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SEO-Aware Split Testing

Often, marketers want to create several variations on content for a particular URL in the interest of observ-

ing which one converts the best. It is typically an ongoing optimization process, and many different varia-

tions may be served over time to that end. This is called

split testing

.

The problem with split testing is that, if it isn’t implemented correctly, it may result in complex prob-

lems. When implementing changes on a page, there are actually three important effects to analyze:

1.

The variation of the performance of the page in search results.

2.

The variation in the page CTR.

3.

The variation in the conversion rate for visitors that land on your page (the primary purpose of

split testing).

You don’t necessarily want to sacrifice CTR or rankings for higher conversion rates. But if you do split

testing, it’s good to be aware of these possible consequences.

This complicates matters, because it introduces other factors into the performance equation. For example,

if a page converts

twice

as well, but doesn’t rank at all, it may be a net loss for a web site that is driven by

organic search. Therefore, you must consider search engine optimization principles when making any

changes for split testing.

Ideally, all changes would be purely aesthetic. In most cases doing so would not affect the rankings or

CTR of the page — which would make it easier to analyze your results. If the changes are more profound,

such as changing the on-page content, the page search engine rankings can be influenced, and this must

also be taken into consideration as a performance factor.

One method employed to collect data for split testing is to randomly show page A or page B and track

conversion rates for each. Unfortunately, when done incorrectly, this practice can confuse search engines or

raise red flags. This is the other problem with split testing. At worst, implementing this will be perceived as

spamming and/or cloaking.

There are three different approaches to implement split testing:

1.

Redirect requests for a page to other pages with variations randomly

2.

Use internal program logic to display the variations randomly

3.

Implement temporal split testing

The first two methods are similar in that they randomly display variations of a page. However, redirects

are not ideal in this situation because they may confuse search engines, and they should be avoided. There

-

fore, we recommend using internal program logic. This is consistent with Matt Cutts’ recommendation in

his video

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1156145545372854697

.

That implies some light programming. For example, if you have five versions of a web page,

page[1..5]

.php

, you can use

include()

to display its variations, like this:

$id = rand(1,5);

include(‘page’ . $id . ‘.php’);

// performance tracking code here

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Chapter 13: Coping with Technical Issues

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