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SEO Split-Testing - Why and How
The document discusses the importance of SEO split-testing, providing insights on how to effectively run SEO tests and the common pitfalls to avoid. It presents methods for creating control and variant groups, examples of successful tests, and highlights the need for data-driven validation in SEO practices. Additionally, it emphasizes the importance of testing in SEO similar to conversion rate optimization (CRO) and introduces a new platform for SEO A/B testing.
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SEO Split-Testing - Why and How
- 1. SEO Split-Testing Why youshould. How you can. What we’ve learnt. @TomAnthonySEO
- 4. But I worethe juice! McArthur Wheeler
- 5. ? Do you thinklemon juice makes you invisible?
- 6. Do you thinkHTTP is better than HTTPS?
- 7. Are multiple schema.org entriesa good idea?
- 8. Are 302’s reallyas good as 301’s?
- 9. Be careful with untestedrecommendations. Don’t blindly believe Google. !
- 10. So today Iwant to discuss 3 things How good are we at ranking factors? How to run tests & pitfalls to avoid Some of the tests we’ve been running
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- 12. Search: future oftv advertising http://adage.com/article/media/future-tv/303508/
- 13. Search: future oftv advertising http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2016/04/television-advertising-native/
- 14. Search: future oftv advertising DA PA LRDs Rank http://dis.tl/rankq-1a 91 47 2 ? http://dis.tl/rankq-1b 86 57 9 ?
- 15. Search: future oftv advertising DA PA LRDs Rank http://dis.tl/rankq-1a 91 47 2 3 http://dis.tl/rankq-1b 86 57 9 8
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- 18. Search: kettlebell technique DAPA LRDs Rank http://dis.tl/rankq-2a 41 42 12 ? http://dis.tl/rankq-2b 76 44 20 ?
- 19. Search: kettlebell technique DAPA LRDs Rank http://dis.tl/rankq-2a 41 42 12 4 http://dis.tl/rankq-2b 76 44 20 6
- 20. http://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/iphone/how-to-back-up-iphone-ipad-backup-3595444/ Search: do Ineed to backup my iphone
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- 22. Search: do Ineed to backup my iphone DA PA LRDs Rank http://dis.tl/rankq-3a 77 59 16 ? http://dis.tl/rankq-3b 67 34 3 ?
- 23. Search: do Ineed to backup my iphone DA PA LRDs Rank http://dis.tl/rankq-3a 77 59 16 7 http://dis.tl/rankq-3b 67 34 3 5
- 24. How did wedo compared to others?
- 25. We surveyed 2000people for 10 queries
- 26. % of UKsearch result pairs predicted correctly 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% Laypeople
- 27. % of UKsearch result pairs predicted correctly 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% Laypeople <= 3 yrs SEO
- 28. % of UKsearch result pairs predicted correctly 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% Laypeople <= 3 yrs SEO > 3 yrs SEO
- 29. % of UKsearch result pairs predicted correctly 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% Laypeople <= 3 yrs SEO > 3 yrs SEO Coin flip
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- 33. % of UKsearch result pairs predicted correctly 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% Laypeople <= 3 yrs SEO > 3 yrs SEO Coin flip
- 34. % of UKsearch result pairs predicted correctly 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% Laypeople <= 3 yrs SEO > 3 yrs SEO Coin flip DeepRank
- 35. Our instincts aren’tgreat! We need data and ways to validate.
- 36.
- 37. All CRO teamsrun tests. If they didn’t you wouldn’t take them seriously.
- 38. Why is thatnot true for SEO teams?
- 39.
- 40. IMEC Labs IMEC Labs Runexperiments against the SERPs to understand aspects of Google’s algorithm.
- 41.
- 42.
- 43. You can doproper testing too!
