How Landing Rank works
Every published startup's landing page is audited against a fixed rubric and graded S to F. Same rules for everyone — here they are.
What gets graded
The audit looks at your landing page the way a first-time visitor does: two screenshots (desktop and mobile), the page's visible text, and a set of technical measurements. It answers a fixed checklist of specific questions — never a general impression — and the score, the tier and the verdict are computed from those answers. The rules are distilled from the classic landing page canon: clarity beats creativity, benefits beat features, proof beats adjectives.
The grade is opinionated by design: one school of landing page thought, applied the same way to every page. It's a sharp second opinion, not professional marketing advice — a page can rank low and still print money.
Six dimensions
First five seconds
25%The above-the-fold test, desktop and mobile: can a stranger tell what this is, who it is for and why it is better in five seconds? Is the real product visible, is there a call to action and a hint of proof before any scrolling?
Message & copy
25%The headline sells an outcome, not a category. Plain language, specifics and numbers instead of buzzwords, benefits leading and features proving. Copy a competitor could paste unchanged scores low.
Conversion path
20%One clear primary action with a value-shaped label, visible pricing, reassurance where doubts live, and ideally a way to taste the product before committing.
Trust & proof
15%Real, specific social proof: numbers, named testimonials with concrete outcomes, honest answers to real objections, a guarantee near the ask. Fake-smelling proof scores below no proof.
Design & structure
10%Visual hierarchy that walks the eye from headline to action, disciplined color, sections that breathe, one idea per screen. Ugly-but-clear beats gorgeous-but-confusing.
Technical foundation
5%The basics a browser and a search engine see: HTTPS, speed, mobile viewport, proper title and description, a share image, working links.
The bars show each dimension's share of the total score.
The ladder
S is deliberately rare: on top of a 90+ score it requires near-perfect first-impression and copy marks, nothing weak anywhere, and a clean technical bill — no capped checks at all.
The verdict
Every audit comes with a verdict — two or three sentences about what your page actually does to visitors, quoting your own copy. Expect it to be blunt. A sample, so you know the tone:
Hard caps
Some failures put a ceiling on the score no matter how good the rest is. They cost real points, not just the letter — so the grade always reads the same way for everyone, and fixing one is worth doing:
When grades change
Pages are re-checked weekly and re-graded only when the content actually changes — a grade never moves on its own. That weekly cycle is free for every listed startup. Checking on demand, without waiting for it, comes with our badge on your site or with Premium (re-grades are limited to one per day either way). The letter always follows the score: cross 80 and you are an A, with no separate rule deciding the badge.
Get your landing graded
List your startup and it enters the weekly audit cycle — tier on your page, full breakdown and fixes in your dashboard.