A landing page has one job: convert a specific audience on a specific offer. A homepage has a different job: route multiple audiences to their relevant conversion paths. Optimizing both with the same framework produces a homepage that's too narrow and a landing page that's too broad.
The Homepage as Router
A SaaS homepage serves at least three distinct visitor segments: potential customers evaluating the product, existing customers looking for login or support, and job seekers or partners exploring the company. Each segment needs a different path, and the homepage's job is to route them efficiently.
This means a homepage should never have a single CTA. It should have a primary CTA for the highest-value segment (usually prospects) and secondary navigation for other segments. The Protocol audit evaluates this under Conversion Path Depth — a dimension that penalizes homepages with only one path and landing pages with too many.
The Landing Page as Funnel
A landing page, by contrast, should have exactly one CTA repeated at multiple scroll depths. Every element on the page should serve the singular conversion goal. Navigation links, footer exploration, and secondary offers are conversion leaks on a landing page — they give the visitor an exit before they've completed the desired action.
Why This Matters for Audits
When you run a Protocol audit, selecting the correct page type (Homepage vs. Landing Page) adjusts the scoring weights. A homepage with no navigation scores poorly on UX Simplicity. A landing page with full navigation scores poorly on Friction. The same structural element is an asset in one context and a liability in another — which is why page type selection exists in the Advanced Options.