper-funnel, especially if it already benefits from high awareness.

Evaluate your current situation: If you’re in a crowded consumer goods market (e.g., retail fashion), strong branding and broad reach can differentiate you, whereas in a niche B2B service, thought leadership content and awareness efforts might be what fills the pipeline for your sales team.

The one certainty with this topic is that completely ignoring upper-funnel advertising with paid media is not good.

Even if short-term conversion pressures are high, dedicate a healthy portion of your budget to feeding the funnel.

A useful mindset is to treat awareness spend as an investment in future revenue.

As marketing effectiveness veteran Mark Ritson advocates, you must balance “the long and the short of it,” fund the brand for long-term growth and performance marketing for short-term sales.

Many successful companies treat brand marketing as “always-on” (continuous) rather than a luxury to add when times are good.

In practice, this could mean making sure, say, 20-30% of your paid search and social budget is consistently reaching new cold audiences at any given time, even if attribution for those dollars is not immediately obvious (more on that later).

What Does Upper-Funnel In Paid Search And Paid Social Look Like?

Translating budget allocation into channel strategy requires understanding how each paid media channel fits into the funnel.

Paid media is not one-size-fits-all; channels like paid search, paid social, video, and display each serve distinct roles across the funnel, from awareness to conversion.

Here are a few approaches to upper-funnel budget allocation across key channels:

Paid Search (Google & Microsoft Ads)

Paid search is typically considered a lower or mid-funnel channel; the reason being, this channel is often seen as a place to capture users who are actively searching for a product/service, often indicating intent.

Advertisers frequently split their campaign groupings into brand and non-brand, driving visibility in line with query types across search and shopping networks.

Imagine you run an ecommerce store for sneakers, you may want to serve brand ads to tailor messaging, control, brand protection, incrementality, etc., and for non-brand, you may want to serve ads for queries like “black Nike GT Blazer low” or “Asics Novablast 5,” the sole purpose being to drive direct sales.

There’s arguably an element of upper funnel in non-brand search as advertisers enter auctions for queries that do not contain their brand, and in many cases exclude their website visitor lists, so when a user searches for a query like “black size 10 running shoes” and click through, the advertiser will be getting their brand in-front of new audiences, however, the objective of the campaign is not one of awareness.

Read More: Tips For Running Competitor Campaigns In Paid Search

Display (Google & Microsoft Ads)

While not always front of mind for upper-funnel strategy, the Google Display Network (GDN) is great for reaching new audiences at scale as it spans over 35 million websites and apps, including YouTube, Gmail, and top-tier publisher inventory.

This breadth gives advertisers the ability to serve visually engaging ads across a vast portion of the open web, tapping into contextual, affinity, and in-market audiences.

For upper-funnel campaigns, display is often used to spark interest through static or video creative, product banners, or lifestyle-led visuals that introduce the brand to users in relevant contexts.

With options like responsive display ads, you can dynamically test creative combinations and reach a broad but targeted audience, saving time and money as resources can be freed up that would have been spent on creative development.

When allocating budget, display may not command as much as social or video initially, but it serves a valuable supporting role in prospecting and awareness.

Brands in verticals like consumer goods, travel, or SaaS can use Display as a cost-effective way to expand, reach new audiences, and drive visibility and traffic to site.

Read More: What Are Display Ads: A Complete Guide For Digital Marketers

Paid Social (Meta, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn & More)

Paid social is one of the most common types of advertising for upper-funnel marketing.

Platforms like Facebook/Instagram (Meta), TikTok, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and others offer rich targeting options to get your message in front of people who have never heard of you, but who fit the profile of your target customer.

Nearly three-quarters of the U.S. population (73%) were active social media users. For advertisers, this means the audience they want to reach is likely out there scrolling a feed.

For upper-funnel campaigns, social ads shine by allowing you to target based on interests, demographics, behaviors, lookalike audiences, and more, pushing visually engaging content to users who aren’t actively seeking your product yet.

When allocating budget, a significant chunk of your prospecting (new customer) budget will likely go into paid social.

You could use short-form video ads showcasing your brand story or product in use, carousel ads with inspirational lifestyle imagery, or interactive polls that get people interested.

The goal at this stage is not an immediate sale (though it’s great if it happens, and it does), but to introduce your brand, value proposition, or content to a relevant audience as efficiently as possible.

Read More: How Brands Are Measuring Social Media Impact

YouTube And Digital Video

No discussion of upper-funnel paid media budget allocation is complete without YouTube and online video platforms.

