Ironing Out More Wrinkles Setting Up Google Optimizer Split Tests

The problem with the delay in conversion tracking I had was that I left the product password on the (off domain) download page - the one I disccovered earlier I couldn't use as a Google Optimizer converion page becasue it was on a different domain. My resolution to that problem was to tell the customer they needed to click "here" to get the password (and land on an on-domian conversion page) - which didn't work since they saw the password I left on the download page and went about their merry way without ever hitting my conversion page. I fixed that by deleting the "the password to open the .pdf is..." text from the download page.

More Things I've Learned & Updates:

OK - I've now tried to modify an experiment unsuccesfully, and then successfully...adding a significantly more amount of Test Section combinations. I learned a lot and have updated the Clarifying Terms post to better reflect the relationship between Google Website Optimizer Experiments, Test Pages, Test Sections, Variations, and Conversion Pages.

I've also discovered that you can't use the same Test Page script on all pages, originally thinking I could add it to a Dreamweaver Template in the header. I updated a previous post about that here.

My original Experiment, which simply added a graphic showing an "old price" (higher) crossed out and none such thing as variants above the actual price produced results of a .62% conversion with the crossed out higher price, 0% without (only about a day of testing).

Next I wanted to add some more Test Sections and Variations to this experiment, but ran into a fatal flaw I'll discuss in my next post...

Google Optimizer Terms Clarifications

I wanted to take a moment to clarify the terms I'm using here since it can get a bit confusing. I'm trying to stick with capitalizing official Google Optimizer terms, which I'll define below, but in earlier posts I wasn't doing this and probably using multiple terms for one meaning.

The most confusing is the term 'test' since I and many others use it a lot when talking about this type of subject, becasue hey, we are testing stuff and we do trial and error related tests just to complete our test!

In Google Optimizer and this blog, a Test Section is something distinct (notice the capital T?):

note: these definitions are not official, they are just my interpretation.


Test Section: a snippet of code within a page that is being swapped. There could be multiple Test Sections on a single Test Page. Exaples may be a graphic or text headline (html). Each Test Section can have multiple Variations.

Variations: Different versions of Test Sections. For Example, if you are testing a header that originally said "Flying Swamp Chickens Here!", you would section off that html for the text as a Test Section within your Test Page, then add one or more Variations such as "Big Flying Swamp Chickens: Gettum' Here!" and "Fat Flying Swamp Chickens Found Here!".

Test Page: The web page you are performing Tests on. Usually a sales page or a landing page, the Test Page will contain one or more Test Sections where images, text, prices, graphics, etc are 'swapped' for different visitors and those visitor's actions are tracked to see if they make it to a Conversion Page.

Conversion Page: The page that measures the success (by way of a visit) of the Tests on the Test Page. As visitors visit the Test Page, and different visitors see a different Test or combination of Tests, they may or may not end up at the Conversion Page. If they do, that information is tracked, or credited, to the Test ot Test combination that visitor was exposed to when they visited the Test Page. The Conversion Page is usually a "goal" like a visitor signing up for something, or purchasing something...i.e., a "thank you" page.

Experiment: A combination of a Test Page with one or more Test Sections, Variations of Test Sections, and a Conversion Page.

Test Page Tracking Code: The code placed in the header of the Test Page to track visitors and create the Tests.

Test Section Code: The code used to 'wrap' the sections of code on the Test Page that will be swapped with two or more variations. The sections are all given names within the Test Section Code.

Conversion Page Code: Code placed in the body of the conversion page that tracks when a visitor visits, and helps to associate that visitor with which Test Sections they were exposed to, given that particular combination of Test Section Variations credit for the conversion in the reports.

In a previous post here, I mentioned a delay in G optimizer conversion data posting...turns out it was a bit of user error...you know, a problem between the mouse and the chair...that may have caused it. I'll explain in my next post.

Multiple Test to Single Conversion Page

One of the issues I ran into while setting up Google Optimizer was whether or not I needed to add more tracking code to the conversion page since it already had tracking code from another experiment. I ran into an error when I didn't do it, so I pasted another set of conversion page experiment scripts below the first set on the page.

The first experiment was an actual test, as I mentioned in a previous post. It was a fake Test Page, but a real conversion page. Now I've stopped that experiment and Google Optimizer directs you to remove the code scripts from the Test Page and Conversion Page.

This prompted me to go to the Conversion Page and compare the two tracking scripts from the two different experiments. One line seems to identify the experiment, for it is the only line that is distinctly unique with each experiment:

urchinTracker("/2964349575/goal");

(note: I changed the number slightly because at this point I'm not sure whether I should publish this number....probably doesn't matter but I'd rather be safe.

The script from the other experiment was identical except only for the number (all text the same)

In conclusion, with something like a sales purchase thank you page on a large site, you have the potential to have many different experiments all pointing to the same Conversion page. This will create a long stretch of multiple tracking scripts...unless there is a cleaner way to do it?

Templates and G Optimizer Tracking Code

I use Dreamweaver for development and typically have a single "main" template for each site. G Optimizer requires you to put a script in the header of the page you will be testing for a given experiment, along with the tracking code on that page and your conversion page, as well as the start/stop code snippets to ID the sections of html to be tested, or 'swapped', on your test page.

I immediately ran into the problem of code having to be embedded in non-editable template regions of the page. What I did was place the tracking script in the header of the template, so all pages have that now. I've only experimented so far with testing sections within editable regions so the test section code hasn't been a problem....and then the tracking code can go anywhere in the body so that shouldn't be a problem with anyone.

UPDATE: You can't get away with posting the tracking code in the template for it is unique for each experiment. You'll need to put an 'editable attribute' section in the template head and add the script there for each test page.

I ran my first test of Google Optimizer on a pure test test page (that is , a page i made just for the test) but used an actual conversion page (the new thank you page I mentioned earlier with the DLGuard problem).

When I was satisfied I knew enough to be dangerous, I implemented on a real test page with a new experiment I planned on taking live (the sales page). I figured since the conversion page (thank you) was still the same, I would just leave the tracking code there and put tacking code, test snippets, and script on the new, actual, test page.

No can do. The "test that you didn't screw up your code" section of a G Optimizer experiment setup told me it didn't see tracking code on the conversion page...So then I wondered "what if I'm running multiple experiments with the same goal? No problem apparently, I've got two different tracking codes pasted into the same conversion page and although I don't have data posted to reports yet, it passed the smell test.

I havent tested multiple experiments to the same Test Page yet. After thinking about this, I dont think you should have to do that anyway. The way I see it, an experiment is page based. You experiment on a given page, with multiple sections tested within that page. One page is defined per experiment. I might test it out anyway.