My 15 Minutes of Fame: Easy Landing Page Testing Using DoubleClick Search

As advertisers, we have a lot of questions.

What type of messaging motivates users to act?
Is my CTR higher this week than it was last week? Why is that?
Yes, I know Bob, we've got a good landing page, but how can it be better?

The string of questions is never-ending, but it is all part of how we evolve to become better advertisers – who can pivot quicker, work more efficiently, and provide deeper insight at a moment's notice.

This post will give you an easy fix to help you solve the age-old question (or at least the one I've been asking since 2010) – how can I improve conversion rates?

Conversion rates can be affected by a whole slew of things – seasonality, time of day, price increases, etc. However, your best bet to systematically improve conversion rates is to start testing your landing pages.

Try a shorter sign-up flow, change your call to action, update the color of your buttons, put your call to action above the fold, or send traffic to a page further down your conversion funnel – the list of small tweaks you can make is endless. Glad we solved that.

The biggest question you have now is – how do I test these changes?

There are several ways to test landing pages, but I have a favorite. For those of you using DoubleClick Search to manage your campaigns – you're in luck. There is a simple feature that will make testing easy and provide you with clear results.

How to Set Up a Landing Page Test

First, select two to three landing pages you want to test, along with a list of the keywords you'd like to use for the test. It is easiest if the keywords you chose are in the same ad group or campaign. Remember, the more volume you get, the quicker you can gain significance – assuming it's achievable.

Once you've chosen the testing parameters and where it will run, you'll want to make a spreadsheet of the destination URLs you want to test. Feel free to add any UTM, ValueTrack, or third-party parameters to these URLs.

When you're ready to launch the test, open DoubleClick Search and navigate to the Keywords tab, where you can filter for the keywords you want to test. If your keywords are grouped together, try filtering by Campaign or Ad Group name. Select the keywords you want to test and click "Start Landing Page Test."

Once you click this, a drop-down will appear, allowing you to add a Test Name, Control Name, Experiment Name, and multiple URLs. Select "Split Traffic Evenly Between Landing Pages" and insert the correct URLs from your spreadsheet.