PPC Ad Campaign Optimization with Split A/B Testing

The best way to optimize the effectiveness of your Pay Per Click advertising efforts is through Split A/B Testing. The simple formula behind A/B testing is to compare different versions of variables within the ad campaign to identify and leverage those elements that deliver best results; and even though the effort is substantial, its time well spent.

Testing Variables

There are four variables involved in testing mainly,

• Headline – as a rule, always try to limit your headline to 4-5 words and load it with keywords.
• PPC Ad Copy –Ad copy should have relevant keywords and should talk about the offer clearly and succinctly.
• Link – will lead to the landing page
• Keywords – for A/B testing, cherry pick handful of best keywords from a exhaustive list instead of using a bigger list for testing.

Advertising A/B testing will help discover keywords, headlines, ad copies and their combinations that convert better. The number of tests you will need to conduct will depend on the variables you choose to test.

Example, you have two headlines, Headline A and Headline B and you have two sets of body text, C & D respectively. Then you will need to run four different tests: AC, AD, BC, and BD to see which combination gets better response.

What to Test

When testing PPC Ad copies, you also need to know what you will need to measure, which depends on the goal of your campaign. For B2C, where sales cycle is generally shorter, you can test the overall conversion rate — the percentage of people that buy your product. In B2B, where sales cycles is generally longer, we recommend you test some other action that places a prospect into your sales funnel, for example,  white paper download.

Analyzing Results

You will need to run tests over a period to gather accurate information. Accurate PPC A/B testing requires that you also run all tests simultaneously because you will not be able to compare them if you do not collect all of your data over the same time.

Testing Benefits

1. You can use A/B split testing to better understand visitor behaviors and priorities.
2. Specific problems in the PPC ad can be solved using A/B Testing. In other words, use it as a diagnostic tool to find out what is going wrong and how to fix it.

You can use A/B split testing to challenge assumptions you may have about the “best” way to design or write a page. Optimization can be done for landing pages as well. Await our next post on Landing Page optimization.