Easily A/B test your product titles for Google Shopping using query strings and Google Analytics. In this article we will cover how to achieve title performance testing the manual and automated way.
Manual Method
Create a Google spreadsheet with 3 columns:
- id
- title
- link
Make sure to have the ID values match the ID of your product in the primary feed.
You would now have a spreadsheet as below.
id | title | link |
sku_1 | My Fashion T-Shirt | https://example.com/my-fashion-t-shirt?ab_testing=A |
sku_2 | My Fashion Caps | https://example.com/my-fashion-caps?ab_testing=A |
sku_3 | My Fashion Sweatshirts | https://example.com/my-fashion-sweatshirts?ab_testing=A |
sku_4 | My Fashion Sunglasses | https://example.com/my-fashion-sunglasses?ab_testing=A |
Submit this feed as a supplement feed by going to Google Merchant Center > Products > Feeds > click on the plus sign for supplement feeds and add your spreadsheet.
Run this for a few days then update the spreadsheet with your testing titles and change the URL ab_testing value to B. Below an example.
id | title | link |
sku_1 | My Extreme Fashionable T-Shirt | https://example.com/my-fashion-t-shirt?ab_testing=B |
sku_2 | My Extreme Fashionable Caps | https://example.com/my-fashion-caps?ab_testing=B |
sku_3 | My Extreme Fashionable Sweatshirts | https://example.com/my-fashion-sweatshirts?ab_testing=B |
sku_4 | My Extreme Fashionable Sunglasses | https://example.com/my-fashion-sunglasses?ab_testing=B |
And run this for a few days. You can then view the performance data in Google Analytics. In the final step of this article I explain how to setup A/B testing in Google Analytics.
Google Analytics Setup
Go to Google Analytics and click on Customization > Dashboard from the top left corner menu, then click on create.
From the popup choose the following:
- Widget Title = A Testing
- Standard = Table
- Display the following columns:
- Dimension = Page
- Metric = Pageviews
- Second Metric = Transactions
- Add a Filter:
- Dimension = Page
- Containing = ab_testing=A
Click on Save.
Repeat the process one more time by clicking on add widget for B Testing. Make sure when you add a filter that you now add containing ab_testing=B
You should now see two widgets for testing A and B.