Stop Split Testing AdWords Ads the Wrong Way
Split Testing Only Two Ads at a Time Costs an Advertiser Big Money
Oct 23, 2009
Most advertisers who split-test AdWords ads do it the wrong way and it costs them valuable time and can have a drastically negative effect on their profit margins.
Any advertiser who split-tests ads the classic way by running two ads simultaneously is potentially destroying 50% of their profits and spending far too much time determining the best ad in a campaign.
Split-Testing Only Two Ads in a Campaign is Statistically Inefficient
Google ads are placed according to the bid price on each word on its keyword list and its performance history. A particularly well performing ad with a high CTR will therefore be placed higher than a new ad with the same keyword list and bid prices.
When a new ad is run against this established ad, it is at a distinct disadvantage because it has no performance history. It will be displayed lower on search results and the CTRs of the two ads will be skewed in favor of the previously existing ad.
After a few rounds of split testing, the odds of a new ad outperforming an established one are very slim. So by having AdWords display these new ads on an equal footing with an ad that has already established itself as a high traffic generator, standard split testing becomes a waste of time and money
Standard Split Testing Costs Online Advertisers Money
By setting the AdWords software to run each ad an equal number of times, traffic is lost because the better performing ad is only shown half the time. If this ad were run alone, it would produce twice the traffic as it does during a split-test.
To get the most out of the ads that are known to drive traffic and simultaneously split test these already successful ads against newly written ones, follow the following procedure:
- Delete all ads from a campaign except the best historical performer
- Create a few (2 to 4) new copies of the top performer (write the same ad again)
- Write a new ad to be split test against the top performer and its copies
Advantages of Using Multiples Copies of a Top Performing Ad During Split Testing
The copies of the top performing ad start from the same baseline as the new ad and should perform comparably to the top performer itself. This negates the past performance advantage that the top performing ad would have against a new ad.
Another benefit is that the top performing ad and its copies will be shown 80% of the time (if three copies are made) instead of only 50% of the time if only two ads were competing.
This minimizes the effects a truly horrid new ad can have on traffic if it is shown as often as an ad whose traffic-generating capacity has already been proven.
Split testing ads is only a small part of running a successful and efficient AdWords campaign. There are many quality resources available online that examine other aspects of the AdWords software and the ways in which it can be manipulated to a business' advantage.
How to Run a Better Split Test and Generate More Website Traffic
Once the copies and the new ad have been written, make sure AdWords is set to show all ads equally and then run the campaign. To learn how to set AdWords to show all ads equally, read Split Test AdWords Ads for a Higher CTR. Then follow these steps:
- Observe the respective CTRs of the new ad and the copies of the top performing ad
- Any obvious failures will be apparent quickly
- If the new ad is an obvious failure, delete it and all the copies of the top performer and start the process over again with fresh copies of the top performing ad and a newly written ad
- If the performance of the top performer copies and the new ad is comparable, delete the copies one at a time until the new ad is running solely against the top performer
- Let the head-to-head test run for awhile and check the results
- Determine the winner and use this free Split-Tester software to determine the reliability of the statistical results
- Delete the loser and repeat the whole process with fresh copies of the top performer and a newly written ad
Many advertisers waste substantial amounts of money by split testing ads the wrong way. By altering the split testing approach in accordance with sound statistical analysis, the effects of poorly written ads can be minimized and website traffic can be bolstered.
Sources
Thies, Dan. "Split-Testing AdWords: You're Doing It Wrong." 22 Oct 2009. http://www.seofaststart.com/blog/split-testing-adwords-youre-doing-it-wrong
Perry Marshall and Brian Todd. Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords. Canada: Entrepreneur Media, Inc., 2007.
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