YouTube is effectively the new prime-time TV for many demographics, blending reach and targeting with the storytelling power of video.

YouTube ads can achieve massive scale, with 53% of marketers using YouTube to achieve various objectives such as reach, awareness, and conversions.

With YouTube’s advanced targeting (by interests, demographics, in-market intent, topics, etc.), you can home in on relevant audiences for your brand messaging at scale, and drive reams of valuable data.

Recent forecasts bolster advertisers’ confidence in YouTube’s ROI, with 44% of marketers planning to increase their YouTube marketing budget.

The momentum is driven by video’s effectiveness in lifting awareness and brand favorability.

Kantar research, for instance, has shown YouTube ads can substantially boost unaided brand awareness and other brand metrics, underlining the platform’s upper-funnel impact.

For practical budgeting, treat YouTube similarly to how you’d treat television in a media mix, a primary reach vehicle.

The difference is, YouTube allows flexible budgets (you can start small and scale) and measurable results (you can track views, clicks, and even use Brand Lift surveys to measure ad recall and brand interest).

If you’re in a consumer-facing vertical like electronics, fashion, or automotive, you might allocate additional budget to YouTube for big awareness pushes around new product launches or campaigns, too, in addition to always-on brand building.

Even in B2B or niche markets, consider using YouTube for educational top-of-funnel content (e.g., explainer videos, industry thought leadership) targeted to relevant audiences.

Read More: 10 New YouTube Marketing Strategies With Fresh Examples

Measuring Upper-Funnel Impact And Winning Buy-In

One reason many companies double down on lower-funnel spending is that it’s directly measurable; you see clicks and conversions, which please the performance dashboard and finance team.

Upper-funnel efforts often lack that immediate clarity on attribution, making it harder to justify budget to skeptics.

This is why measuring the impact of upper-funnel campaigns is crucial to determining the right budget allocation (and getting organizational buy-in to maintain and/or scale that spend).

Start by defining key performance indicators (KPIs) for upper-funnel campaigns that tie to your objectives.

These will be different from pure conversion metrics. Common upper-funnel KPIs include:

• Reach and Impressions: How many unique people saw your ads? How many people did you reach?
• Engagement Metrics: For example, video views (and view-through rates), social shares, comments, likes, or clicks on content. If people are engaging, your message is resonating at least enough to spark interest.
• Click-Through Rate (CTR): While upper-funnel ads often have lower CTRs than the likes of Search Ads, a healthy CTR indicates the creative and targeting are attracting interest among a cold audience.
• Brand Search Lift: Track the volume of searches for your brand name and/or direct traffic to your website during and after campaigns. An increase can signal that awareness efforts are causing more people to seek you out.
• New User Acquisition: Look at the percentage of new visitors or new customers acquired. Upper-funnel campaigns should feed new people into the pipeline.
• Brand Lift Studies: Use tools like Facebook’s Brand Lift or YouTube Brand Lift surveys, which can directly measure ad recall, brand awareness, and consideration among those exposed vs. a control group.

It’s also important to measure impact on a wider scale, taking a step back and analysing exactly how your upper-funnel spend impacted the business.

For example, you might find that regions where you ran a heavy awareness campaign see higher conversion rates in the subsequent weeks or months.

Techniques like marketing mix modeling or incrementality testing can help connect the dots.

Incrementality is essentially determining how much extra business an upper-funnel campaign drove that would not have happened otherwise.

You can test this by using holdout groups (e.g., show ads to 90% of your target audience but withhold them from 10% as a control, then compare behaviors), or by pausing campaigns and seeing if sales dip.

That means reporting beyond vanity metrics. For instance, instead of just saying, “Our video ad got 100,000 views,” translate that into, say, “Our brand lift study indicates an 8-point increase in awareness in our target market, which correlates with a 20% lift in branded search volume the following month.”

By connecting awareness metrics to leading indicators of sales, you make a case that those dollars are working hard.

And finally, adopt a test-and-learn approach.

If uncertainty is high, start by allocating a modest portion (say +5-10% shift) of your budget to upper-funnel campaigns for a period, then measure results.

If you can show that leads or branded searches grew, or cost per acquisition improved downstream, it will be easier to argue for maintaining or even increasing that allocation.

On the flip side, if an upper-funnel tactic isn’t performing, refine the creative or targeting rather than immediately cutting the budget, optimization is usually the answer, not abandonment, when it comes to new funnel initiatives.

