How to use Google Analytics INSTEAD OF Google Optimize, to run A/B Tests or Experiments on your website.

Now, WHY would you want to use Google Analytics, instead of Google Optimize?

I've blogged and vlogged a lot about Google Optimize and have used it a ton for both Data Driven Design and our clients, and it is an amazing A/B testing tool.

But Optimize is meant for true "experiments" like deciding with design or content elements within a page work best at converting users.

Typically, this works best for "higher traffic sites" with already low bounce rates, because higher traffic sites with already super high engagement rates really need to get super detailed into further optimization using data.

Optimize also works well for sites seeking higher traffic, with already strong engagement rates but looking to decide things like:

- Which headline or sentence should I use as my web copy?
- Which color should a Call To Action button be?
- What should that button say?
- Which of these two or three photos would best engage users for a particular space?

What Google Optimize DOESN'T DO WELL, that Google Analytics does well for A/B Testing, is allow you to create completely separate layouts and test them against one another. This is done through simply creating a variant or multiple variant pages at different URLs.

So your variants are PAGES, not ELEMENTS OF A PAGE.

This is excellent for website redesign projects in which your business might be debating over two or more homepage "concepts" or running marketing campaigns to landing pages and what to do some initial testing around which one to spend the most money against.

Watch this video to see how to set up these kinds of experiments in Google Analytics and get them live on your website.