How to Use A/B Testing to Amplify Your SEM

Why are you here?

• To create higher performing ads.

• To create higher performing landing pages.

• To increase your return on investment from paid search.

We’ll cover…

The paid search funnel.

Why A/B testing should be part of the process.

A/B test ideas + examples for everything from keywords to landing pages.

Tips for making this a reality.

1

2

3

4

SEM in a nutshell: !

Spend money to make more money* for your business.

*The amount of money you make should be more than the amount of money you spend.

From a user’s perspective !

I search for something.

I see ads in search results and (hopefully) click one.

I click one, the company advertising pays.

I land on a page.

Ideally I take an action.

From an advertiser’s perspective !

The goal of SEM

Leads, customers, revenue ($$$$$)

Keyword bids ($$$)

Ad impressions

Clicks

Landing page visits

On page conversions

*The definition of “performs best” is entirely up to you.

A/B testing in a nutshell: !

Try two different things. Measure which one performs best*.

An example from EA.

A B

A or B?

A B

And the winner is… B

A B

+43.4% more preorders

Consumption

What metrics you should optimize for? Well, it depends.

Consumption

What metrics you should optimize for? Well, it depends.

• Page views

• Shares

• Average time on site/page

• Bounce rate

• Video views

• Engagement metrics to increase advertisement impressions

What metrics you should optimize for? Well, it depends.

Transaction

What metrics you should optimize for? Well, it depends.

Transaction

• Add to cart

• Checkout

• Sign up

• Download

• Specific actions often led to by a series of pages

Why SEM and A/B testing?

You can A/B test SEM campaigns in three places:

The keywords.

The ads.

The landing pages.

1

2

3

If you're spending thousands of dollars on search, you’d be crazy to

not be spending on tools and software that can help you optimize

your website.

Larry Kim Founder, CTO Wordstream

“

Testing the entire SEM funnel.

Leads, customers, revenue ($$$$$)

Keyword bids ($$$)

Ad impressions

Clicks

Landing page visits

On page conversions

Testing the entire SEM funnel.

-Test which keywords you bid on. -Test negative keywords. -Test bid amount.

Leads, customers, revenue

Keyword bids ($$$)

Ad impressions

Clicks

Landing page visits

On page conversions

Testing the entire SEM funnel.

-Test which keywords you bid on. -Test negative keywords. -Test bid amount.

Leads, customers, revenue

Keyword bids ($$$)

Ad impressions

Clicks

Landing page visits

On page conversions

-Test which ad serves for which keyword. -Test ads themselves.

Testing the entire SEM funnel.

-Test which keywords you bid on. -Test negative keywords. -Test bid amount.

Leads, customers, revenue

Keyword bids ($$$)

Ad impressions

Clicks

Landing page visits

On page conversions

-Test which ad serves for which keyword. -Test ads themselves.

This just happens. (You paid for it!)

Testing the entire SEM funnel.

-Test which keywords you bid on. -Test negative keywords. -Test bid amount.

Leads, customers, revenue

Keyword bids ($$$)

Ad impressions

Clicks

Landing page visits

On page conversions

-Test which ad serves for which keyword. -Test ads themselves.

So many testable things!

This just happens. (You paid for it!)

Let’s talk about this.

Leads, customers, revenue ($$$$$)

Landing page visits

On page conversions

A/B test thy landing page.

1. Send paid traffic to the right landing page.

So you should have a few.

2. Test the flow.

Especially of paid search landing pages.

A

B

A: Original

A

B: Variation removing search

B

A or B?

A

B

And the winner is… B

A

B+23.7% more purchases

Is your first step the right first step?

Product catalog?

Email form?

Free trial?

“Show people an incline, not a steep slope.”

3. A/B test the page itself.

An example from Tirendo.

A B

A: Original

B: Streamlined and targeted

A or B?

A B

And the winner is…

A B

+20% more checkouts

So many things to test!

• Call to Action: What are you telling someone to do? How do you tell them? How prominent is it?

• Navigation: Do you include it? Where does it lead to? Are there CTAs on those pages?

• Messaging: Is it congruent with the ad? Do you include testimonials?

• Imagery, endorsements, trust symbols, layout, colors

• More? Just search for landing page optimization.

Rand Fishkin, Moz Hiten Shah, KISSmetricsBrooks Bell

Learn more at opticon.optimizely.com

San Francisco, April 17

Use promo code “webinar50” for $50 off your ticket!

4 things to remember from today.

Embrace the forest and the trees.

Just because you’ve always done it one way doesn’t mean it’s the only way.

Explore before you refine.

Share results often (but not always early).

1

2

3

4

Who am I?

Cara Harshman Campaign Manager

@caraharshman !

Optimizely optimizely.com

@optimizely

Thank you! !