Why inventory quality matters: Driving high-intent page lands

In digital advertising, not all clicks are equal. Many brands focus on surface-level metrics like clicks, working on the assumption that a high number equates to success.

But let’s talk about what happens after the click.

If users land on your page but bounce immediately, don’t engage, or have no real intention of converting, then those clicks are meaningless. This is where the concept of quality page lands comes into play—measuring not just visits, but visits from users who actually intend to engage with your brand.

What are quality page lands?

At Picnic, we define quality page lands as page visits driven by users with intent—meaning they:

• Stay on the page for a meaningful amount of time (the average across multiple industries is 52 seconds)
• Engage with the content or interact with the site
• Show signs of potential conversion (e.g., clicking deeper, adding to cart, signing up for mailing lists and so on)

A high volume of high-quality traffic is the goal. And to achieve that, brands must focus on quality in 3 key areas: inventory, targeting and measurement.

How quality drives meaningful page lands

To drive meaningful engagement, advertisers must optimise for three key areas of quality:

1. Quality inventory: the right ad placements in the right context

The where matters just as much as the what in digital advertising. Your ad’s performance isn’t just about the creative—it’s about the environment in which it’s seen.

A major challenge for advertisers is the lack of full visibility into ad placements, which can lead to wasted spend on low-quality inventory. When ads are served on poor UX websites—those cluttered with excessive ads, slow load times, or intrusive pop-ups—users become frustrated, leading to accidental clicks, disengagement, or outright ad blindness. Worse, association with such sites can diminish a brand’s credibility and negatively impact domain reputation.

To combat this, advertisers need to prioritise premium inventory where users are actively engaged, and deploy programmatic strategies that emphasise brand-safe, high-relevance placements rather than just chasing low CPMs.

2. Quality audience targeting: reaching the right users at the right time

Even the best ad placements won’t work if they’re shown to the wrong people.

Many campaigns suffer from poor targeting strategies, leading to ads being served to low-intent users who aren’t the right fit for the brand. Broad, unrefined targeting can result in irrelevant clicks that don’t convert.

Advertisers should use data-driven, contextual targeting to reach users who have shown real interest by tapping on:

• Interest-based and behavioural targeting (targeting users who have actively engaged with similar brands or topics)
• Lookalike audiences (expanding reach to users who resemble high-intent converters)
• First-party data (retargeting past website visitors or engaged users)

3. Quality Measurement: looking beyond clicks

If you can't measure it, you can't improve it. Many brands rely on click-based reporting, missing the bigger picture of what happens after the click. Standard DSP metrics focus heavily on vanity metrics but fail to capture post-click behaviours. As advertisers don’t always have access to client-owned landing pages, they struggle to measure engagement beyond the first visit.

Instead, here are some metrics to consider:

• Time spent on page (Did they stay long enough to engage?)
• Consented sessions (Did visitors explicitly agree to data collection?)
• Bounce rate (Did they leave immediately?)
• Conversion pathways (Did they take action beyond the landing page?)

Final Thoughts: Quality over quantity always triumphs

The real success of digital advertising isn’t just about driving clicks—it’s about getting the right users to engage. Getting high-quality page lands requires inventory intelligence to ensure ads appear in the most effective environments. This means focusing on:

• Better inventory selection through inventory intelligence, ensuring ads are placed in brand-relevant, high-engagement spaces.
• Smarter audience targeting to reach users with real intent, not just broad impressions.
• Stronger measurement frameworks that go beyond clicks to track actual engagement and impact.

In a world where brands are constantly competing in a saturated market, the brands that prioritise quality will ultimately drive more meaningful engagement, better conversions, and stronger brand loyalty.

How does your inventory stack up?

Ever wondered how your inventory stacks up? Book a free PIQ audit with us and find out, plus insights on your best and weakest performing domains and missed opportunities.

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