How To Use Multivariate Testing For Web Page SEO Elements (Thanks YouTube)

Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Thursday, August 20, 2009 Leave a comment

YouTube ran the largest multiariate test ever and published the results on its blog. It’s an interesting read because they actually show screenshots of the elements they tested with before/after photos of the site. And if you’re a fan of multivariate testing then you’ll definitely want to read the story.

I think testing is important. It gives you a sense of what your actual customers think is important. By test driving new features before you implement and introducing them to a limited audience to check results, you can save yourself a lot of time, trouble, and money. If your test fails to prove your plans profitable then you can ditch them before implementing them. That’s a valuable enterprise no matter how you look at it.

Not only can you use multivariate testing on elements like graphics, placement of page design features, and colors, but you can test it on SEO-related content as well. For instance, let’s say that, instead of testing sign up boxes and such, YouTube wanted to test a new tagline for its website.

There are several ways they could have accomplished this, but here are a few ideas:

  • Run a multivariate test on the color of the tagline
  • Test the placement of the tagline in relation to its logo (above, below, beside, etc.)
  • Test the actual wording of the tagline
  • Could even test individual keywords within the tagline
  • Answer the question: Do visitors respond more favorably to the tagline or the logo without a tagline?

By testing keywords and semantic uses of words within the tagline, YouTube could have come up with the most effective way to brand itself. In fact, any website could use multivariate testing to identify the best search engine optimization elements on its pages as well as the best graphic elements too.

Learn more about multivariate testing from Google Website Optimizer.

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