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Multivariate Testing With Google Website Optimizer: The Final Word?

Katie B. asks MrOptimization:

Hi Mr.O!

We've been looking at MVT vendors for months. Our team narrowed it down to one that we think will work best for us.

Then our CMO goes to a seminar where a Google Website Optimizer consultant presented and now he's all Googly-eyed.

What's the final word on Google Optimizer for Multivariate Testing and Targeting?

MrOptimization responds:

We've been meaning to sit down and write up the final word on Google Website Optimizer for a long time.

This question comes up at least three times a week and we've seen it play out from all angles for years.

Thanks for giving us the kick we needed, Katie!

Take the time to read through this and you'll have the final word!

In the beginning...

Up until recently, Multivariate Testing and Targeting was the exclusive domain of the dominant species on the Internet, those who've evolved to the upper limits of the digital optimization maturity model. These are the big, profitable sites like Amazon who don't make a habit of telling everyone how they keep their digital edge.

Multivariate Testing Power to the People!

Then Google released Website Optimizer in 2007. Like Mr. Ford before him, Google's Mr. Schmidt wants to drag formerly exclusive technologies such as Multivariate Testing down from the rarefied air so everyone can use them.

In Mr. Schmidt's words, he wants Google's products "to serve all potential users of targeted advertising."

Yay Eric! Google gave it the nod and now everyone's started thinking about Multivariate Testing.

BUT, like most mass market versions of formerly high-end products, Google Website Optimizer is not really "free" or enterprise-grade, so you'll need to consider a few points carefully before you make it the center of your optimization strategy.

What IS Google Website Optimizer, really?

Like Omniture's Test&Target — born Offer-Matica in 2004 — Google Website Optimizer was designed for one purpose. In the years since its birth people have twisted, kneaded and bent it to try and make it fit a variety of roles.

And while that's all true, Google Website Optimizer is really an add-on to AdWords. Specifically, it's designed to help AdWords customers get better ROI from the landing pages they send all those expensive clicks to.

Nothing wrong with that since doing Multivariate Testing of any type benefits everybody, but just make sure you're able to live with Google Website Optimizer's limitations before committing everything to such a narrow technology.

Google Website Optimizer PROS

• Run true multivariate experiments

Google Website Optimizer supports both basic A/B/n experiments and full multivariate experiments.

The complexity of designing and operating tests is hidden under the simple web-based Website Optimizer interface.

• Full factorial AND fractional factorial methodologies

Despite popular belief in the Multivariate Testing and Targeting goober community, you CAN do fractional factorial experiments with Google Website Optimizer.

In case you're not familiar with this terminology; in a nutshell, "full factorial" means "test everything."

Fractional factorial testing (as seen in the popular Taguchi method, for example) basically means "test SOME of the variations and use the data you collect to form conclusions about ALL of the variations."

Fractional factorial methods let you infer conclusions for a larger set of variables than would be possible in a reasonable amount of time if you tried to test every possible combination with a live audience.

• No technology costs, contracts or commitments

Run a test on just one page or go wild and test all over the place.

As long as you can manage the Google Website Optimizer tagging and have time to plan and manage your tests, you can dabble a little or dive completely in to Multivariate Testing without signing any contracts or cutting any (direct) checks.

• Use it on multiple sites

Extending the "free" theme, Google Website Optimizer lets you run experiments on any of your web properties.

You can kludge multiple site testing together in a single account or set up different accounts for different web properites.

• Test multiple conversion types

Another misconception about Google Website Optimizer is that it can only do "Page A to Page B" conversion tracking.

While "Page A-to-B" tracking is the standard way of tracking successes in Website Optimizer, if you have access to reasonably competent front-end engineers they can hack up conversion tracking for just about anything (clicking on links, submitting forms, time-on-page a/k/a "engagement" etc.)

By the way, some of the enterprise-grade Multivariate Testing platforms also require code hacks if you want to do any sort of advanced conversion tracking beyond "Page A-to-B".

• Limit your "at-risk" traffic

Google Website Optimizer is easily configured to limit the percentage of your traffic that gets sent into tests.

This limits the traffic you're putting "at-risk" and can be changed at any time through the web-based Optimizer interface.

Bear in mind, though, that lower "sample size" equals longer tests. How much longer will depend on your traffic, the number of variables and the current conversion rates on areas you're testing.

• Auto-kill obvious losers

If you're testing a bunch of variations and it becomes clear that some of them are tanking your overall successes, Google Website Optimizer can "auto disable" the sucky ones.

This gives more traffic to likely "winners," getting the benefits of their higher conversion rates while possibly finishing the test sooner because now you're distributing traffic to a smaller set of variants.

• Exportable reports

You can export Google Website Optimizer reports in PDF format for distribution and relatively easy inclusion into other documents and even dashboards.

There's no slick automated way to do this like you find in many of the advanced Multivariate Testing and Targeting platforms, but with a little clicking around it's good enough for most.

• Integrates with Google Analytics

While it's not something easily managed in the Google Website Optimizer interface, your tech resources can customize your Google Analytics tagging to pass information to Website Optimizer and vice versa.

This functionality compares well with the integrations offered by the enterprise-grade Multivariate Testing platform vendors.

• Includes an experiment duration calculator

Google provides a Website Optimizer calculator that predicts how long your experiment will need to run.

Just enter the number of factors, page views per day, percentage of visitors routed to the experiment, current conversion rate and desired lift percentage.

Of course, most of the enterprise-grade Multivariate Testing vendors have similar calculators.

• GWO won't kill your natural SEO

You'd think you wouldn't be penalized by one part of Google for using another part of Google to improve your sites, and you'd be right.

When search engine spiders crawl a site, they just skip over the Google Website Optimizer-generated versions and index the "default" (control) content — EXCEPT with A/B/n testing (see CONS below.)

Once you discover a winner and publish it through your content system, the Google search spider will then crawl the new version on its next visit.

This is also true for all the major Multivariate Testing platforms.

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