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Headline testing and SEM

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Level 2

Hello -

I'm wanting to start doing some headline/title testing across our site.  I have some concerns about how this will affect SEO.  Google (or any other search engine) will still pull the Control version of the headline, right?  But the visitor could click and then see a completely different title, right?  Is there any way around this?  Do yo usually take organic search traffic out of tests like this when reporting results?  Thanks!

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Correct answer by
Employee Advisor

kerria24132371,

Here are the answers to your questions:

1. Google (or any other search engine) will still pull the Control version of the headline, right?

It all depends on how you set up the activity if it's a 50/50 A/B test Google could end up seeing either A or B.

2. But the visitor could click and then see a completely different title, right?

Yes it is possible that google indexed one title and the visitor saw another.

3. Is there any way around this?

Other than only having one title no you can not guarantee that they will both see the same title at the same time. But if you could not sure that woudl offer any advantage.

4. Do yo usually take organic search traffic out of tests like this when reporting results?

That is a good question. We do not. If you want to exclude someone coming from Google you could build an audience to do that see: https://marketing.adobe.com/resources/help/en_US/target/target/c_traffic_sources.html

Hope this helps!

Mihnea Docea  | Technical Support Rep, Customer Care | Customer & Employee Experience | Adobe | (:: 1 (800) 497-0335

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3 Replies

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Employee

Hi kerria24132371​ Please have a look at the topic "Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Friendly Testing" in the link How Adobe Target works to help understand how Adobe Target aligns with search engine guidelines for testing .

As stated in the document , we believe that it would be difficult to unintentionally change the meaning of the original content within test variations, but we do recommend being aware of the keyword themes on a page and maintaining those themes. Changes to page content, especially adding or deleting relevant keywords, can result in ranking changes for the URL in organic search. We recommend that you engage with your SEO partner as part of your testing protocol to ensure that you have that accounted for .

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Correct answer by
Employee Advisor

kerria24132371,

Here are the answers to your questions:

1. Google (or any other search engine) will still pull the Control version of the headline, right?

It all depends on how you set up the activity if it's a 50/50 A/B test Google could end up seeing either A or B.

2. But the visitor could click and then see a completely different title, right?

Yes it is possible that google indexed one title and the visitor saw another.

3. Is there any way around this?

Other than only having one title no you can not guarantee that they will both see the same title at the same time. But if you could not sure that woudl offer any advantage.

4. Do yo usually take organic search traffic out of tests like this when reporting results?

That is a good question. We do not. If you want to exclude someone coming from Google you could build an audience to do that see: https://marketing.adobe.com/resources/help/en_US/target/target/c_traffic_sources.html

Hope this helps!

Mihnea Docea  | Technical Support Rep, Customer Care | Customer & Employee Experience | Adobe | (:: 1 (800) 497-0335

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Level 2

Thank you both for responding!  This helps.