How to Install and use Google Optimize to Test on Your Landing Pages

Published by admin

at March 27, 2020

No Comments

How to install and use Google Optimize to test on your landing pages:

Google Optimize is a tool that allows anyone to perform tests on the pages of their site. One of the aspects that make it extremely useful and interesting to learn about this tool is the fact that it is also available in a free version.

Thanks to Google Optimize you can start performing A / B tests , Multivariate tests (this functionality is still in beta) and redirection tests completely free of charge and in a fairly short time.

It is therefore a tool that allows you to test variants on one or more pages on your site with the aim of improving conversion rates.

Using Google Optimize is not particularly complicated, even if the setup phase can discourage the less accustomed users from modifying the code of the web pages of their site.

How to activate and install Google Optimize on your site:

In this article I will not elaborate on why to perform tests on landing pages , but I will focus on the various steps necessary to activate Google Optimize, install the codes on your site and create your first A / B test experiment.

At least 4 requirements are required before starting with Google Optimize:

a site that you can access, possibly via FTP, to install code in the individual pages or in the template of your site;

a Google account;

an active Google Analytics account and with the related code possibly already installed on the site pages ( find out how to activate it on your WordPress site ).

the Google Chrome browser so you can take advantage of the extension for creating page variations in visual mode.

If we are here, we can start with the various steps.

Activate Google Optimize:

Step 01 – Connect to the site https://optimize.google.com/ and click on the green button at the top right “SIGN UP FOR FREE”. I advise you to log in with the same Google account you use for Google Analytics.

The Google Optimize home screen
The Google Optimize home screen

Step 02

Once the various consents have been given or denied to receive communications from Google, click on the “CREATE EXPERIMENT” button.
Create the first experiment with Google Optimize

Step 03

Assign a name to your experiment, select the type of experiment (I suggest you Test A / B to start) and enter the URL of the page you want to start experimenting with
Choice of the type of experiment
Link Google Optimize with Google Analytics

Step 04

Now you need to link Google Optimize to your Google Analytics account. To do this, click on the “Go to the container page” link in the right column.
Link Google Optimize with Google Analytics

Step 05

Click on the “CONNECT PROPERTIES” button
Link with Google Analytics property

Step 06

Assuming that you are connected to the same Google Account used for Google Analytics, select the property and view of the site on which you want to carry out the experiment. Then click on the “CONNECT” button.
Install Google Optimize codes on site pages

Step 07

A mask will appear from which you can access the code snippet that you need to install on your site. Then click on the “SHOW SNIPPET” link.
Get the Google Optimize code snippet

Step 08

Copy the code you will need to install on the pages of your site, as high as possible in the <HEAD> section of the page.
You can simply copy the Google Optimize plugin line and insert it into the existing Google Analytics code on your site, or the entire Google Analytics code block that also contains the Google Optimize plugin.
The code snippet that you need to install to use Google Optimize on the pages of your site

Step 09

Enter the code in the pages of your site.
If you use the new Global Site Analytics Tag, you will need to change your code like this:
gtag (‘config’, ‘UA-XXXXXXX-X’, {‘optimize_id’: ‘GTM-XXXXX’});

The code to avoid flickering when the page is loaded

Step 10

Enter the code to avoid flickering or flickering the page. This code serves to prevent your visitors from seeing the old version of the page for a moment before the test version comes into effect. Too complicated? Don’t worry, the advice is to install it ?
You must always enter it in the <HEAD> section of the pages on your site and before the Google Analytics code. Then click on the “END” button.
The code snippet to reduce flicker when the page loads

Step 11

Then click on the line for your experiment.
Google Optimize configuration

Step 12

Click on the link that appears on this page to link the experiment to the Google Analytics view. This you need to be able to associate a Google Analytics goal with the experiment, since it makes no sense to experiment without at least one goal.
Link to a Google Analytics view to set a goal

Step 13

Select the view (usually the main one on your site) and then click on the “END” button.
View connection

Step 14

Click on the link on the page to add an objective to the experiment.
Objective added to the A / B test on Google Optimize

Step 15

You can create a custom goal, but I suppose you already have goals set up on Google Analytics. An example of a useful goal for an experiment can be the one recording the compilation of a contact request or a quote.
A / B test target choice

Step 16

Google Optimize shows the objectives present in the selected Google Analytics view. You must select the one that you think is most relevant to your experiment. For example, if you are testing hypotheses to increase the time spent on the site, you will have to choose a “Session Duration” type goal. If instead you are testing hypotheses to improve the rate of request for quotes, you will have to use this type of conversion as a goal.

Step 17

Save your experiment by clicking on the “SAVE” button at the top right.
Saving experiment on Google Optimize
Create a variation in the experiment on Google Optimize

Step 18

Create your first variant, which is the actual test. A variant is a change from the control, represented by the original page.
Create a variation for A / B Test on Google Optimize

Step 19

Give a name to the variant and click on “ADD”.
Name of the experiment variant

Step 20

Install the Google Chrome extension by clicking on the appropriate link in the window. Then confirm the installation by clicking on the “Add extension” button.
Google Optimize extension for Google Chrome

Step 21

Once the extension is installed you will be able to access the variant to be modified. Having selected “Test A / B” as the type of experiment, you can make changes directly from the original page, using a convenient WYSIWYG editor. The modifications that can be carried out are numerous: you can simply limit yourself to changing the text, you can modify or remove some HTML code and even make interventions on the JavaScript code. You can intervene on different elements of the page. Once the modifications are complete, you can click on “END”.
From the menu on the top left you can quickly switch from the display of the original page to that of your variation.
Creating the variant
Set the experiment target

Step 22

Define the experiment target by clicking on “TARGETING”.
Set the target of an experiment on Google Optimize

Step 23

In the “Who” section you can define on what percentage of visitors to carry out your experiment and also on what level to divide the amount of traffic that will be addressed to the various variants.
In the “When” section you can select different criteria to activate the experiment only under certain conditions. The simplest condition is that which provides for the insertion of only the URL of the page you want to test.
Define the conditions of the experiment

Step 24

However, if you want, you can access numerous additional criteria that allow you to define rules of a certain complexity.
Experiment rules on Google Optimize

Step 25

Once the targeting has been set up, you can click on the “START EXPERIMENT” item at the top in the dark gray band and then on the “START” button to confirm the start of the experiment.
Start A / B Test with Google Optimize
Analyze the data of an experiment on Google Optimize

Step 26

The data relating to the progress of the experiment you can see them both in the “Reports” in the detail tab of your experiment on Google Optimize, but also in the “BEHAVIOR” -> “Experiments” section of your Google Analytics account.
Analysis A / B Test with Google Optimize
I hope this guide can help you set up and start trying Google Optimize. A tool that you should try, especially if you run campaigns to bring traffic to your landing pages.

Post Category:

Digital Technology Trends