This software can ONLY be used on web hosts supporting "Mod Rewrite" and using ".htaccess" files. If you are not sure whether your host supports these, you can simply try the software on your website to see if it works. Alternatively you can ask your web hosting company whether it supports "Mod Rewrite".

Setting Up Your Options

This script will split your visitors so different visitors see different versions of your site. The different versions are referred to as "options".

The different options can be for different web pages, different graphics or both. You can have options for a single file (for example if you just want to test different versions of your header graphic) or for lots of different files (for example if you want to test different versions of all the graphics used on your pages - or you want completely separate sets of web pages and graphics to be shown).

The script is usually used with two options, so half the visitors see option 1 and the other half see option 2. You can however use 3 or 4 options instead if you prefer.

For each option, you should create a subfolder inside the folder holding the original files. You can name these subfolders anything you want, but for simplicity in the example below, we have used the names option1, option2, option3, option4 for subfolder names.

Examples:

1. Your original files are in www.mysite.com and you have two options. The subfolders would be:
www.mysite.com/option1
www.mysite.com/option2

2. Your original files are in www.mysite.com and you have four options. The subfolders would be:
www.mysite.com/option1
www.mysite.com/option2
www.mysite.com/option3
www.mysite.com/option4

3. Your original files are in www.mysite.com/myfolder and you have three options. The subfolders would be:
www.mysite.com/myfolder/option1
www.mysite.com/myfolder/option2
www.mysite.com/myfolder/option3

All files present in the option subfolders are used in place of files in the original folder.

Example 1: Let's assume you want to test the effect of different header graphics. Your header graphic is header.jpg. You would include the different versions of header.jpg into your option subfolders. You would put one version into your option1 subfolder and another into your option2 subfolder. The script would then split your visitors with half seeing the option1 header and the rest seeing the option2 header.

Example 2: Let's assume you want to test the effect of completely different web pages, but using the same graphics. You would include the different versions of all your HTML or PHP web pages into your option subfolders. You would put one set into your option1 subfolder and another into your option2 subfolder. The script would then split your visitors with half seeing the option1 pages and the rest seeing the option2 pages.

Example 3: Let's assume you want to test the effect of completely different web pages and different graphics. You would include the different versions of all your HTML or PHP web pages and all your graphics into your option subfolders. You would put one set into your option1 subfolder and another into your option2 subfolder. The script would then split your visitors with half seeing the option1 pages/graphics and the rest seeing the option2 pages/graphics.

Special Case For Option 1

In the examples above, each option has its own subfolder. It is not however neccessary to create an option1 subfolder. In this case, the script will use the files in the original folder when showing option 1. This can be useful if the files are already present in the original folder and you want to test one or more alternatives.

Example: Let's assume you want to test the effectiveness of your original header graphic against two new ones. Your header graphic is header.jpg. You would create  option2 and option3 subfolders and add one of the two new headers into each subfolder. The script would then split your visitors with a third seeing the original header, a third seeing the option2 header and the rest seeing the option3 header.

This same principle applies to all files (not just header graphics), so you can test any or all of your files against the original versions if you wish.

Using An Images Subfolder

It is quite common to have images for a website separated from the web pages, by putting the images in a separate images subfolder.

If your website uses this solution, you need to put any images to be tested into a separate images subfolder of each of the option folders.

For example if your original files are in www.mysite.com and you have four options, the images would go into the following subfolders:

www.mysite.com/option2/images
www.mysite.com/option3/images
www.mysite.com/option4/images

If you are also using an option1 folder, any images for option1 would need to go in www.mysite.com/option1/images

When using images subfolders, you also need to enter the name of the subfolder into the Images Subfolder box on the software (see below).

How The Option Is Selected For Each Visitor

Each visitor to your site should only see one option when they visit your site.

The option is automatically selected when they first view any file on your site that is managed by the script. Once their option has been selected, that option will apply to all files they view in future.

This ensures that each visitor sees a consistent view of your site. In some cases, this may not matter, but in other cases it will be important.

For example if the two options are for different colored versions of your site, it will be important that all the pages viewed by a particular visitor are from the same option. Also if you are using the script to test different graphic options, then it would also be important that the images shown to a particular visitor are from the same option.

The script uses a cookie on each visitor's PC in order to track their option, to ensure that all the files they see are from the same option.

This works correctly for most visitors, however some people do turn cookies off in their Internet browser. In such cases, the script would not be able to track the option and would randomly select a different option for each page or image viewed.

