Adwords landing pages

[MyfanwyNixon]

This is something we've considered before because it allows us to hold the user's hand to an extent, by explaining a bit about what the site is and how to use it, rather than throwing them straight onto a page where they might not understand exactly what they were seeing.

There's now an extra reason to do this, which is that our ads pointing to the Department of Health's authority page keep getting banned. After a bit of back and forth I've learned that it's the mention of a specific drug in one of the requests currently showing on the page that is triggering this.

Obviously we can't do what Google advise, which is to remove that request, and equally obviously, we can't control what requests might appear at any time in the future. So until Google get a bit smarter about why they ban ads, I think landing pages are our answer.

[garethrees]

Example from FMS

[garethrees]

@MyfanwyNixon do we have any of these "/wehelpyou" pages for WDTK?

[MyfanwyNixon]

I'm pretty sure the answer's no - these were set up in 2015 so it's been a while, but I can't see anything in Wordpress and I think all the ads point directly to either the homepage or to bodies' pages.

Obviously there's a lot of scope for pointing at specific bodies/types of usage and a landing page has the added advantage that it helps you frame the action/hold the user's hand a bit. Could also be used to promote Pro if you think the right type of user is likely to be Googling for what they need.

I will say that WDTK periodically throws up stops on our Adwords account, due to the crawler finding disallowed words on the page we link to - obviously with user-generated content appearing there's not much we can do about that (same happens when Parliament debates drugs for example). I don't know whether having an interstitial page like this would actually improve that - it's possible the crawler doesn't go any further.

We do have years of data on ads running that link directly to WDTK, so when I have more time I could look at that and report back on which have been most successful at bringing people to the site.

[garethrees]

Thanks for that! No action necessary this minute, but good to know we can explore further if needed.

I think these types of page serve two purposes

1. A better way of mapping what we can help with against search terms (so, the original issue RE: Adwords)
2. But the second reason, even without Adwords, is being able to use these landing pages within the site itself (I know these are on mysociety.org and not whatdotheyknow.com) as a way of promoting the types of good use that we want to encourage.

[garethrees]

Great examples on the climate action site:

• Love the motivating language
• Love the strong call to actions
• Love the quick action guides
• Love the "path to action" ("Your superhero journey starts here")

[garethrees]

FragDenStaat has a really nice climate information helpdesk.

[garethrees]

Should add /foi (or /freedom-of-information), /eir (or /environmental-information-regulations ). We could:

• briefly explain why it's good, and the basics of the mechanics
• Maybe add a bit of a process diagram around requests, responses, and escalation routes
• pull in relevant case studies Import case studies from blog alaveteli#6589
• Link to refusal advice
• pull in featured / cited requests

Similar to mysociety/alaveteli#6788.

Could also add a /climate landing page as a context-specific use of both acts. Cover similar ground, but instead of explaining the legislation, explain how each legislation can be used in the context of requesting climate info.

[garethrees]

Linking to https://github.com/mysociety/orgsites/issues/1000 which suggests removing some from mysociety.org due to poor performance (other services, but worth considering).

[garethrees]

Just noting that I followed up on this recently. The gist is that conceptually they're worthwhile because of the extra hand holding you can do. At the time we could only use google ads on a single domain, which is why they all ended up on mySociety.org. The ones that work less well are likely more down to not meeting user needs very well (and haven't really been reviewed for a long time), so they still work in principle, and it’s more down to us to garden them to get the most from them.