It's a good general guideline to use specific landing pages- to take the searcher from what they've typed in and seen in your ad to specifically on your page.

UNLESS...

You have onsite functionality that determines in large part where the visitor goes next.

For example, if you have a questionnaire that helps visitors (or sales people) know what they need, you may not be able to get that much info out of the keyword/ad- Your utility will have to be on every landing page, or you'll have to send visitors all to the same page... perhaps populating some of the form automatically.

This could fit some lead generation systems, for example.

Or if you're in an industry that requires image viewing prior to category decisions... maybe new prospects require a bit of education before they know where to go.

Sometimes the wisdom in your particular niche is that people have to try before they buy, or see it before they know what they want... for example, people may want to buy flowers but not know what species they like.

They may want a new casual outfit but not know if they want a blouse or a t-shirt.

You may have to track your visitors' activity to find out- watch paths thru the site- test different landing pages and compare your CR and revenue.

Don't lose sales just because you took a searcher TOO much at their word and only showed them what they initially asked for. (some get around this by having 'related' or 'suggested items')

Brian Carter

Two Bios... Alternative Medicine and Internet Business

*** Internet Business Author/Consultant

Brian Carter has designed nearly a dozen websites for himself and others. With SEO he has brought more than half a million visitors to these sites since 1999- more than 20,000 per month in 2005, and, through various monetization strategies, this traffic has meant $5,000-20,000 monthly. His new book, "$1000 Keywords: How I Made as Much as $1,200.64 a Day Online With My Secret Keyword Analysis Techniques" will be available in July, 2005. Brian now is a PPC Adwords and copywriting consultant.

*** Alternative Medicine Expert/Author

Since 1999, Brian Carter has been helping people improve their lives with alternative medicine therapies.

Author of Powerful Body, Peaceful Mind

Medical professor - PCOM (San Diego)

Alternative medicine expert: radio interviewee, and has been quoted and interviewed by publications like Real Simple, Glamour, and ESPN magazines.

Licensed acupuncturist, California

Masters of science in Traditional Oriental Medicine - Pacific College of Oriental Medicine (San Diego)