- 44. RUN YOUR OWNTESTS
- 45. Blog Post -http://dis.tl/mark-post
- 46. ‘Traditional’ CRO A/BTesting is User Oriented
- 47. SEO A/B Testingis Page Oriented
- 48. SEO A/B Testingincludes Googlebot
- 49. Introduction to SEOA/B Testing Blog Post
- 50. How Split-Testing ChangesConsulting Blog Post
- 51. 3 Steps toDIY SEO Split-Tests 1. Create two buckets of pages. 2. Make a change to all pages in one bucket. 3. Analyse which bucket performs better.
- 52. 1. Create twobuckets of pages. A good DIY approach is using GA segments. Easy to make (see link). Suggestion: Create Segments by category (e.g. blog tag, product category).
- 53. 2. Make achange to all pages in one bucket. Control Variant This will be your variant bucket. Utilise your CMS where possible. Ask Dev for scalable approach.
- 54. 3. Analyse whichbucket performs better. A naive approach can just compare absolute traffic, if you had a close match before. But needs a big uplift and hard to create such Segments. Better approach is using Google's Causal Impact library — read this great Lunametrics post. Variant Control
- 55. DistilledODN Your Server YourHome Page CDN Distilled ODN Your Optimized Home Page
- 56.
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- 58. ConcertHotels.com: Test Setup ~20,000location category pages Pages Title: <<Location>> Hotels, NY | ConcertHotels.com H1: <<Location>> Hotels Before (Control) Title: Hotels near <<Location>>, NY | ConcertHotels.com H1: Hotels near <<Location>> After (Variant)
- 59. ConcertHotels.com: Results 2.5 weeksto get to significance. Gradual improvement in organic performance leading to steady amount of higher traffic. Results
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- 61. SmokyMountains.com: Test Setup ~100lodging pages Pages schema.org markup: @type “WebSite”. Generic on all pages. Before (Control) schema.org markup: @type “LodgingBusiness”. Customised to each page. After (Variant)
- 62. SmokyMountains.com: Results Fewer testpages than previous test, so it is less smooth but is detected much quicker. Traffic uplift here is estimated to be ~5%. Results
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- 64. iCanvas.com: Test Setup ~3200artist category pages Pages meta description: Shop our selection of canvas prints by Banksy, each hand-stretched over museum-quality bars and printed with brilliant, fade-resistant inks. Free shipping and returns. internal links: ~50 self referential links Before (Control) meta description: Banksy Prints on Canvas, including There Is Always Hope Balloon Girl, Life Is Beautiful and others. Free shipping and returns. internal links: <removed> After (Variant)
- 65. iCanvas.com: Results 2 weeksto get significance. Number of pages is between the previous tests: a few days to be noticed but quite smooth. Results
- 66. SOME OTHER TESTIDEAS
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- 70. We removed allthe ads from pages. Immediate uplift. Ad revenue was 1%. Clear ROI.
- 71. Build a libraryof tests
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- 73. You can’t assumetraffic equality between “buckets” of pages This is why we build a counterfactual comparison using control pages. Use Google’s Causal Impact library to do it yourself.
- 74. Pay attention to: Amountof traffic & number of pages These two factors will determine how quickly you can test and what size uplifts you can detect.
- 75. New pages that appearduring tests The simplest approach is to just ignore all new pages that didn’t exist before the test started.
- 76. Different pages canhave different seasonality For example, “roses” pages on valentine’s day. You need to cut outliers.
- 77. You could damageconversions, so pay attention to those metrics too. Tag people in your analytics depending if they arrive on Control or Variant
- 78. Run Null Tests Verifyyour test framework. Check for false positives.
- 79.
- 80. CROs are testing, weshould too! I love testing!
- 81. You make meso happy, Tom Boss Friendly! Get Attribution! Get Dev Time!
- 82. Small site? Use MarkEdmondson Tool Bigger site? Use an A/B Approach
- 83.
- 84. www.distilledodn.com DistilledODN allows youto test exactly which changes to your website will result in an uplift in traffic from search engines. Our new SEO A/B Testing platform is available. @TomAnthonySEO
- 85. Image Credits • Buckets- mamarazzi • Rose - alicelingching • Girders - JFB119 • Rubiks - Wallpaperzone