For those new to search engine optimization, learning all the specific terms can be challenging at first. There are so many definitions you need to know to communicate with your peers or with SEO professionals effectively. Let’s take webpages as an example. When it comes to pages, there are two definitions that people often misinterpret. These are landing and splash pages. There’s a vast difference between the two of them and knowing what each of them is about is crucial to ensure your site offers a great user experience.

A landing page is a standalone page created to fulfill a conversion goal. Typically, it involves a contact form that users need to fill to get a specific reward — the most popular being a sign-up form.

A splash page, on the other hand, is a screen that pops up when a user first enters a site. It’s basically the introduction to your website, and it delivers critical information, like a promotion or an appropriate disclaimer. Within these pages, website owners have the opportunity to evoke specific emotions from their visitors. If they succeed at it, their conversion rate will surely increment.

The main difference between the two is that splash pages aren’t designed to ask their users for personal information. This means that people are not required to enter their name or email address upon viewing this type of page. A customary splash page contains minimal copy, a background image, and a link that takes visitors to the homepage.

Poor implementation of these pages can end up hurting your site’s performance; not to mention user experience. People who come into your site will ignore splash pages that add little to no value to your overall offer or to user experience. Also, search engines have begun penalizing websites that host a lousy splash page design.

Optimizing them, so it doesn’t affect user experience is vital for your SEO strategy. Make sure that they are not too intrusive and that they are there to communicate a specific and relevant message.