Adwords Split Testing Dilemma…
March 5th, 2008 by 
Amit
My wife and I are flying to Paris tomorrow for a well deserved vacation! So you can imagine that I’m super busy today - I’m keeping this post short and sweet.
Here’s the dilemma…
When you’re split testing two ads on Adwords you can either test for CTR or Conversion Rate.
Not only can making a small change in your ad change your CTR significantly, it can also impact the conversion rate of your ad - sometimes significantly.
But here’s the problem, you can’t optimize for both CTR and Conversion rate simultaneously. Having an ad with a higher CTR does NOT mean it has a higher conversion rate.
For example, you can put your product price in your ad and it will most certainly lower your CTR, BUT your conversion rate will almost always go UP.
So what should you optimize your ad for : highest possible CTR or highest possible Conversion Rate?
The advantage of having a higher conversion rate is obvious - you make more sales.
The advantages of having a higher CTR are significant as well :
- With a higher CTR you get more traffic
- Google rewards you with a better quality score, which means your ad either moves up while you pay the same CPC or Google lowers your CPC + your min bids can drop as well.
Think about it, if you double your CTR and your ad jumps up several spots you can potentially increase your traffic by 4X, 2X from doubling your CTR and another 2X from your ad moving up. If your quality score gets high enough and you move into the sponsored link section, than you can expect a jump in Conversion Rate as well!
Here’s the bottom line : OPTIMIZE YOUR AD FOR MAX CTR
Why?
There’s several reasons :
- There’s a 2-fold benefit to improving your CTR : more traffic + a higher quality score. Getting a high quality score is a BIG DEAL.
- Optimizing for CTR is fast since it’s based on clicks. Optimizing for Conversion Rate takes a LONG TIME, in most cases you need at least 20-30 conversions on each ad to make a statistically valid decision, compared to 20-30 clicks on each ad to make a decision as to which one has a higher CTR. After a month of split testing you can make HUGE gains in CTR, however, if you’re optimizing for Conversion Rate, chances are after a month you won’t have enough data to even make ONE change.
- By optimizing for Conversion Rate of your Ad you’re neglecting the CTR, and if your CTR suffers it will hurt your quality score at the keyword, campaign, and even the account level - potentially raising your min bids and your CPC costs account wide.
So start split testing your ads, continually and systematically, and blow your competitors out of the water!
google adwords split testing ads
Posted in Google™ AdWords, PPC Marketing | 
YUP
thats exactly what I was kind of referring to in the last post you might have to bid extremely high to get them positions and record a lot of data, but after time goes by you can bid down while keeping that same position at the same time because of your account history.
Search marketing is so simple a 2 year old could do it
Well honestly what you just said actually results in lower clicks and more clicks I mean if you have a higher position your going to get more clicks, but at the same time you’ll be able to decrease your bids and eventually hit a profit state ;)…
I may be missing the point here, but doesn’t the landing page have a much bigger impact on conversion than the ad copy?
Hi Amit, I was wondering if your campaigns got affected by the latest google slap?
doesn’t it all come to ROI anyway?
yeah Tell us Amit , about the Recent Google Slap, Big G is hitting websites with 100 unique content pages.
I really don’t remember how I stumbled upon your blog, but checking it every so often makes me EXCITED! I can’t wait to dive into the world of affiliate marketing. Right now I’m studying to become a registered nurse, but when more free time rolls in, this is definitely something I’d love to take up!!
Of course that does advice does come with some qualifications that I’d pass on to any newer marketers.
It’s easy to write an ad with an insanely good CTR - just keep it negative and controversial. However… sometimes that ad copy can be “too good” in that you pull all the curiosity clickers and tire-kickers who don’t buy anything.
@ Leo - depends on if you’re counting “ROI” as a percentage. In that case, “No.” You should look at profit when it all comes down to it, because ROI only means something as to whether it is + or -, or for bragging rights. Most of the time as you scale up a campaign, you’re going to sacrifice ROI for volume.
“…potentially raising your min bids and your CPC costs account wide.”
So after many failed campaigns would we do well to dump an account at Google and begin with a new accounts every so often?