To run a split URL test across your website, use the URL matches pattern option to define the set of URLs you want to include in the campaign. For example, if you are testing different themes, sidebar location, placement of ads, and so on, define the URL pattern for both control and variation, using the wildcard * (an asterisk) to match a part of the URL.
For example, if a user lands on http://www.example.com/test/index.html, then Variation URL after redirection would be http://www.example.com/b/test/index.html.
ATTENTION Ensure that each control URL has a corresponding variation URL. VWO does not capture the data if there are no corresponding URLs or if the page throws the 404 error. Also, make sure that VWO smart code is added to every page where you want to run the split URL test.
Setting Up Custom URLs
Custom URLs are used to run VWO tests on multiple pages of a website when it does not have a consistent pattern in the URLs. For example, consider an ecommerce website that has several independent URLs for category or product pages without any defined pattern, like http://example.com/adidas/, http://example.com/reebok/, http://example.com/microsoft/, http://example.com/adobe/, and you want to run the test on only on shoes pages (the first two URLs).
You can use the Custom URL option to define an imaginary custom URL as an identifier for the pages you want to test, even if the URL may not exist.
For example, if a user wants to run a split URL campaign on few URLs such as:
Control:
http://www.example.com/adidas/
http://www.example.com/reebok/
Variation:
http://www.example.com/adidas?camp=vwo
http://www.example.com/reebok?camp=vwo
The imaginary URL “_vis_opt_url” can be set as below for all the Control URLs:
_vis_opt_url = document.location.protocol + document.location.hostname + “/test” + document.location.pathname + document.location.search + document.location.hash
Now, the URL setup in VWO would be as follows:
- Control (as per the imaginary URL added in code): http://www.example.com/test*
- Variation: http://www.example.com/*?camp=vwo
In case of a split URL, a custom URL campaign needs to be set up, per the requirement and URL structure of the test website. Therefore, feel free to reach out to support@vwo.com if you need any help in building a custom URL for your requirement.
