A/B testing is one of the most overlooked aspects in SEO. The nature and power behind it are often underestimated or ignored, but when you understand how to use this technique properly for your site’s needs – results can be earth-shifting!
The key to SEO success is not in following a list of prescriptive rules, but rather it’s about experiment with different strategies and see what works best for your business.
How do you A/B test in SEO?
The Google Ads team is always looking for ways to improve their product, so sometimes they test different keywords or headlines in order find what will lead more conversions.
Why not A/B test your SEO? You can use the same strategy as with ads and landing pages. The goal is to see what has the most impact on key performance indicators, like clicks or conversions rates for example – this will help you optimize accordingly!
A/B testing for SEO vs. PPC
Split testing is an effective way to optimize your campaign’s efficiency. For example, it can be used for split-testing SEO and PPC campaigns in order determine which one performs better based on different variables such as budget or time frame with their respective goals; this allows you make more informed decisions about how best spend money when advertising online!
SEO takes time! You can’t just change your webpage and expect traffic to go up right away. The best way is by giving search engines enough leadtime that they have an opportunity for ranking updates, which could take 3-4 weeks or more depending on how quickly newest algorithms work out bugs in old ones.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is all about rankings and content; but when you run an A/B test on your ad campaign, the focus often becomes one: which version of our page will bring us higher ranking? You might think that with 50% split between two different versions like this—one seen by those who see version “A” or another group called “control” seeing only what they’re used to–you’ll get more equal exposure time-wise. But as anyone working in SEO knows well.
Many people don’t realize that SEO A/B testing works best on large sites with many different pages. This type of experimentation can only really be done by splitting your website’s templates, which means you’ll need a lot more traffic before getting any meaningful results from the experiment! However we typically run tests in this fashion when there are 100+ similar page elements such as product listings or blog posts – so make sure to give us some credit here if yours falls into this category.
Benefits of SEO A/B testing
Testing your SEO strategy has more than one benefit. Aside from potentially raising rankings, A/B testing can help you to…
Ability to improve the user experience by SEO best practices. For instance, an updated layout could make your site easier and more engaging which will lead you into better conversions with higher rate of success per visit or session as well!
Minimizing risks when making UX or SEO changes is important. A/B testing offers some protection against experiments gone wrong by only rolling out a change to certain pages of your site instead if you were going for the whole thing at once, which limits damage done in case things don’t work as planned and allows faster recovery time frames because fewer resources are devoted towards fixing problems with individual tests rather than just getting back up on their feet entirely.
Hypotheses are the building blocks of any meaningful research project. They’re used to make a case for why something might happen or not, and when you can show positive returns on your investment in key opportunities like A/B tests this is even better because it helps get others on board with taking further action.
7 SEO-based A/B tests to try
There are tons of different experiments you could run, depending on the goal or issue that needs addressing. Here’s a few ideas to get started!
1. Title tags
If you want to rank higher on search engines like Google, it is important that your titles tags are catchy and reflect the content of your pages. It’s just as important for a title tag not only attract attention but also provide valuable information about what people can expect when they land on one page in comparison with another webpages or sites within an industry so there will be more clicks leading them towards conversion opportunities!
When we tested a simple tweak to the title format, adding “(Example)” at key points increased clicks and site traffic by 59%.
2. Meta descriptions
Meta descriptions are like the Google Ad description. They help you draw in more users by supporting your title tags with context and detail that’s relevant to what people will be searching for when they click through on those results pages! Note: test out different things separately from each other so we can get an accurate read at how well our changes performed 🙂
3. H1 headers
You can use the H1 header to quickly engage your readers and help Google understand what’s going on with page. Sometimes, they’ll even autogenerate title tags based off of it!
Make sure that the H1 tag accurately reflects what’s included on your page. You can try testing more creative copy to improve user engagement and reduce bounce-offs, or vary from using one variation of keyword in favour for another – this may help with rankings too!
4. URL structure
Google prefers shorter URLs, so de-cluttering your URL could help with site navigation and the appearance of search snippets. Searchers may additionally trust simpler cleaner URLS over complex ones.
Stripping out unnecessary words and making your URLs more concise will help you with SEO. Prioritize readability, the main subject of your page in a URL’s structure is important when it comes to clicks from SERPs or organic visibility on search engines like Google because they want people who find their website through links being clicked by visitors rather than just appearing randomly throughout social media sites.
5. Rich media
First-page worthy pages know how to use media thoughtfully. When A/B testing your images, swap out the ones on that wall for others and see what impacts user engagement! Test new button styles or even just try changing up size charts – you might be surprised by what happens next in terms of conversions.”
The benefits of enriching content are numerous and range from the increased time on page, lower bounce rate for your website visitors as well as higher conversions. The most notable improvement would be an increase in social shares which can translate into more organic backlinks because people love sharing great information!
6. Content depth
Google doesn’t seem to care about thin content, but you should! You might have heard that every page needs 2k words or more in order for it show up on SERPs. This isn’t true–the ideal length of your piece could vary depending on what topic and objective are behind the written work (although there’s no one perfect answer).
You can make your site more engaging for users by testing the amount of content on certain pages. For instance, if you have hundreds of product listings with just a short blurb and several bullet points about each item in question then try adding full paragraphs or new sections to provide fuller information that will improve everything from their user experience all way down into conversions rates!
7. Page copy
It’s no secret that content is king on the internet. Pages with well-written, detailed and engaging copy have a higher chance of being found by search engines than those without it! So if your page has low visibility or engagement you should try tweaking vocabulary choice/angle for better resonating tone to target audience.
You can analyze your page for reading level and natural language. This will show related terms that might be appropriate to include in order improve relevance—though always consult an expert if unsure yourself about the topic at hand!
Other SEO A/B testing FAQs
How do I know which version of my test is successful?
Determining which version of your A/B test is successful involves data analysis and statistical significance. This makes it vital to use an analytics platform like ContentEdge’s in order for you not only have the ability but also know when something goes right or wrong with their designs on page speed performance, user experience etc., so they can make decisions accordingly- this will ultimately lead them towards winning variations among stacks pages while taking into account 95% confidence intervals ensuring accuracy through strategic changes made based off monitored KPIs.
When do I stop testing?
Google’s algorithm changes constantly and your customers are evolving too. That is why you need to test different versions of every web page in order for the best results, even if they’re not perfect yet – because Google will always be adapting!
The bottom line: test relentlessly
Even when it comes to SEO, there’s always something new and different you can try. Algorithms change—and if your habits become too routine then they might be changed by someone else soon enough!
We’re here to help you with any questions or concerns about SEO. Get in touch with our Experts of SEO Agency today.
