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Experience in Google Optimize is called Campaign in VWO. As the very first step, you need to establish the URLs on which you are looking to execute your campaign. At the same time, you might also want to define the visitor group for your campaign. This article helps you in understanding how to carry out Google Optimize’s URL and visitor targeting configurations in VWO.
Configuring URLs
For specifying the URLs in Google Optimize, you first need to choose the type of input - URL, Host, Path, and Fragment. Then, you get to choose the match criterion, such as matches, does not match, equals, etc.
In VWO, all of these are covered by the following options: URL matches, URL matches pattern, URL contains, URL starts with, URL ends with, and URL contains regex. You can couple these options with either of Include URL and Exclude URL to add or disregard URLs in your campaigns.
For the input type in Google Optimize, you can find the following equivalents in VWO:
Optimize Fields | VWO Equivalents |
URL - To specify a complete URL | URL matches |
Host - To specify a domain name | URL matches pattern or URL contains |
Path - To specify the part of the URL between the domain name and the query parameter | URL matches pattern or URL contains |
Fragment - To specify a fragment of a URL | URL matches pattern or URL contains |
To know more about the URL configurations in VWO, you can refer to this article.
Redirect Test
For a Redirect test (a.k.a. Split URL test), Google Optimize allows you to specify an appendix to be added to the URL. This redirects visitors to a page that matches the URL followed by the specified appendix. For example, if you want to redirect all the visitors that land on www.googleoptimize.com to www.googleoptimize.com/one, you can select the Redirect to a single page option and specify www.googleoptimize.com/onein the Redirect URL field.
The same operation can be performed in VWO by setting up the Control URL as www.googleoptimize.com and the Variation URL as www.googleoptimize.com/one.
If you want to split the test across multiple pages, you can switch to the Advanced redirect option in Google Optimize. Let’s say you want to redirect your visitors to /v1 version of your webpages and add a specific query parameter; you can specify as follows:
Optimize Fields | Values |
Find in domain/path |
www.googleoptimize.com |
Replace with |
www.googleoptimize.com/v1 |
Add/modify query parameters/fragments |
a=1 |
Equivalently, you can do this operation in VWO by specifying as follows:
VWO Fields | Values |
Control URL | URL matches pattern = https://www.googleoptimize.com* |
Variation URL | URL matches pattern = https://www.googleoptimize.com/v1*?a=1* |
Refer to this article for details on running Split URL test campaigns over multiple URLs.
Targeting Visitors
Audience Targeting in Google Optimize is used to declare the audience set for your Experience. In VWO, you can use the Pre-segmentation feature for the same purpose.
Here are the audience targeting options provided by Google Optimize and their equivalents in VWO:
UTM Parameter
This is used to specify the tracking module present in a URL.
Optimize Fields | VWO Equivalents |
UTM Parameter > utm_campaign |
UTM Parameter > Campaign |
Specifying UTM Parameter in Google Optimize:
Specifying UTM Parameter in VWO:
Device Category
This is used to specify the type of device used by the visitors to arrive at the campaign URL.
Optimize Fields |
VWO Equivalents |
Device Category > (relation) > desktop / mobile / tablet |
Device Type > (relation) > Desktop / Mobile / Tablet |
Specifying Device Category in Google Optimize:
Specifying Device Type in VWO:
Behavior
This is used to specify the events based on visitor behaviour.
Optimize Fields |
VWO Equivalents |
Behavior > Time since first arrival |
Events > Time spent on a page |
Behavior > Page referrer |
Traffic source > Referral |
Specifying Time since first arrival / Page referrer in Google Optimize:
Specifying Time spent on a page in VWO:
Specifying Referral in VWO:
Geography
This is used to specify the location of the visitors.
Optimize Fields |
VWO Equivalents |
Geography > City / Region / Metro / Country |
Location> Country > State / Region / City |
Specifying Geography in Google Optimize:
Specifying Location in VWO:
Technology
This is used to specify the browser / device type / operating system used by the visitors to arrive at the campaign URL.
Optimize Fields | VWO Equivalents |
Technology > Browser |
Browser |
Technology > Operating system |
Operating System |
Technology > Mobile device info |
You can either use Device Type or User Agent to specify the mobile device type and user agent. |
Specifying Browser / Operating system / Mobile device info in Google Optimize:
Specifying Browser / User Agent / Device Type in VWO:
Query Parameter
This is used to specify the query parameter in the campaign URL.
Optimize Fields |
VWO Equivalents |
Query Parameter > (Configure Query Key & Name your variable) > (specify relation) > (Enter value) |
Query Parameter > (Enter name) > (specify relation) > (Enter value) |
Specifying Query Parameter in Google Optimize:
Specifying Query Parameter in VWO:
Data Layer Variable
This is used to specify GTM data layer variables.
Optimize Fields |
VWO Equivalents |
Data layer variable > (Configure Data Layer Variable Name & Name your variable) > (specify relation) > (Enter value) |
GTM Data Layer>(Enter name) > (specify relation) > (Enter value) |
Specifying Data layer variable in Google Optimize:
Specifying GTM Data Layer variablein VWO:
JavaScript Variable
This is used to specify a JavaScript variable available on your website.
Optimize Fields |
VWO Equivalents |
JavaScript variable > (Configure JavaScript Variable Name & Name your variable) > (specify relation) > (Enter value) |
JavaScript Variable>(Enter name) > (specify relation) > (Enter value) |
Specifying JavaScript variable in Google Optimize:
Specifying JavaScript Variable in VWO:
First-Party Cookie
This is used to specify the value of the first-party cookie present in the browsers of the visitors that arrive at the campaign URL.
Optimize Fields |
VWO Equivalents |
First-party cookie > (Configure Cookie Name & Name your variable) > (specify relation) > (Enter value) |
Cookie value > (Enter name) > (specify relation) > (Enter value) |
Specifying First-party cookie value in Google Optimize:
Specifying Cookie value in VWO:
Custom JavaScript
This is used to insert a JavaScript code into a page and trigger the campaigns when the value returned by the code meets the specified one.
Optimize Fields |
VWO Equivalents |
Custom JavaScript > (Specify JavaScript code & Name your variable) > (specify relation) > (Enter value) |
Custom trigger > a configurable example code is generated |
Specifying Custom JavaScript in Google Optimize:
Specifying Custom trigger in VWO:
Beyond these, VWO offers more options to custom-define a visitor segment to target your campaigns. To know more about the options, VWO provides for creating a Custom Segment, click here.