Key Takeaways

Determining how much of your paid media budget to devote to the upper-funnel is a strategic decision that should be informed by both evidence and your unique context.

The data is clear that brand awareness and prospecting deserve a significant share of spend, even though many firms today allocate far less to it than they once did.

The exact figure will depend on your goals, industry, and growth stage, but the guiding principle is to invest enough in upper-funnel marketing to continually feed your future customer pipeline.

Underinvesting in awareness may boost short-term efficiency, but it eventually leads to stagnation and higher costs to reignite growth later.

In practice, this means making room in your plans for campaigns that build brand equity, engage new audiences, and create demand, even if they don’t convert immediately.

Whether it’s a YouTube video campaign reaching millions of potential customers, a series of TikTok ads riding the latest trend to put your brand on the map, or a broad Display campaign educating people about a problem your product solves, these efforts ensure your lower-funnel tactics have a steady stream of interested prospects to convert.

The upper-funnel and lower-funnel are interdependent; success comes from funding both appropriately and making them work in tandem.

So, how much of your budget should go to upper-funnel?

Enough that you’re confident you’re driving robust awareness and demand generation, not just scraping the bottom of the barrel.

For many, that will be a considerably larger portion than they currently allocate.

Aim for a balanced mix grounded in research and test data, adjust to your business needs, and then track the results.

With the right allocation, your paid media can both capture the immediate sales and expose your brand to new audiences, fueling both immediate performance and sustainable growth.

More Resources:

Featured Image: Anton Vierietin/Shutterstock

How To Maximize Paid Ads Profitability With A Strategic Landing Page Audit

Your campaigns are only as strong as the pages they lead to. You can have the most targeted ads, the sharpest copy, and a budget that makes your CFO nervous. But if your landing page doesn’t deliver on what the ad promised, you’re leaving money on the table and feeding poor signals back into your campaign algorithms.

Landing pages are where intent meets experience. When they align, conversion rates increase. When they don’t, even high-quality traffic bounces, and your cost-per-acquisition (CPA) spirals upward.

This post walks through the core elements of a high-performing landing page strategy. This strategy is one that not only converts visitors, but also strengthens your ad campaigns. Whether you’re running Google Ads or Meta campaigns, these landing page strategies apply.

Why A Landing Page Audit Matters To Advertisers

Most advertisers focus heavily on the ad itself: the creative, the targeting, the bid strategy. That makes sense. But the landing page is where the actual conversion happens. It’s the final step in the funnel, and it has a direct impact on campaign performance.

Here’s why landing page audits should be a regular part of your paid media workflow:

Better Landing Page Conversion Rates Mean Lower CPAs

When more visitors convert, your cost per conversion drops. That gives you more room to scale or reinvest budget into other channels.

Stronger Signals Improve Algorithm Performance Every Click, Scroll

Platforms like Google and Meta rely on conversion data to optimize your campaigns. If your landing page isn’t converting, the algorithm receives weak or misleading signals, which limits its ability to find high-intent users.

User Experience On The Landing Page Influences Quality Score

Google rewards landing pages that are relevant, fast, and user-friendly. A higher quality score can lower your cost-per-click (CPC) and improve ad placement.

In short, your landing page isn’t just a conversion tool. It’s a feedback loop that shapes how well your campaigns perform over time.

Audit Point 1: Deliver On Intent And Relevance

The first rule of landing page optimization is simple: Match the message.

If your ad promises “free shipping on running shoes,” your landing page should immediately confirm that offer. If the ad targets “B2B marketing automation tools,” the page should speak directly to that audience and use case.

Message match builds trust. When a visitor clicks an ad and lands on a page that looks, feels, and sounds different, they bounce. Fast.

Here’s how to ensure relevance:

• Mirror your ad copy. Use the same language, tone, and offer in your headline and subheading. If the ad says, “Save 20% on winter gear,” the landing page headline should reinforce that exact promise.
• Align visuals with the ad creative. If your ad shows a specific product or service, feature it prominently on the landing page. Consistency across creative and page design reduces cognitive load.
• Match the user’s stage in the journey. A top-of-funnel awareness ad should lead to educational content, not a hard sell. A retargeting ad for cart abandoners should take them straight to checkout.

The fewer mental leaps a visitor has to make, the more likely they are to convert.

Audit Point 2: Use Your CTAs Effectively

Your call-to-action (CTA) is the most important element on the page. It’s where intent turns into action.

But too many landing pages bury the CTA, use vague language, or overwhelm visitors with multiple competing actions. That creates friction and kills conversions.

