What are the best practices for server-side A/B testing?
-
When performing a full-site server-side A/B test, what best practices should you follow to ensure that you're:
- not cloaking or at least not being shady
- only showing Google (and other search engines) the version you want them to see (i.e. not the test pages)
Thanks in advance!
-
The definition of cloaking according to Google is "the practice of presenting different content or URLs to human users and search engines." For that reason, there is some risk in showing Google a different page than what is being shown to your users in the test. Displaying different content based on user-agent is a red-flag to Google.
That being said, cloaking penalties are "manual actions", meaning they are manually applied by human reviewers on Google's team, so unless you are purposely trying to be deceptive, the risk of being penalized is low. Additionally, you can request reviews of manual actions via Google Search Console to appeal any penalties.
Another approach could be to use server-side redirects for the test, using 302 redirects and redirecting users bucketed into the test to a separate URL. The 302 redirect indicates to Google that this is a temporary change, and that they should retain the original page in their index. You can further reinforce this by adding a canonical tag to the test page and pointing it to the original version of the page.
Finally, for high priority SEO pages you may also consider using a client-side A/B test. Client-side A/B testing uses Javascript to dynamically change the content on the page, and is typically not indexed by Google.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Channel grouping path / assisted conversion benchmarks by industry
Hi Mozzers, I'm trying to find benchmark channel grouping paths to conversion, or assisted conversion trends, by industry... is anybody aware of any benchmark data out there? Thanks!
Conversion Rate Optimization | | Zoope0 -
Customer journey / customer drop off
Hi All, I would like to understand how visitors navigate through my site and find out where the main drop out areas are (i.e. what pages / sections of the site do users leave on). I will then be segmenting by mobile, tablet, new visitor, returning etc. to see how the various subsets of users behave. To do this I generally do the following: Identify main sections of the (ecomm) site: homepage, category pages, product pages, cart, checkout 1, checkout 2, checkout x, payment confirmation. For each section above I either use a segment to isolate that section of the site, either by regex or a simple page selector and apply to the Audience >> Overview report and record the resulting session count. OR I filter the Behaviour >> Site Content >> All Pages report to isolate the various site sections and record unique pageviews. I then plot these figures horizontally under a heading for each section of the site representing a flow between the pages of the site with a calculation showing the difference between each section of the site which represents user drop off. Hope that makes sense. What I am interested to know is, do you have any better suggestions to the process laid about above. Do you see any issues with this process?
Conversion Rate Optimization | | datarat1 -
How can I track if a landing page assists a lead/goal to another page in Google Analytics?
For example, I'm running a PPC campaign for site.com/landing-page and it consists of different product pages like below: site.com/product-1 site.com/product-2 site.com/product-3 How to determine if /landing-page assists a lead/goal to a specific product page in Analytics? Example scenario: /landing-page -> /product-3 -> Lead TIA!
Conversion Rate Optimization | | zpm20140 -
What should a small company with a difficult SEO/SEM challenge do?
Everyone here knows that SEM and SEO "experts" are everywhere. But our company has a particular challenge - our Volusion-hosted e-store's product offering is so wide that it's a huge challenge to make a dent in our search engine placement. In our earliest days, one SEM "pioneer" company issued us a refund after realizing they couldn't do anything to affect our placement. The problem is that the revenue from any one particular keyword term doesn't return enough sales to make the effort worthwhile - sales are scattered allover the product spectrum. Does anyone have any experience with this particular challenge? What would be considered a realistic monthly budget - given that the business itself is quite small? I don't know what the etiquette on Moz is but YES I am looking to engage a company to help us out.
Conversion Rate Optimization | | CrashAlpha0 -
Where I can place a banner/message in my site telling I have a new website?
Where I should place a banner or a message in my old site to tell user that I have a new website? Thanks in advance!
Conversion Rate Optimization | | esiow20130 -
How can I improve my Adsense CTR / CPC?
Here's one page where my Ads' setup can be seen: http://www.gameseducativos.com/guarda-do-zoologico/quebra-cabecas
Conversion Rate Optimization | | rpedri0 -
Google adsense what is the best way to display the ads
Hi. I am using google adsense and trying to find the best way to have them on my pages but being knew i am not sure the best way to lay them out. I am playing around with the pages and would love to see some good examples of adsense pages that work. If anyone can give me advice on the following page and let me know what is wrong or right with this page to help me understand where i am going wrong, then that would be great. I am trying to sort it out so each page is set out the same. http://www.cheapflightsgatwick.com/news/easyjet-news/easyjet-tell-disabled-man-to-get-off-plane
Conversion Rate Optimization | | ClaireH-1848860 -
Which A/B test software do you prefer? Howcome?
I am about to start some research on software for experimental design on websites. So I'd really like to know which A/B test software do you prefer? Howcome?
Conversion Rate Optimization | | ThomasHgenhaven1