The landing page checklist: 40 checks before you launch

A landing page is ready to launch when a first-time visitor can tell what you offer, why it suits them and what to do next, and when nothing on the page slows them down or makes them doubt you. The 40 checks below test exactly that. Each one is a yes-or-no statement you can verify in a few minutes, and each comes with a short reason so you can decide what to fix first.

How to use this checklist

Open the page on your phone first, then on a desktop. Most paid and social traffic arrives on mobile, so problems that only show up on a small screen tend to cost the most.

Work through the groups in order. Conversion and copy issues usually matter more than technical ones: a fast page with an unclear offer still fails, while a slightly slow page with a strong offer often does fine. Mark each check as pass, fail or not applicable, then fix the failures in this order:

1. Anything that stops a visitor from acting (a broken form, a missing button, a checkout that errors).
2. Anything that confuses the offer (headline, call to action, pricing).
3. Anything that creates doubt (missing proof, no contact details, no HTTPS).
4. Everything else.

If you would rather have the page checked automatically, a PageScore audit runs most of these checks and ranks the failures by likely impact.

Conversion

These checks cover the single job the page exists to do: get the visitor to take one specific action.

1. The page has one primary goal. Pick one of: book a call, submit a lead form, buy, or start a sign-up. Pages that ask for several different actions split attention and make each one less likely.
2. A call-to-action button is visible on the first screen on mobile. Visitors who are ready to act should not have to scroll to find out how. See above the fold for why the first screen carries so much weight.
3. The button says what happens next. "Get my quote" or "Book a 15-minute call" beats "Submit" or "Learn more", because it removes guesswork about what the click commits you to. The call-to-action guide covers wording in depth.
4. The CTA is repeated after each major section. Someone who becomes convinced halfway down the page should find a button where they are, not have to scroll back up.
5. The conversion path matches the goal. A lead page has a form, a sales page has a working purchase path, a booking page has a calendar or booking link, and a sign-up page has a sign-up flow. A mismatch here is surprisingly common after template reuse.
6. The form asks only for what you need right now. Every extra field is another reason to stop. Ask for the minimum to follow up, and collect the rest later. The form friction calculator helps you weigh each field.
7. The submit button repeats the benefit, not the mechanics. "Send me the guide" reads as getting something; "Submit" reads as giving something up.
8. Pricing, or a clear next step about pricing, is visible. If you show prices, show them plainly. If you quote per project, say so and explain how quoting works, so visitors are not left guessing whether they can afford you.
9. An FAQ answers the objections you hear on sales calls. The questions people ask before buying are the same ones stopping silent visitors. Answer them on the page, near the final CTA.

Copy

Good landing page copy is specific, short and written about the reader.

10. The headline says what you offer and who it is for. A visitor should be able to repeat it back after five seconds. Clever wordplay that needs decoding fails this test. The headline guide has formulas and rewrites.
11. The headline is short enough to read at a glance. Long headlines wrap into several lines on mobile and push the CTA down. Try the headline analyzer to check length and clarity.
12. A subheadline adds the detail the headline left out. Use it for the how, the timeframe or the main differentiator, so the headline can stay short.
13. The value proposition is stated in the reader's terms. Describe the outcome they get, not the features you built. See value proposition for a working definition.
14. The copy uses "you" more than "we". Pages that talk mostly about the company read like a brochure. Pages that talk about the reader's situation read like a solution.
15. The text is easy to read. Short sentences and common words help everyone, including people reading on a phone in a hurry. Run your copy through the readability checker.
16. There are no empty buzzwords. Phrases like "world-class", "innovative solutions" and "best-in-class" say nothing a competitor could not also claim. Replace them with something specific and checkable.

Trust

Visitors need a reason to believe your claims before they hand over contact details or money.

17. At least one testimonial names a real person and a specific result. Anonymous praise ("Great service!") is easy to fake and easy to ignore. A name, role or location, and a concrete outcome are much harder to dismiss. The trust signals guide explains how to collect better ones.
18. Ratings or reviews from a third-party platform are shown. Google, Trustpilot, G2 or industry-specific review sites carry weight because you do not control them.
19. Client or partner logos appear, if you have permission to use them. Recognisable names act as shortcuts for credibility, especially in B2B.
20. There is a case study or a concrete result figure. A before-and-after number from a real client is the most persuasive form of social proof for considered purchases.
21. A guarantee or risk-reversal statement sits near the CTA. A refund policy, free cancellation or "no obligation" quote lowers the cost of saying yes.
22. Contact details are visible. A phone number, email or address tells visitors there are real people behind the page. For local businesses, a visible address and phone number also support local search.
23. The page loads over HTTPS and links to a privacy policy. Browsers flag insecure pages, and people are rightly cautious about typing details into a form without knowing how they will be used.

UX and mobile

These checks make sure the page works for the way people actually browse.