Here’s how to get CTAs right:

• Be specific and action-oriented. “Get Started” is vague. “Start Your Free Trial” or “Download the Guide” tells the visitor exactly what happens next.
• Apply contrasting colors. You want your CTA button to stand out from the rest of the page. High contrast draws the eye and signals importance.
• Limit choices. Every additional option on the page reduces the likelihood of conversion. Remove navigation menus, sidebars, and secondary CTAs that distract from your primary goal.
• Test button copy. Small changes in wording can have a big impact. “Claim Your Discount” might outperform “Shop Now” for a price-sensitive audience.

Your CTA should feel like the natural next step, not a sales pitch.

Example: Zoho CRM’s Landing Page

Zoho CRM’s website is an excellent example of a landing page leveraging these points:

Specific offer: The header “Get started with your 15-day free trial” is highly specific, clarifying the duration and type of offer, addressing the vagueness of a simple “Get Started.”

Visual contrast: The primary CTA button, “GET STARTED,” is a high-contrast, bright red that immediately draws the eye away from the surrounding white and blue elements.

Action-oriented copy: While the button copy is “GET STARTED,” the text immediately below it clarifies the action as a free trial sign-up, maintaining clarity. Furthermore, the page limits distractions, focusing the user on the single action of signing up for the trial.

This approach effectively guides the user toward the intended conversion.

Audit Point 3: Use Imagery That Supports Your Message

Visuals aren’t just decoration. They communicate value, build trust, and guide the visitor’s attention.

The right images can make your offer feel tangible and desirable. The wrong ones create confusion or undermine credibility.

Here’s what works:

• Show the product or outcome. If you’re selling software, show the interface in action. If you’re promoting a service, show the results or benefits your customers experience.
• Use real people, not stock photos. Authentic imagery builds trust. Generic stock photos do the opposite. If you’re featuring testimonials or case studies, include real customer photos whenever possible.
• Optimize for mobile. Images should load quickly and display properly on all devices. Slow load times can increase bounce rates and hurt quality scores.
• Avoid clutter. Every visual element should have a purpose. If an image doesn’t reinforce your message or guide the visitor toward the CTA, remove it.

Strong visuals support your copy. They don’t compete with it.

Example: Superside’s Graphic Design Services

Superside’s landing page demonstrates using a portfolio of images to support the message that they can handle diverse creative needs for clients across different industries:

Show the outcome: Instead of a single generic image, the page prominently features a collage of actual client deliverables (app interfaces, product packaging, social media graphics) for brands like Amazon, Reddit, and Zapier. This directly illustrates the quality and range of the service’s outcome.

Communicate value and trust: By showing recognized brand logos and diverse project types, the imagery instantly builds credibility and reinforces the claim that they can “Scale your in-house creative team with top global talent.”

Avoid clutter (in context): While it’s a collage, the consistent presentation style and the grouping of images in a grid are purposefully designed to communicate a broad portfolio quickly, which directly reinforces the main headline: “Your creative team’s creative team.”

This strategy uses visuals to provide immediate, tangible proof of the service’s capability.

Audit Point 4: Clearly Answer: “Why Choose You?”

Your landing page needs to answer one critical question: Why should I choose you over the competition?

This is where you articulate your unique value proposition (UVP). It’s not just about listing features. It’s about showing how your product or service solves a specific problem better than the alternatives.

Here’s how to communicate your UVP effectively:

• Lead with the benefit, not the feature. “24/7 customer support” is a feature. “Get help anytime, without waiting” is a benefit.
• Address objections upfront. If price is a concern, highlight flexible payment options. If trust is an issue, showcase security certifications or money-back guarantees.
• Differentiate yourself. What makes your offer unique? Is it faster, easier, more affordable, or more comprehensive? Make that distinction clear.

Your UVP should be immediately visible, ideally above the fold. If a visitor has to scroll to understand what you’re offering, you’ve already lost some of them.

Audit Point 5: Leverage A Variety Of Social Proof

Social proof reduces risk. It shows visitors that other people (ideally, people like them) have chosen your product or service and been satisfied.

But not all social proof is created equal. The key is to use a mix of formats and place them strategically throughout the page.

Here are the most effective types of social proof to look for when you are doing a landing page audit:

Customer Testimonials

Short, specific quotes from real customers carry more weight than generic praise. Include the customer’s name, title, and company (if B2B) to increase credibility.

Case Studies Or Results

“We increased conversions by 30%” is more compelling than “Great service!” Quantifiable outcomes resonate, especially with data-driven buyers.

