SEO testing lets you monitor metrics to understand how people interact with your site. Using this information, you can update your site, compete with other companies, and adapt to changing search engine algorithms. 

Read on and learn how to SEO-test your site, with best practices for long-term ranking success.

What’s SEO testing for websites?

SEO testing involves experimenting with different website elements to measure their impact on search rankings. You might change keywords, structured metadata, or content structures. Then, analyze how these adjustments affect your site's visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs). While assessing your page, you want to identify which strategies lead to better rankings, increased organic traffic, and higher engagement.

Why SEO testing matters

Systematically experimenting and measuring the outcomes lets you fine-tune SEO efforts to bring in visitors who will hopefully become customers. Search engine algorithms shift constantly, and even if your site ranks well, one update can impact its search results position. SEO analysis often mitigates this issue and offers the following benefits:

• Data-driven decision-making — SEO testing-based site audits provide concrete, analytical details about which SEO strategies are effective. With this data, you can choose what parts of the website to update.
• Better search rankings — Trying different SEO strategies helps identify the best approach to improve your site's position in SERPs, leading to higher visibility and increased organic traffic.
• Maximum return on investment (ROI) — SEO testing helps you allocate resources toward content strategies that deliver the best results. By focusing on effective techniques, you’ll have a higher ROI from your marketing efforts.
• Competitive edge — Search engines regularly change their ranking criteria. Regular SEO analysis lets you adapt your website accordingly to compete with other brands.
• Improved user experience — Monitoring SEO reveals how design and content changes impact user behavior, allowing you to optimize for search engines and target audience preferences.

When to conduct an SEO test for your website

Understanding the best times to conduct an SEO test allows you to make data-driven decisions and refine your SEO strategy. Consider running an SEO test during these scenarios:

• Site redesigns or major updates — A site migration or redesign can alter your site's structure, URLs, and content, which may negatively impact your search engine rankings and visibility. Monitoring the impact of traffic during or after these changes ensures the update or migration improves rather than impairs rankings.
• Experimenting with new strategies — If you're trying out new SEO tactics like modifying page titles or adding internal links, SEO-testing a few pages helps measure the impact before applying the strategy across the whole site or page type.
• Technical changes — If you've implemented changes like schema markup or modified page speed optimizations, testing can check whether these adjustments positively or negatively impact search rankings and the user experience.

Types of SEO tests

Once you've committed to reviewing your SEO strategy, it's important to choose the best testing approach. Below are various methods to consider based on the results you want to achieve.

Split testing

Split testing, or A/B testing, involves creating two versions of a web page (version A and version B) and directing traffic to both to see which performs better in search rankings and engagement. 

Say you want to improve your click-through rates (CTRs) from search engine results. You could show site visitors one of two titles on a landing page to see which produces better results.

Serial testing

Serial testing involves making one change to your website at a time and analyzing its impact before proceeding to the next update. This method isolates the effect of each adjustment, providing insight into granular modifications.

You might first analyze the impact of updating old blog posts with new keywords. After measuring the results and finding positive outcomes, you can move on to improving meta descriptions across the blog.

Before-and-after testing

This SEO testing technique compares your website's performance before and after modifying specific pages, layouts, and structures. It helps assess the impact of significant updates and new strategies. 

Say you implement a meta title tag update on specific blog pages. To measure improvements, you’d compare search rankings and traffic before and after the changes to see if the update was effective. If the test is successful, you can then apply the update to other pages to increase blog traffic.

How to conduct an SEO test: 5 steps

Following a structured process will help you uncover actionable insights through SEO testing. Here are five steps for effective implementation.

1. Define objectives and metrics

Identifying your goals gives your SEO tests a clear direction and purpose. Whether you want to improve organic traffic, rankings, or CTR, a well-defined target helps your team stay on track and test strategically.

When setting goals, identify relevant key performance indicators (KPIs), such as conversions, organic traffic, and bounce rates. Make sure each metric is measurable so you can track your optimization progress.

2. Formulate a hypothesis

Predict the expected outcome of your planned changes. This prediction should support your objective by defining your expectations so you can compare them to real-world results.

Make your hypothesis specific and base it on data or observations. For example, if you notice that pages with longer meta descriptions rank higher, your hypothesis could be that lengthening meta descriptions on specific pages will boost their SERP rankings.

3. Select and prepare test pages

When picking pages for SEO testing, choose a set of pages that have sufficient traffic and share similar content types or structures. Any changes you make should be significant enough to impact the metrics set earlier. However, you'll want to avoid highly volatile pages with frequent ranking fluctuations, as this can interfere with your test results.

For accurate results, pick test pages with at least 1,000 organic visitors per day and target mid-ranking pages. Create a control group of pages similar in page type, content, and traffic to your test group. Compare these changes against unaffected pages to get a clear picture of SEO performance.

4. Run the test

Put your hypothesis into action. Implement your changes and let the test run for at least two weeks so you can collect meaningful data. If you have time, keep the test live for even longer to validate your results. 

A small sample size might not adequately represent your website, making it unreliable for guiding major changes. Letting the test run longer also accounts for traffic or search engine behavior fluctuations. 

Use SEO tools to monitor the experiment closely and check that it's running smoothly without interruptions, such as crashes or third-party interventions skewing results.

5. Analyze results and adjust accordingly

Next, compare KPIs for your test pages to determine whether your hypothesis is correct. 

Compare the post-test metrics with your baseline to see if the changes worked as you intended. If the results are positive, consider applying the same adjustments more broadly across your site. If not, use the data to refine your approach and test again.

Practical examples of SEO tests to improve your site

These examples highlight the range of strategies available in SEO testing, each designed to improve your site’s performance.

Experiment with metadata and content

Minor changes to title tags, headers, and calls to action (CTAs) can significantly impact your search rankings and CTR. Using different versions of these elements lets you decide which combinations are most effective in driving traffic and user engagement.

An in-house marketing team might try different headline structures on their company's product landing page. With this method, teams can see which combinations lead to the most conversions.

Vary content formats

Algorithms and audiences may prefer content that’s different from what you’re producing. Testing variations like videos, infographics, and long-form content helps identify which format leads to better rankings.

For instance, you could turn a popular short-form blog post into a video tutorial. Then, check whether the video version leads to more traffic and engagement than the original text-based format.

Add schema markup

Schema markup helps search engines better understand your content, potentially leading to higher visibility through rich snippets and improved rankings. Testing reveals whether schema markup makes a measurable difference in how your pages perform in SERPs. 

For example, you could add schema markup to an FAQ page and monitor whether your content appears more often in Google's featured snippets.

Optimize your site with Webflow 

Your SEO's success hinges on constant experimentation and iteration. If you regularly conduct SEO tests, you can fine-tune your strategies based on real-time data, ensuring your site remains competitive and meets your audience's preferences. 

Build, test, and adjust your pages with Webflow to maximize your site’s potential. Using our built-in SEO tools, edit schema markup, automatically define metadata, and adjust sitemap controls to improve indexing. Quickly update your website to meet changing requirements without relying on developers through our visual-first content management system. 

Gain complete control over your SEO workflow and grow your business with Webflow today.