. A minor modification can have a major impact on your business . You simply have to dare and be able to deploy this modification . We will see in this article why this “mindset” is particularly suited to the SEO profession. We will also answer this crucial question: how to deploy your tests if you lack resources in your IT team?“Test & Learn”, what is it?
“Test & Learn” consists of testing different strategies, analyzing the results and determining improvements to implement during a next iteration. This process helps accelerate innovation by minimizing risks through continuous learning . The success of this approach is mainly based on 5 criteria:
- Defining clear and specific objectives. This type of approach requires defining clear and measurable objectives for each test.
- The quality of the tests. Tests must be rigorously designed or they will be counterproductive. You must implement reliable methodologies to collect accurate data. A very important point in the context of natural referencing where the expected results are not immediate and a multitude of criteria can disrupt a test. For example, an update of the algorithm.
- Data analysis capacity. The data collected will need to be analyzed and interpreted to draw lessons that will result in the implementation of concrete actions: iteration or deployment across your entire site.
- The ability to make quick decisions. Teams will be able to work in an agile manner and adapt quickly to results.
- Implementing a continuous improvement process. The success of “Test & Learn” relies on the ability of teams to iterate quickly to continuously improve results.
“Test & Learn” and natural referencing, the winning combination!
As you will have understood, this methodology lends itself particularly well to the SEO profession. The SEO evolves in a very fluctuating environment. He must face a double challenge: the Google algorithm which is updated regularly and competitors who fight on the same query . In this context, “Test & Learn” appears to be the ideal solution to adapt quickly.
A “Test & Learn” approach promotes decision-making based on data versus intuition.
Your developers don’t have unlimited bandwidth to handle your SEO tickets. If you arrive with a site evolution that should increase SEO traffic by 50% (your intuition 
) and you barely reach 5%, you will probably lose your credibility. The risk is that in the next sprint your tickets will no longer be prioritized. By adopting the “Test & Learn” philosophy, you have reliable data to estimate the ROI of your actions . A significant asset to move your requests to the top of the backlog.
A “Test & Learn” approach minimizes the risk of errors .
In SEO, some changes can have unexpected consequences and make you lose visibility in the SERPs. It’s always a bit embarrassing to ask for a rollback of a change that was supposed to propel you to the top of the SERP. What do you think? The good idea, once again, is to be able to set up a test to validate the expected result . This will avoid putting your entire site at risk and losing business.
A “Test & Learn” approach facilitates adjustments to respond quickly to Google updates.
Have you ever felt that helpless feeling after a Google update? You have no way to implement changes to your site to capture the traffic opportunities offered by the search engine. I experienced this feeling when the “FAQ boxes” were deployed in the search results. I saw dozens of articles and tweets on the subject explaining how to implement the associated structured data . The only solution was to make a JIRA ticket and prioritize it with the development team. I had no way to value a percentage increase in traffic linked to this implementation and even less to prove an ROI. As a result, I watched my competitors gain visibility in the SERPs 
.
A “Test & Learn” approach promotes a better understanding of ranking factors.
Do you know how an SEO starts an answer when asked an SEO question: “it depends on the context”. SEO is not an exact science and the context of the SERP is important to take into account in the actions you are going to deploy. Positioning yourself on the keyword “insurance” is not the same job as “bakery in Sassetot-le-Mauconduit”. It is important to be able to test and understand the criteria used by Google to rank sites in the SERP.
A “Test & Learn” approach reduces IT costs.
By applying “Test & Learn”, you will reduce your IT costs. This is probably not intuitive, because to set up your tests you will solicit your IT team. However, imagine that a solution makes you autonomous to deploy your tests. You instantly free up bandwidth for your technical team who can focus on other subjects. The IT team will only be solicited to deploy features that have shown an impact during the test phase. ROI is king 
.
How to deploy your tests without involving your developers?
“Test & Learn” is the mindset to adopt when practicing SEO. Testing strategies on your website, learning, iterating and finding the right ingredients to get ahead of your competitors, this is the workflow that all SEOs dream of. However, how do you deploy tests when your CMS is not flexible and your IT team lacks the resources to respond to all of the company’s projects ? You are already unable to deploy your SEO roadmap, so trying to prioritize tickets to set up tests seems unthinkable!
Today, with the rise of CDN and Workers type technologies, you will be able to take control of your site “at the Edge”. At Fasterize, we have developed the EdgeSEO solution that allows SEO teams to free themselves from the technical limitations of their CMS and deploy their SEO strategies autonomously. A unique solution that allows you to apply your SEO recommendations and deploy your tests continuously in just a few clicks. To learn more about the concept of “Edge SEO”, I suggest you read our article on the subject.
Fasterize’s EdgeSEO is THE SaaS solution that SEO teams were missing to deploy the “Test & Learn” philosophy in their organization. The cherry on the cake is that our solution is executed “at the Edge”, meaning it is “webperf friendly”. Needless to say, we have been recognized experts in webperf for over a decade, so there was no question of executing a client-side Javascript script to apply your SEO recommendations .
“Test & Learn” is the exciting part of the SEO profession, right? Finding strategies to be first in search results will become a priority. Even more so with AI that will reshuffle the cards in the SERPs. As we have seen, the “Test & Learn” approach allows you to make decisions based on data, which will result in minimizing the risks to your business. In addition, by adopting this type of philosophy, you will become more agile in the face of Google updates and learn from each test to improve your understanding of the Google algorithm and monopolize the first positions. Do you want to get ahead of your competitors and implement the “Test & Learn” approach by relying on our EdgeSEO solution, request a demo! See you on the other side?