Logos Of Recognizable Clients Or Partners 

If well-known brands use your product, feature their logos. Recognition builds instant trust.

Ratings And Reviews

Aggregate ratings (e.g., “4.8/5 stars from 1,200+ customers”) provide quick validation. Link to third-party review sites like G2, Trustpilot, or Capterra for added credibility.

Trust Badges And Certifications

Security seals, industry certifications, and compliance badges (e.g., SOC 2, GDPR) that are visible on landing pages reassure visitors that their data is safe.

Place social proof near your CTA. That’s where hesitation peaks, and reassurance matters most.

Example: Reddit Ads’ Landing Page

The Reddit Ads landing page demonstrates the effective use of logos of recognizable clients or partners to build instant trust and social proof:

Client credibility: At the bottom of the page, a prominent line on the landing page reads, “Trusted businesses across all industries and sizes use Reddit Ads to meet their goals.” This statement is immediately backed up by a scrolling horizontal display of recognizable brand logos, including Mars, GameStop, Capital One, and Maybelline.

Instant trust: For a potential advertiser, seeing global, established brands using the platform reduces the perceived risk of signing up. If major companies trust Reddit Ads with their budget, a new user can be reassured the platform is legitimate and effective.

Strategic placement: The logo section is placed below the main registration form and the tool to explore audience, providing reinforcement just before a user might scroll away or hesitate. It offers a final, compelling piece of proof that supports the core message of reaching a “niche audience.”

This visual list of successful clients serves as powerful validation for the service.

Audit Point 6: Ensure Strong Technical Performance And Responsive Design

A beautiful landing page means anything if it doesn’t load quickly or breaks on mobile devices.

Technical performance directly impacts conversion rates and campaign quality scores. Google prioritizes fast, mobile-friendly pages, and visitors abandon slow-loading sites within seconds, noting that 53% of visits are likely to be abandoned if pages take longer than three seconds to load.

Here’s what to audit:

• Page speed. Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to measure load times. Aim for a load time under three seconds. Compress images, minimize code, and leverage browser caching to improve speed.
• Mobile responsiveness. 41% of all web traffic comes from mobile devices. Your landing page should look and function perfectly on smartphones and tablets. Test across multiple devices and screen sizes.
• Forms and functionality. If your CTA involves filling out a form, make sure it works. Test every field, button, and error message. Reduce the number of required fields to minimize friction.
• Browser compatibility. Your page should render correctly in all major browsers (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge). Cross-browser testing tools like BrowserStack can help identify issues.

Technical problems aren’t just annoying. They cost you conversions and damage your campaign performance.

Audit Point 7: Strategically Place Your CTAs

Where you place your CTA matters just as much as what it says.

Most landing pages include a primary CTA above the fold, and that’s a really good start. But high-converting pages use multiple CTAs placed at natural decision points throughout the page.

Here’s a strategic approach:

• Above the fold. This is your first opportunity to convert visitors who are ready to act immediately. Make it prominent and impossible to miss.
• After explaining value. Once you’ve outlined your UVP and key benefits, offer another CTA. This targets visitors who need a bit more context before committing.
• After social proof. Testimonials and case studies reduce hesitation. Follow them with a CTA to capture visitors who’ve just been reassured.
• At the bottom of the page. For visitors who scroll through all your content, include a final CTA. By this point, they’ve consumed everything you’ve shared and are ready to decide.

Each CTA should feel contextual, not pushy. It should align with where the visitor is in their journey down the page.

Conclusion: Making Your Landing Page Audit A Habit

Your landing page isn’t just a conversion tool. It’s a data generator.

Every click, scroll, and form submission sends signals back to your ad platform. These signals teach the algorithm which audiences convert, which creatives work, and how to allocate budget more efficiently.

When your landing page converts well, those signals are strong and accurate. The algorithm learns faster and optimizes better. When your landing page underperforms, the data becomes noisy. The algorithm struggles to find patterns, and your campaigns stagnate.

This is why landing page audits are essential. A small improvement in conversion rate doesn’t just boost revenue. It improves the quality of data feeding back into your campaigns, creating a compounding effect over time.

Start by identifying your lowest-performing landing pages. Run A/B tests on headlines, CTAs, and imagery. Measure the impact not just on conversions, but on downstream metrics like CPA, return on ad spend (ROAS), and customer lifetime value (LTV).

The better your landing pages perform, the smarter your campaigns become.

More Resources:

Featured Image: one photo/Shutterstock