You can optionally use an SQL database with the script which eliminates the reliance on cookies and will work for all visitors. In this case, the script uses cookies as well as the database. The database is only used as a secondary method in the event that a visitor has turned off his or her cookies. The database tracks using IP addresses (which is a number unique to each PC).

Using an SQL database also improves the split algorithm, giving a more accurate split of visitors (although if you have a lot of visitors, this will not make much difference).

Note that you can use the script without an SQL database and it will work OK for the majority of your visitors.

If you want to use an SQL database, you need to create an SQL database on your web host. If you have an existing SQL database on your web hosting, you can use this if you wish (the script will simply add a new table to the existing database).

If you want to create an SQL database, but don't know how, you should be able to ask your web hosting company to create one for you. They should send you the database name, user name and password values for the database, which you should enter into the software (see below).

If you would prefer to create the database yourself, you can view detailed step-by-step instructions on how to create an SQL database. You will need to be connected to the Internet to view the instructions. They are in the form of a PDF file, so you will need Adobe Acrobat installed on your PC in order to read them (click here to download Adobe Acrobat if you don't already have it installed). To read the instructions, click here.

Tracking Your Results Using Adsense Channels

There is little point testing different options unless you can track the results to see which gives you a better Adsense income. You can track the results using Adsense channels, a feature available through your Adsense account (on Google.com).

The script will automatically insert the relevant channel IDs into your Adsense units. If your Adsense units already contain a channel ID, this will be replaced.

Hence if a visitor is viewing files from option 1, they will see Adsense ads containing the channel ID for option1. Similarly if a visitor is viewing files from option 2, they will see Adsense ads containing the channel ID for option2.

This means that you can view the reports for each channel (in your Adsense account) to see how much income each option is generating for you.

Here's an example: You can test two different headers to see which gives you a better income. All you need to do is put the two header graphics into two option subfolders. The script will show each header to half your visitors. Simply leave it running for a while and then check your Adsense stats. You can immediately tell which header performed better simply by examining the reports in your Adsense account for each channel.

You can use this same principle to test with 3 or 4 different options. You can test different web page layouts, different color schemes, different images or anything else you want. Everything is handled automatically by the script. All you need to do is put the different files you want to test into your subfolders, then leave it for a while before checking your Adsense reports for each channel.

Setting Up Your Adsense Channels

If you already know how to set up channels and how to get the channel IDs for your channels, you can skip this section.

To create channels, login to your Adsense account on Google.com, then go to the Channels section (in Adsense Setup) and select Custom channels.

You can use the Add new custom channels option to add new channels, giving each an appropriate name. It is recommended that you create 4 channels called something like option1, option2, option3 and option4. You can then use these for all your testing in future. If you are only currently testing 2 items, then only option1 and option2 would be used, but there is no harm in creating the extra 2 channels in case you need them later.

For each channel, the software needs to know the channel ID.

Note that the channel ID is NOT the same as the channel name.

Unfortunately it is not trivial to get the IDs for each channel. Here's the easiest way to get your channel IDs...

In your Adsense account on Google.com, go to the Products section (in Adsense Setup) and select Adsense For Content. Now create an ad unit. Pick any format and colors (they are not relevant for this purpose).

You will then be asked to select the channels for your ad unit. Add the channels in the correct order for each option. For example if you have created channels called option1, option2, option3 and option4, then add option1, option2, option3, option4 in that order.

Your Adsense code will then be shown in the Your AdSense code box at the bottom of the page. Click in the box and copy the contents to your Windows clipboard (right click and select Copy).

Now go to your Create Your Split Tester Script software and click the Paste Channel IDs button. The software will then automatically extract your channel IDs from the Adsense code and display the IDs in the boxes.

Once you have entered the channel IDs, the software will remember them, so you only need to do this process once (assuming you use the same channels for all your testing).

Using The Software To Create Your Script

To use the software to create your script, click the button above then enter your details into the boxes as follows:

SQL Database Name
SQL User Name
SQL Password
SQL Host
SQL Table Name
Leave these blank if you don't want to use the SQL database feature. If you do want to use an SQL database, enter the details in these boxes. The host entry is usually left as "localhost" and the table name is usually left as "adsplit".

SQL Track Hours
It is recommended that you leave this at the standard value of 48 hours. The value is only used if you are using the SQL database feature. You can change the value if you wish. Basically this value determines how long each SQL database record is retained for. The database records are re-used when they expire (i.e. when the Track Hours period has elapsed). The records are tiny - only 10 bytes each - but the longer the Track Hours period, the larger your database will be.

