Improve your Google AdWords campaign with split testing

Be your own Google AdWords consultant!

Split testing is essentially the science of making small changes and comparing the results – with a view to making improvements in performance. On the Internet the goal is usually to increase conversion – mostly sales but it could just as easily be to take a trial offer or sign-up for a newsletter.

The beauty of Google AdWords is that it has split testing capability virtually built in.

Before I go any further I should point out that it is against Google Terms of Service to reveal your click through rates, so the following examples are all hypothetical and do not relate to any actual results.

If you are running an ad campaign on Google it stands to reason you want the click. You have set the maximum you are prepared to pay per click and a daily budget. You have chosen your keywords and there is a landing page just waiting for visitors from your ad. Let’s assume your website is effective, it is well written, holds the readers attention and is converting your visitors.

Your AdWords ads however, aren’t getting the clicks. If you are bidding 10 cents on a keyword that has a top bid of $4.80 and you ad is being displayed at position 583 then there is nothing to improve as there is nothing to measure – people simply aren’t seeing your ad.

If however you are bidding 22 cents and your ad is being displayed between 1-3 and you are unhappy with the click through rate then there is a LOT you can do about it – you can split test.

More on writing AdWords…

Here’s a hypothetical example…

Let’s say we run an ad something like this:

How to Use Split Testing
Small changes / big difference
Easily double your conversion
www.bestsplittesting.com

In Google AdWords campaign summary under “Ad variations” we can very easily “clone” this ad by clicking “+ Create new ad: Text ad”

We can now change one element starting with the headline and create more ads like this:

Improve Online Conversion
Small changes / big difference
Easily double your conversion
www.bestsplittesting.com

Split Testing Exposed
Small changes / big difference
Easily double your conversion
www.bestsplittesting.com

We are only changing one element which makes it easy for us to compare the performance of each ad. You may also want to go to EDIT CAMPAIGN SETTINGS > ADVANCED SETTINGS and change the ad serving setting. By default Google sets it to “optimize” this means the “better” performing ads get more exposure over time. You will be deciding which are the best ads to run yourself once you have some data to make a decision on, so change it to “Rotate: show all ads equally”.

Let these ads run for a thousand impressions or so and you will have a good idea of their relative performance.

If you are short on ideas for new headlines click on your keywords tab and sort by CTR so the highest percentage is at the top. Try creating some new headlines using these top performing keywords. Another place to get ideas is to go to Google or Yahoo or MSN and type in some of the keywords you are bidding on and look at the ads that are displayed.

The difference in performance can be significant. Let’s say our three ads performed like this: 0.0%, 0.43% and 0.06%. We would take the second ad clone it several times and change the second line:

Improve Online Conversion
Free trail our software
Easily double your conversion
www.bestsplittesting.com

Improve Online Conversion
Blast sales to the next level
Easily double your conversion
www.bestsplittesting.com

Improve Online Conversion
Run your business like a pro
Easily double your conversion
www.bestsplittesting.com

We would now run these ads for another 1,000 impressions and check our results, then change the third line.

The beauty of split testing and refining your ads this way in Google means you can take your best performer and confidently distribute it on the smaller (cheaper!) ad networks for pennies.

P.S. When composing your ad remember the tried and tested A.I.D.A. principle:Attention > Interest > Desire > Action

Another approach is “Identify problem” > “Agitate problem” > “Offer solution”, this 1-2-3 approach can work well as the Google ad effectively exists on 3 lines.

To you increased click through!

Noel