Split URL tests

A split URL test compares pages instead of changes: the control is the origin page visitors already reach, and each variant is a different page of the same store. A visitor assigned to a variant is navigated to that variant's destination URL, once, and measured from there; campaign parameters on the original address (utm, gclid and the like) survive the navigation, so ad reporting keeps working. The control never navigates — it stays on the origin page.

Traffic in a split URL test is always split by Proa itself: the assignment and the navigation have to be one decision, so external split tools cannot drive it. See Traffic split and targeting.

1. Build the destination page

Each variant needs a real, published page on the same store, carrying the same Proa snippet as the rest of the site. Build it however you want — it is a full page, not an overlay. Then prepare it for testing:

• Point the destination's canonical at the origin, or mark it noindex. Otherwise search engines index two competing pages. Proa does not write to your theme — this step is yours.
• Keep the destination out of the navigation, the sitemap, and your ads. Traffic that lands on it directly is outside the test and is not measured; the test only reads visitors who entered through the origin page.

2. Point each variant at its destination

In the wizard, set the Origin URL — the page visitors already reach — and a Destination URL per variant. The control shows "Stays on the origin URL"; it needs nothing.

The honest cost: one extra navigation for variant visitors, on their first arrival at the origin page. The wizard states it up front. If the origin page is highly latency-sensitive, weigh it.

3. Check the destinations before the test starts

The wizard checks every destination on your real store and names the outcome per variant: the page exists and carries the snippet, or what is wrong — page not found, snippet missing, page unreachable, or a storefront password in the way. A destination without the snippet would receive visitors and measure nothing, so the check exists to catch exactly that before any visitor is split.

The QA & Preview tab keeps the same checks after creation, plus a checker that shows where each group lands — paste the origin URL as a visitor would reach it and see which variant goes where. Each variant also gets a preview that puts your own browser session in that variant, without affecting any visitor or any number.

What is measured and what is not

• A visitor who enters through the origin page is measured on whichever page their variant lands them on, like any other experiment — orders, revenue, and the funnel all per variant.
• A visitor who reaches a destination page directly — from a shared link, from search, from an old ad — is not part of the test. That traffic is excluded rather than silently counted, which is why the destination stays out of the navigation.
• Screen size targeting applies to split URL tests; page lists do not, because the test is anchored to one origin page by definition.

What is fixed and what is editable

Destinations are editable while the experiment is a draft; once it has gone live they are part of the record. Everything else follows the normal experiment lifecycle.