Google announced it’s Website Optimizer at the eMetrics Summit in Washington DC this week and I immediately received calls and emails from nervouce/concerned testing and optimization companies wanting to get my take. I personally think it is great to have a free tool in the market for introducing the concept of multivariate testing however limited. If Google can actively promote the tool to get site owners thinking about conversion improvement in this manner, it will be a big step forward in raising the awareness of testing and thus improving the demand for all companies involved in testing (including Brand Digital).

We all must understand that the Website Optimizer is JUST A TOOL to use to display creative. For anyone who has done any level of testing, the real value in testing is NOT the tool (however complex it may be) but in the understanding of the customer and the creative the prospect sees on the webpage. Just because you can display thousands of combinations of images and texts on a webpage does not make it inherently good. Displaying combinations of images and texts and offers that resonates with your target audience is far more effective than the throw spaghetti on the wall and see what sticks strategy.

The major testing companies (Optimost and Offermatica) are excited about the announcement because the Google Website Optimizer will raise awareness of the importance of testing while only providing a very limited tool. The website optimizer only works if you have Google Analytics, it only works on a limited number of page regions, doesn’t handle layout changes, doesn’t help with multiple page testing (like say a shopping cart or order path) and can’t handle integration of back-end customer value. The CEO of Optimost has an interest blog post on the topic here.

The launch of Google Website Optimizer is a good thing, but it is only a method of testing. The layout, design, elements and offers that you put in front of people is, at the end of the day, far more important than the method by which you test.