Most agents first blame advertising.
The lead is too high. The click feeling is bad. The platform no longer works. The market has changed.
While that may be true in some cases, advertising is often not the biggest problem. The landing page.
I’ve seen agents spend real money driving traffic to pages that weren’t built for conversion. Ads get clicked, but pages cause confusion, friction, and too many escape routes. Agents then blame the campaign, ignoring the part of the system where leaders actually make decisions.
7 tips to improve your landing pages
A great landing page doesn’t have to be flashy. It needs to be clear, quick, relevant, and built around the actions you want leaders to take.
1. Treat your landing page differently than your website
Websites are built to be viewed. Landing pages are built for conversion.
When someone clicks on a real estate ad, they’re doing so because something specific interests them. Perhaps it was a home in a certain price range, neighborhood, new construction, lot, or a certain payment range.
Your landing page should continue that very conversation. If your ad says there are homes available for less than $400,000, that page shouldn’t lead to a general home search. Confused people usually don’t convert.
2. Force early registration
I strongly believe that early registration should be mandatory for property search campaigns. This typically means forcing a signup from the first property view or any other click on the call to action.
Some agents don’t like this because they want people to browse freely. It makes sense intuitively, but paid traffic is different. You’re paying for clicks. If a visitor looks around, leaves, and doesn’t sign up, you lose leads and data.
That data is important because the platform needs conversion signals to optimize. The purpose is not friction. Goals are measurable actions.
3. Use grid layout for lists
Layout is more important than agents realize.
In my experience, grid layouts tend to outperform list-style and map-style layouts for real estate landing pages. Grids allow leads to see multiple options at once. This is important because real estate searches are emotional and visual.
People want to feel like they have enough options to stay on the page. Users will leave if your page feels empty, narrow, or difficult to scan.
4. Show homes that are close to the market average
Price range is also important.
Displaying properties around the market’s average sales price within a reasonable range on both sides will usually keep your page relevant to a larger pool of prospects.
If your page is too expensive, you’ll lose people who find it too expensive. If your price is too low, you may attract people who are not suitable for your campaign.
This is where agents can accidentally block ads. They build pages around what they want to sell, not what the market is most likely to respond to.
5. Make sure you have enough properties to display
Inventory depth is important.
If your landing page only shows a few homes, leads may think there aren’t enough homes available for them. We like to display at least 20 properties whenever possible so that the page feels lively and worth exploring.
If your search is too narrow, the page can feel dead when you arrive. Registration rates can drop because visitors don’t believe the page is valuable enough to provide their information.
Your lead needs to feel like there’s something worth unlocking.
6. Match keywords and ad copy to pages
Your landing page shouldn’t feel separate from your ad.
Language should flow from campaign to page. If your ad uses a specific keyword, location, property type, or buyer’s intended language, that should be reflected on your landing page as well.
This gives consumers peace of mind that they have arrived at the right place. It also helps with campaign performance, as relevance is key. When your ads, keywords, and landing pages all tell the same story, the experience becomes clearer.
Leads shouldn’t click on your ad and wonder, “Wait, why am I here?”
7. Increase speed and provide multiple actions to users
A slow page will invalidate your campaign. People are impatient, especially on mobile. If your landing page takes too long to load, leads may leave before they see your offer.
Speed is important, but so is the action you provide after the page loads. Not all leads are ready to take the same next step. Some people are ready to book screenings. Some people want to know more about the property. Some people want market information. Some people like to save searches.
Therefore, your landing page should include both direct and indirect calls to action.
Direct calls to action include booking a showing, requesting a phone call, or scheduling a tour. Indirect calls to action might be to get market information, see similar homes, request a complete listing, or get updates when new homes come on the market.
Better pages lead to better campaigns
A paid advertising campaign is more than just an advertisement. It’s a system.
The ad attracts attention. Landing pages generate action. Follow-up creates conversions.
Weak landing pages increase the overall cost of your system. Cost per click looks fine, but cost per lead increases. It becomes difficult to judge the quality of the leads. Unclear intentions make follow-up complicated.
If your campaign isn’t performing, audit your page before criticizing the platform. You may not need more budget. You may need a better landing page.
Josh Ries is a real estate agent and lead generation consultant. You can connect with him on TikTok and Instagram.
