{"id":14898,"date":"2021-06-02T15:31:30","date_gmt":"2021-06-02T20:31:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.invespcro.com\/blog\/?p=14898"},"modified":"2021-06-02T15:31:30","modified_gmt":"2021-06-02T20:31:30","slug":"google-optimize-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.invespcro.com\/blog\/google-optimize-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Optimize: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 11<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

If you are new to testing and want to explore personalization, you first have to play with easy-to-use tools before taking a deep dive into a pool of complicated tools.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the most common easy-to-use testing tools is from Google and it’s known as Google Optimize.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When it comes to Google Optimize, I’ve realized that marketers have a love and hate relationship with the tool.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Some marketers enjoy using Google Optimize for their experiments. And other marketers totally hate it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a clear indication that Google Optimize has a good, bad, and ugly side \u2013 it depends on which marketer you ask.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But, in this article, I’m not going to pick a side. My goal here is to hold Google Optimize up high and show you every side of it: the good, the bad, and the ugly. You will have to pick a side yourself.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After reading this article, you will understand why some marketers love Google Optimize and why other marketers prefer other testing tools.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What is Google Optimize?<\/b><\/h2>\n

Google Optimize is an online testing and personalization tool from Google that enables you to do conversion rate optimization and enhance user experience on your website.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Google Optimize has two versions. One is a free version, and the other one is a paid version. The free version is called Google Optimize, and the enterprise version is known as <\/span>Google Optimize 360<\/span><\/a>. Both versions are part of the Google Marketing Platform.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Here’s a detailed feature comparison table that shows the differences and similarities between Google Optimize and Google Optimize 360 as indicated by <\/span>Google support<\/span><\/a>:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Now that you have an idea of what Google Optimize is and how it is different from Google Optimize 360 let’s look at how it works.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The first prerequisite for setting up a Google Optimize has a Google account. You will also have to link your Optimize account to your Google Analytics (GA)<\/a> and deploy the Optimize code through Google Tag Manager (GTM)<\/a>. Linking Optimize to GA and GTM will enable you to collect accurate and valuable data from your experiment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Once you have connected Optimize to GA and GTM, you can now create your first experimentation project. If you are conducting more experiments, you need to name each and every experiment to not confuse yourself later on.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The next step is to specify the URL that you want the experiment to fire on \u2013 at this point, you also have to select the type of device and the percentage of users you want to be viewed by each variant.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Having defined the device type and percentage of users to view each variant, you then need to create the variants. If you have them ready already, then you can simply add them and make your changes to the website in the simulator, whether that is a text change, color change, or another type of alteration.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most common experiments you can run on Google Optimize include:<\/span><\/p>\n