Google (finally) Grooves with Landing Page Optimization

Google's announced a new landing page optimization tool. Good for them. The landing page remains the most frequently overlooking piece of the SEM puzzle. The fact is, making your landing page better at converting is good for both the advertiser as well as the search provider.

If you've got rising click costs, you need to find a way to make each click perform better. Optimizing the landing page is all about being efficient about what you do with each click that arrives. If you can increase your conversion rate, you'll value the click more. If you value the click more, you're more willing to pay more for it.

It just took Google a long time to realize this. Or rather, maybe they realized it but were happy to let people like Offermatica provide the service. Those guys are great. They certainly have been the long-term, early evangelists of the practice, and the ones that I would always look to. The question, naturally, is whether or not this will put them out of business. The answer is no. Not a bit. Just like when Google began to offer free analytics didn't sink Ominture, this move won't sink Offermatica.

That's because Google still makes the bulk of its cash from the tail: zillions of small companies, doing small transactions. They wouldn't buy Offermatica, but the would use a free tool. So, think of this move as a public-service announcement for Landing Page Optimization in general. We'll all learn more about it, and maybe be more willing to invest in a real service.