SEO Split Test Result: Changed Meta Descriptions to The On-Page H1 Plus a CTA

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Before you start: what bash you cognize astir SEO split-testing? If you’re unfamiliar with the principles of statistical SEO split-testing and however SplitSignal works, we suggest you commencement here oregon request a demo


First, we asked our Twitter followers to vote:

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Here’s what different SEO professionals person to stock astir this test:

Vladimir Gertner, Senior Project Manager astatine Soft Road Apps:

Hmmm... I volition deliberation astir it. I americium not thrilled by the trial variant, but I truly dislike the archetypal meta description.
There’s besides the information that it's Walmart. People cognize and spot the brand. And radical who store astatine Walmart already cognize that they are buying astatine Walmart. So, it besides depends connected what hunt query brought them to the SERP.
I volition spell with positive. It feels similar Walmart has a “new deal” that includes escaped shipping.

Nina De la Cruz, Content Marketing Strategy astatine Getsitecontrol:

You can’t bushed “Free shipping connected everything,” truthful my presumption is that the “AFTER” mentation boosted integrated clicks.

Find retired if our followers were close by speechmaking the implicit investigation of this test.

The Case Study

Greetings and invited to the astir caller SplitSignal lawsuit study. This 1 features a well-known e-retailer and their meta descriptions.

The website we’re looking astatine is an English-language retailer of discounted products whose merchandise class meta descriptions are good configured but a small connected the agelong broadside successful immoderate instances, truthful we decided to trial shortening them a bit.

The Hypothesis

Because this is simply a discount website, and the prevalence of escaped shipping with different competitors, we hypothesized replacing the existing meta descriptions with the superior class sanction H1, followed by “ - Free Shipping connected Everything* - Shop Now!” we could perchance spot an summation successful click-through complaint from the SERPs.

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It seems reasonably straightforward, what bash you deliberation the extremity effect volition be? Read connected and let’s find out!

The Test

The SEO experimentation was acceptable up and configured utilizing our SEO investigating tool, SplitSignal. This is simply a larger website with implicit 1.5 cardinal indexed URIs, truthful we selected 1,673 full pages, 846 for the trial control, and 827 for the trial variant. 

The trial ran for 30 days with a assurance level of 99% with 99% (all but one) of the trial pages being recrawled by Googlebot during the clip play for testing.

The Results

After the thirty-day trial period, we observed a statistically significant, NEGATIVE effect for the pages with the converted meta descriptions.

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As we ever do, we asked you astatine the outset what you felt would happen. The method SEOs astatine LOCOMOTIVE Agency came successful aft the experimentation and person fixed their mentation wherefore they judge this happened, but we’d emotion to perceive your sentiment successful the comments of what you primitively thought, and whether you deliberation it could beryllium thing different?.

Overall, the trial pages received 4.7% little clicks during the trial period, a nonaccomplishment of 1,179 clicks. 

LOCOMOTIVE Agency Analysis

One of the things we noticed from the outset was the tested website had beauteous well-written H1s. The superior category/sub-category was mentioned a mates of times successful the meta, and it had beardown calls to enactment that would entreaty to the shoppers' aesthetic tastes (oftentimes) arsenic good arsenic the discounted quality of the products and shipping.

By shortening the meta statement to lone the merchandise class name, and simplifying the telephone to action, we consciousness the intelligence entreaty of the meta statement messaging was mislaid resulting successful the observed nonaccomplishment successful clicks erstwhile compared to the competitors surrounding the SERP result.

One of the things I emotion astir meta statement tests is it shows however important they inactive are, adjacent if they person nary effect connected SEO rankings, they tin inactive person a important impact, conscionable similar successful this instance, connected different elements similar click-thru.

What bash you think?


Have your adjacent SEO split-test analyzed by the method SEO experts astatine LOCOMOTIVE Agency.