What Are Landing Pages in Google Analytics and How Can I Use Them?

What Is a Landing Page?

We spend time designing a website. The results are pleasing to look at and include all the features needed to collect lead information and facilitate purchases. However, the pages intended to be landed upon may not be the page where a session starts. The first page viewed in a session is the landing page in Google Analytics. When we look at first pages visitors view, we can learn not only what pages receive the most traffic but also which behaviors occur when a session begins on a particular page. 

Landing Page Reports in Google Analytics

To find the Landing Pages report, click Behavior>Site Content>Landing Pages. It will show the top landing pages sorted by most visits to least visits measured in sessions. We can see an estimated percentage of all sessions that are from new users as well as the number of new users. Each landing page on which a session has begun will have a bounce rate showing what percentage of users left without taking further actions such as clicking a link, filling out a form or visiting another page. We can see how many pages, on average, a user who started a session on a given page viewed as well as how long their session was. It is also possible to see the conversion rate for each landing page, the number of times a goal was completed, and any value associated with those conversions. Conversion goals must be set up in order to gain insights, though.

Practical Application-What Can We Learn?

If we look at landing page traffic alone, we simply know which pages started a session for a defined number of users. To gain useful insights more must be considered. Here are a few ways the landing page report can help measure goals and inform next steps for a business:

1. Engagement and bounce rate—if a landing page has a low bounce rate, that is an indicator that visitors are visiting multiple pages and may mean they are finding the content relevant. Conversely, a high bounce rate warrants further investigation to learn why the user isn’t more engaged whether it be page design, referring link issues or content e.g. If your business goal is for viewers to engage with a certain number of pages, the landing page report can help define what pages are furthering that goal. 
2. Engagement and session duration—if a landing page has a high session duration investigate what about that page is encouraging to users to remain on the site. Is it the content type? More could be created. Are links included on the page? Is it a direct result of a promotion? If you can figure out the reason, try to replicate it.
3. Conversions—conversion rates are often considered as a rate for an entire website, but considering a landing page conversion rate gives quality information on how users are experiencing the website based on which landing page they begin their session. If a landing page has high traffic but low conversions or low traffic but high conversions, some investigation into the quality of the traffic may be warranted. Consider if the right people are navigating to the site or how to find more users who are taking actions important to your business.

Ready for Advanced Analysis of the Landing Page Report?

Remember that in Google Analytics the landing page is the page on which a session starts. Each item in the landing page report describes behaviors by users who started their session on the accompanying landing page. If you are ready to move beyond the basic report, check out this video to learn more. It covers using segments and customer reports to uncover even more insights about  landing pages. Information learned can help you to test out new elements on your pages to improve your desired outcomes.