Use a service page to explain an ongoing offer to people arriving from different places. Use a dedicated landing page when a specific campaign needs a tightly matched message and action. You do not automatically need both: a clear service page can be the right destination for an advert as well.
First, what do you mean by landing page?
In reporting, a landing page can simply mean the first page someone visits. Your homepage, an article or a service page can all be landing pages in that sense.
In campaign planning, people usually mean a page built for a particular audience, advert or offer. That is the meaning used here. It matters because a report showing visits to a landing page does not tell you whether anyone commissioned a separate campaign page.
A permanent service page has a broader job. It needs to explain the service, its suitability, evidence, scope and next steps. Someone may use it while comparing suppliers or return to it after a conversation.
What decision is the visitor making?
Begin with the situation that brings a visitor to the page. If they are exploring several services, they need navigation and context. If they clicked an advert for a named event, they need that event’s details and a direct route to enquire or register.
For an illustrative office interiors business, a general refurbishment service page could explain planning, installation and project coordination. A campaign page for a particular workplace assessment would need to explain that assessment, who qualifies and what happens afterwards.
The campaign page should not merely repeat the general page with a different photograph. It needs a distinct reason to exist. If the offer, audience and action are unchanged, improve the existing service page first.
Compare the information each page needs
- Service page: the continuing offer, scope, suitability, process, evidence and enquiry route.
- Campaign page: the campaign promise, relevant conditions, focused evidence and the specific next action.
- Both: a recognisable business, clear contact information, understandable headings and an honest description of what happens next.
A campaign page can be shorter, but length is not its defining feature. A complex offer may need substantial explanation. Removing answers to make a page look tidy can simply move the visitor’s questions into an unanswered email.
Likewise, a service page does not need every detail in the business. Link to supporting articles or examples when they help someone assess an issue in depth.
Should a campaign page remove the main menu?
There is no useful blanket rule. Reducing navigation may make a focused action easier to follow, but some visitors will want to check your work, understand the business or compare another service before responding.
Decide which alternatives are helpful and which distract from the offer. A clear route to evidence and contact information is often more useful than forcing someone to use the browser’s back button.
Test the whole page with people who were not involved in making it. Ask where they would go to verify the business, understand the offer and take the next step. Record where they hesitate rather than only whether they finish.
What happens when the campaign ends?
Give a dedicated page an owner and an end-of-campaign plan before it goes live. An outdated event date or expired offer can continue circulating through saved links and old adverts.
Decide whether the page will be updated, retained as a useful record or replaced by a relevant destination. If the URL changes, the technical handling needs to be planned too. Do not send every expired campaign to the homepage by default.
Permanent service pages also need maintenance, but their review cycle usually follows changes to the service rather than the end of an advert.
Use one brief to prevent two competing pages
Write a short brief containing the audience, starting point, question, offer, evidence and action. Add the page owner and what will be measured. Compare that brief with the existing service page before commissioning another URL.
If the briefs are almost identical, ask what the new page will add. If they are different, make those differences visible in the content and keep the internal linking clear.
Use descriptive headings on either format. W3C’s heading guidance is a useful reference for organising content so that people can navigate it, including with assistive technology.
Our guide to service page content covers the permanent page in more detail. For campaigns, review how to match the advert’s promise to the page. We can also help plan the structure through our website design service.