Welcome to the Q&A Forum

The definition of cloaking according to Google is "the practice of presenting different content or URLs to human users and search engines." For that reason, there is some risk in showing Google a different page than what is being shown to your users in the test. Displaying different content based on user-agent is a red-flag to Google. That being said, cloaking penalties are "manual actions", meaning they are manually applied by human reviewers on Google's team, so unless you are purposely trying to be deceptive, the risk of being penalized is low. Additionally, you can request reviews of manual actions via Google Search Console to appeal any penalties. Another approach could be to use server-side redirects for the test, using 302 redirects and redirecting users bucketed into the test to a separate URL. The 302 redirect indicates to Google that this is a temporary change, and that they should retain the original page in their index. You can further reinforce this by adding a canonical tag to the test page and pointing it to the original version of the page. Finally, for high priority SEO pages you may also consider using a client-side A/B test. Client-side A/B testing uses Javascript to dynamically change the content on the page, and is typically not indexed by Google.

I'm in agreement with Kelly, and have seen a ton of success with this type of triggered email in ecommerce. We have set up clients so they'll receive not only cart abandonment and checkout abandonment emails, but also product and category abandonment emails. These have the highest conversion rate -- far beyond all typical marketing emails we send. In B2B, perhaps one could do something similar with an abandonment email -- but for a particular service. Something along the lines of "Still interested in service xyz?" with an email showing top examples and best alternatives or pairings below. Something you could consider, and as advised above, test out. Best of luck! Zack

Thanks to everyone for the discussion; i really appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts. Have a great day, Nails

I cannot speak to a 'sweet spot' specifically but I would recommend Google's Pagespeed Insights tool for this, you can export optimized/compressed images (as well as CSS and Javascript files) for the page you are analyzing. I've used this method for many clients and have seen improvements in page load time and have never noticed a difference in image quality. Hope this helps, let me know if you have any follow up questions!

I can confirm that Shopify records the source of the FIRST click to the site and does not update it. I can also confirm that (by default) Google Analytics records the LAST source in a session which results in a conversion (ie. Last Click). So in some cases it will be the same (eg. the user first comes to the site from a Google organic search and decides to place an order during the same session). But in other cases, the user may first come to the site from (say) a Google Ad, perhaps sign up for email, then return some time later via the email, or direct, or from an organic search, or whatever. In this case, Shopify will have recorded the initial source (Google Ad) and Google Analytics will have recorded the last source (or Last Click). There are a few edge cases where GA does not capture the conversion (eg. if the users transacts on Paypal, but does not return to the site, therefore does not trigger the 'thank_you' page or the conversion tracking). I find it useful to know BOTH: which traffic source initially acquires the customer, but also which traffic source results in a conversion Does this make more sense James?

Hi James, Yes I do optimize for readability and there is very strong reason for doing this. If content doesn't help user what they are looking for they will not return and most of the time they will leave site very quickly and bounce rate will be very high. Google may decrease ranking because Google's policy is deliver best content to users so I would suggest you to create useful content for users not for search engines only. Hope this helps. Thanks

I really agree with you. Example the live football score

Thanks Patrick... this is helpful!

Hello, Welcome to Moz, everyone has a different way of doing bits. I'll give you some pointers on what i might do in your position. First off i'd set up a dev site version of one version of the site - new/old this would enable you to get a comparison of what urls/ content is missing. dont forget its not just urls that affect rankings if they've changed all their content too that will also have an affect. If you want the quick win a restoration may be the most beneficial. I wouldn't bother with 302 to be honest I'd rather put my time into getting it right Most of the time it's down to how to get a client earning again (assuming it's taking business away) so the quick win here is, restore, set up dev site for new, prep a migration plan. Put into motion. I'm sure lots of other Moz people will also give some great advice as I said this above is what I may do but as I'm sure you know there is always lots of ways to solve and there is also other subtleties to worry about etc. The best of luck with your problem.

Andy, Tough question, this may help: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa479312.aspx KJr

Howdy. As you said, it will depend on the industry. But not only. It will depend on type of service/product you offer. Example: direct purchase of simple thing like a tshirt or mug or whatever, when people wouldn't have any questions, phone conversion will be really low, since the only people calling will be somewhat unqualified buyers. Here is how we do it. So, on a landing page we have landing page specific phone number with tracking (use Twilio). And all sales are tracked in the admin. So, if someone calls, using this phone number, and makes a purchase, we have a logged time of that call and time of the purchase, placed by representative. All we have to do is match it. You can do it manually or with some script. In terms of ballpark of conversion rate, it's typically 30% from landing page. Depending on the industry of course. So, that's average rate. Therefore if you know rate for the form, you'll be able to calculate avg conversion rate for calls. Hope this makes sense

Thank you. But, hm, I don't know. I'm using a data driven attribution model with 12 channels. If I increase boost for 1.4, my boost weighted conversions will grow from 8 to 8.50. How can I see, how much real conversions I will get with that change?

I actually haven't heard of that, but it might be referring to how conversions are counted after attribution modeling is applied? Example (with totally made-up numbers): AdWords has 100 conversions when using a last-click model. When applying a first-click model, AdWords only has 25 "weighted conversions". That's just a guess though. I also can't find any additional information on it. Do you have a source where you saw that term that I can read? That'd help.

Hi, I'm using a data-driven attribution model with 12 channels grouping. I want to know if I increase Google display for 1.4 and I see that I have changed in the weighted conversion from 2 to 4 for e.g. What's that mean, how much more conversion I will have?

Thanks for everyone's responses here, we appreciate it. We will use GTM to install the pixel and will also try Duracel Tom's plugin for our Wordpress site.

Hi Robert, Absolutely, that's correct - it will only count as one conversion. If a user comes back and downloads it again, that will be from a new 'session' and yes, this will be another goal conversion. Personally, I don't know any way of looking at Goals by unique users as it's typically a session level metric. Sorry I can't be any more help. Sean