Search Engine Optimization is vital when running an online business. Assuring that your website always works at its full capacity will make your rankings increase among SERPs. These strategies don’t deliver benefits overnight, and sometimes, a lot of experimenting is involved.

Split testing (or A/B testing) is the process of conducting precise and randomized tests. Its primary purpose is to improve a website’s metrics such as clicks, form completions, or purchases.

How does it work?

The process is relatively simple. Your website’s traffic is spread between the original page and one or more variations of it. People who visit your site are unaware of this experiment. Then, the tester waits until a significant difference in user behavior surfaces. Lastly, the results from each variation are compared to determine which one performed the best.

This method is often employed to test changes in forms, registration pages, calls-to-action (CTAs), or any other factor within a website that’s measurable.

Marketers and web developers test many features to optimize a website properly. Some of them may include:

  –  Pictures, videos, and colors.

  –  Meta descriptions, headers, and calls-to-action.

  –  The specific arrangement of buttons, menus, and forms.

  –  A website’s flow: how users get from point A to B.

Implementing split testing can help increase a site’s rankings among SERPs. However, there are a few things you need to keep in mind when carrying out the process.

  –  Don’t focus on too many elements. Pick the most relevant to your current problems for the test. That way, you’ll be creating fewer distractions from the ultimate conversion goal.

  –  Keep a close eye on CTAs. Not everyone reacts the same to these, so, studying user behavior is necessary to understand what draws the attention/action of most.

  –  Don’t drive all your attention to individual pages. Implement the testing with a global goal in mind. Your emphasis should be to find what works best for the website as a whole.

  –  Keep the changes consistent throughout the entire trial. This will improve conversions and flow at every step of the process.