24. The page has a mobile viewport tag and renders correctly on a phone. Without it, mobile browsers show a shrunken desktop layout that forces pinching and zooming.
25. Tap targets are large and spaced apart. Buttons and links that sit too close together cause mis-taps, which are frustrating on a form or checkout.
26. Navigation is minimal or removed. Every menu link is an exit from the page. Landing pages built for campaigns usually convert better with few or no navigation links.
27. Headings break the page into scannable sections. Most visitors skim. Clear headings let them jump to the part that answers their question.
28. Forms work end to end. Submit a test entry on mobile and desktop, confirm you receive it, and confirm the thank-you page or message appears. A broken form makes every other fix pointless.
29. Pop-ups do not cover the content on mobile. Intrusive interstitials frustrate visitors and can be penalised in search. If you use one, delay it and make it easy to close.
30. Images have descriptive alt text. Alt text helps screen-reader users understand the page and gives search engines context for your images.

SEO

Even pages built for paid traffic benefit from basic SEO hygiene, and pages meant to rank need it.

31. The title tag and meta description are written, not left as defaults. These are what people see in search results and when the link is shared. Check both with the meta tag checker.
32. The page is not accidentally set to noindex. Staging settings and page-builder defaults sometimes carry over to live pages. If the page should rank, make sure it can be indexed.
33. A canonical tag points to the correct URL. This prevents duplicate versions (with and without tracking parameters, for example) from competing with each other.
34. Open Graph tags are set. They control the title, description and image shown when the page is shared on social platforms and messaging apps.
35. Structured data describes the business or product. Schema markup such as Organization, LocalBusiness, Product or FAQPage helps search engines understand the page and can make it eligible for richer results.

Speed

Speed checks are best done on real mobile data, not just a desktop test on a fast connection. The landing page speed guide explains each metric in plain English.

36. Largest Contentful Paint is 2.5 seconds or less on mobile. LCP measures when the main content, usually the hero image or headline, appears. See Largest Contentful Paint.
37. Cumulative Layout Shift is 0.1 or less. Layout shift is the content jumping around as the page loads, which causes mis-clicks and makes a page feel unreliable. See Cumulative Layout Shift.
38. The hero image is compressed and sized for its display size. An oversized hero image is the most common reason a landing page's main content appears late.
39. Third-party scripts are limited to what you actually use. Old tracking pixels, chat widgets and heat-mapping tools add blocking time and page weight. Remove the ones nobody reviews.
40. The server responds quickly. Slow hosting delays everything that follows. If the first byte arrives late, no amount of front-end tuning will make the page feel fast.

What to fix first

Once you have a list of failures, sort them by how directly they block a conversion:

• Fix immediately: broken forms or checkout (28), missing CTA on the first screen (2), conversion path that does not match the goal (5), noindex on a page meant to rank (32).
• Fix this week: unclear headline (10), vague button wording (3), long forms (6), missing proof near the CTA (17, 20, 21), slow LCP on mobile (36).
• Fix when you can: buzzwords (16), alt text (30), Open Graph (34), structured data (35).

Then measure. Record your current conversion rate with the conversion rate calculator before you change anything, so you can tell whether the fixes worked. If you change one element at a time and want to know whether a difference is real, the A/B test significance calculator will tell you whether you have enough data to trust the result.

A final pass on launch day

The 40 checks cover the page itself. Before you send traffic to it, spend ten minutes on the things around the page that break most often at launch:

• Tracking fires correctly. Submit a test conversion and confirm it appears in your analytics and ad platforms. If conversions are not recorded, you cannot tell whether the page works, and automated ad bidding has nothing to learn from.
• The thank-you step does its job. After a form submission or purchase, the visitor should see what happens next: when you will reply, what to look out for in their inbox, or how to book a time straight away.
• Notifications reach a person. Check that lead emails arrive in an inbox someone actually reads, and not in a spam folder.
• Every link and button goes where it should. Template reuse leaves behind links to old offers, placeholder URLs and buttons that point to the home page.
• The ad and the page match. Read your ad copy and your headline side by side. The promise in the ad should be the first thing the visitor sees.
• The page has been proofread. Typos in a headline or a price undermine trust quickly. Read the page aloud once; it catches mistakes your eyes skip.
• The page works on a slow connection. Load it on your phone with Wi-Fi off. If you find yourself waiting, so will your visitors.

Then leave the page alone long enough to collect data. Changing several things in the first few days makes it impossible to tell which change helped.

Checks that depend on your industry

The 40 checks apply to almost every landing page, but the weight of each one shifts with what you sell:

• SaaS pages live or die on the sign-up path and pricing visibility. See SaaS landing page audits.
• Ecommerce pages depend on reviews, a short purchase path and fast product images. See ecommerce audits.
• Local services such as dentists, law firms and home services rely on contact details, reviews and booking. See audits by industry.
• Coaching and consulting pages need strong testimonials and a clear booking step, because the buyer is judging a person, not a product.

Next step

Running all 40 checks by hand takes an hour or two. A free PageScore audit checks most of them in about a minute, gives your page a 0–100 conversion score, and lists the fixes in priority order.