Google AdWords™ For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

A Split-Testing Protocol: Generating Ideas and a Plan

You want to test broadly different ideas before getting into details. Don't worry about whether description line 2 should have a comma in it before you figure out the answers to your big questions. Imagine that you're searching for the most delicious plum in the world. First, you test the orchard to make sure that it has plum trees and not orange trees. When you find the plum orchard, start testing trees to find the tree with the best plums. When you find the best tree, see whether you prefer the plums near the top or closer to the ground. On the north or the south side. Then taste the fruit on different limbs, and after you find the most promising limb, see which branch yields the best fruit.

Do you know the answers to the following four questions? In a competitive market, the winner (practically by definition) is the merchant who can best answer these questions. If you're not sure, split testing is one of the quickest, most reliable, and least expensive ways of finding out.

• Who is the prospect? Among all the people searching for your keyword, who is your prospect? Can you identify them by sex, age, occupation, location, marital status, political views, cultural preferences, lifestyle, hobbies, or any of dozens of demographic and psychographic factors?

  In addition to the preceding list, which reflects inherent qualities of the searcher, you might think of search-specific aspects of the searcher's identity. For example, the ...