Allow Image Files To Be Tested
It is recommended that you leave this checkbox checked. If you do not want to test different images (only different HTML and PHP files), you can uncheck this checkbox and it will slightly reduce the load on your web server.

Images Subfolder
It is quite common to have images for a website separated from the web pages, by putting the images in a separate images subfolder. If your website uses this solution, enter the name of this subfolder (usually images) into this box.

If you are not testing images and have unchecked the Allow Image Files To Be Tested checkbox, the entry in this box is ignored.

See the section Using An Images Subfolder for more details of using an images subfolder.

Number Of Options
You can specify 2, 3 or 4 options. For each option, you also need to enter a folder name and a channel ID. You can enter folder names and channel IDs for all 4 options if you wish and the software will use 2, 3, or 4 of them as appropriate.

Option Folder Names
You can leave the option 1 subfolder name blank if you wish. In this case, the script will use the files in the original folder for option 1 (see the section Special Case For Option 1 above for details). Alternatively enter the name for a subfolder 1 if you want to use a subfolder. The entries for 2, 3 and 4 are option2, option3 and option4 by default, but you can enter different names if you wish. If the entry in the Number Of Options box is 2 or 3, the values in any unused folder name boxes are ignored.

Adsense Channel IDs
See the section above Setting Up Your Adsense Channels for details of how to set up your channels. This section also explains how to use the Paste Channel IDs button to automatically fill in the Adsense channel IDs. Alternatively, if you already know the IDs of your channels, you can just enter them into the boxes.

Create Script Button
When you have filled in the boxes, click the Create Script button then select where to save the new script file on your PC. The script file is usually named "adsplittester.php" but you can choose a different name if you wish.

The software will also create a file called ".htaccess" in the same folder on your PC.

If the Allow Image Files To Be Tested checkbox is checked and you have entered the name of an images folder into the Images Subfolder box, the software will also create a second .htaccess file on your PC in a subfolder with the specified name (it will create this subfolder if it does not exist).

You should upload these files to your web host. The adsplittester.php and main htaccess files should be uploaded into the same folder as the original files. If there is an images htaccess file, this should be uploaded to the images subfolder.

If you want to do testing on more than one folder, upload the adsplittester.php, htaccess and the images htaccess (if appropriate) to each of the folders.  

You may use the script created by this software on as many websites as you own personally, but you must not distribute, give away or sell the script or any part of it for use by anyone else.

Create Your Database Table

If you are using the SQL database feature, then once you have uploaded the script to your web host, you need to create your database table. You only need to do this once, even if you have multiple installations of the script.

To create your database table, activate your web browser and enter the following, replacing mysite.com with the web address where you uploaded the script. If you have multiple installations of the script, you can enter any of the web addresses.

http://www.mysite.com/adsplittester.php?createdb

Testing Your Script

Once you have set up your script, when you visit any of the pages managed by the script, you will be shown pages based on one of the options (chosen at random).

If you wish to view the other options (to make sure that they are all working OK), you can do this as follows:

Activate your web browser and enter the following, replacing mysite.com with the web address where you uploaded the script. 

http://www.mysite.com/adsplittester.php?option

This will switch to the next option in sequence (for example if you are viewing option 1, it will switch to option 2). If you then visit any of the pages managed by the script, you will be shown pages based on the new option.

You can also select a specific option if you want, by entering the number. For example, to select option 3, enter:

http://www.mysite.com/adsplittester.php?option=3

Note that using this feature simply changes the option shown on your PC. It has no effect on any other visitors to your site (for whom the script will select an option at random when they first visit your site).

Using Your Script With An Adsense Locking Script

Ignore this section unless you own a script called adsenselock.php, which protects your Adsense account against fraudulent clicks.
 

You can use adsenselock.php at the same time as your split test script. In order to do this, there must be a copy of adsenselock.php in the same folder as your split test script.

You must use the .htaccess file that comes with the split test script - NOT the one that comes with adsenselock.php   

Using Your Script With A Random Links Script

Ignore this section unless you own a "random links" script called randomlinks.php.

You can use randomlinks.php at the same time as your split test script. In order to do this, there must be a copy of randomlinks.php in the same folder as your split test script.

You must use the .htaccess file that comes with the split test script - NOT the one that comes with randomlinks.php   

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