Guide · checklist
Is your website ready for ads? A checklist before you pay for traffic
Ads send people straight to a page and you pay for every click. Here is what to check on that page before the campaign goes live, so the money isn't lost to problems you could have fixed in an afternoon.
Updated · by Adeoje Afeez
Most advice on paid ads is about targeting, creative and bids. But every click ends on your website, and if that page is confusing, slow or hard to trust, a good ad simply pays for more people to leave.
Nothing on this list guarantees a campaign will work. Your product, price and audience matter more. What it does is remove the avoidable reasons visitors leave, so you can judge the campaign on the things that really decide it.
1. The page matches the ad
People click because of what the ad promised. If the page doesn't continue that exact thought, they assume they're in the wrong place.
The headline repeats the ad's promise
If the ad says “Book clients online in 5 minutes”, the landing page headline should say much the same, not a generic company slogan.
The offer in the ad is the offer on the page
A discount, free trial or bonus mentioned in the ad must be visible on the page, with the same numbers.
Trials, prices and limits match your other pages
Visitors often check your pricing page before signing up. A 30-day trial in the ad and 14 days on the pricing page loses trust instantly.
Our scan compares this across pages
The audience is the one you're targeting
If you target agencies, the page should speak to agencies, not to “businesses of all sizes”.
Our review checks this
2. The mobile first screen
Most social ad clicks come from phones. Judge the page at phone width first.
The headline and main button are visible without scrolling
A large hero image that pushes the button below the first screen costs clicks you've already paid for.
Our review checks this
The page fits the screen
No sideways scrolling and no text cut off on a narrow phone.
Our scan measures this
Pages aren't heavy
Ad visitors are impatient. Compress images and remove what the page doesn't need.
Our scan measures this
Pop-ups don't cover the page straight away
A newsletter or cookie pop-up that hides everything on the first screen is often the first thing an ad visitor closes, along with the tab.
3. One clear action
There is one main call to action
Decide the single action the campaign is for and make it the obvious button. Remove competing ones from the landing page.
Our review checks this
The button says what happens
“Start free trial” or “Get my quote” rather than “Submit” or “Learn more”.
Our review checks this
The action works
Click it yourself on a phone. Fill in the form, finish the sign-up, receive the confirmation email.
Nothing important is a dead end
Every link a visitor might click leads somewhere that works.
Our scan measures this
4. Trust, for people who've never heard of you
Ad visitors arrive cold. They don't know your name and haven't read anything about you.
It's clear who is behind the business
A name, a country and a way to contact a person.
Our review checks this
Proof is specific and real
Named customers, real reviews, or concrete results you can stand behind.
Our review checks this
Policies are linked
Privacy, terms, and for stores shipping and returns. Ad platforms and payment providers often require them, and visitors look for them before paying.
Our scan measures this
Claims are consistent
Any number you quote, such as customer counts or ratings, says the same thing on every page.
Our scan compares this across pages
The site loads over HTTPS
A “not secure” warning on an ad landing page ends the visit.
Our scan measures this
5. Tracking
Without tracking you can't tell which ads work, so you can't improve them.
Your pixel or analytics fires on page view
Check that the Meta pixel, Google tag or TikTok pixel actually sends a request when the page loads, not just that the code is there.
Our scan measures this
Conversion events are set up and tested
The event that matters (sign-up, purchase, lead) should fire once, on the right page. Test it with the platform's own testing tool.
Links in your ads carry campaign tags
Add UTM parameters so your analytics can tell campaigns apart.
6. Before you press publish
Run the whole journey on a phone
From the ad preview to the thank-you page, on mobile data rather than office Wi-Fi.
Ask someone outside the project
Show them the landing page for five seconds and ask what it offers and what they'd do next.
Start small
Run a small budget first and watch the numbers before scaling. Problems show up quickly in the first few hundred clicks.
Check the landing page in a few minutes
Our scan reads your site and an extra page you choose, such as your ad landing page, at phone and desktop widths. It runs the technical checks marked above and compares prices, trials and claims between the two. The free scan shows your score and the three most important problems.
It doesn't test ad accounts, conversion events, forms or checkout, so check those by hand.