How to A/B Test Landing Pages Using Short Links (No Expensive Tools Needed)

Last month, a friend who runs a small e-commerce store asked me how to figure out which of her two landing pages converted better. She'd been told she needed Optimizely or VWO — tools that start at $50-100/month. Her monthly marketing budget? About $200 total.

I showed her a trick using short links that took five minutes to set up. She's been using it ever since. Here's how it works.

The Core Idea

A/B testing doesn't have to involve complex JavaScript overlays or enterprise software. At its simplest, you're just splitting traffic between two URLs and measuring which one performs better.

Short links make this dead simple because:

• You share one link publicly (the short link)
• Behind it, you can swap destinations anytime
• UTM parameters let you track everything in Google Analytics
• You get click data from the link shortener itself as a bonus layer

Step-by-Step: Set Up a Landing Page A/B Test

1. Create Your Two Page Variants

Let's say you're testing two versions of a product page:

• Version A: yoursite.com/product?v=hero-image
• Version B: yoursite.com/product?v=video-demo

The pages should differ in exactly one element — headline, hero section, CTA button, whatever you're testing. Don't change five things at once or you won't know what moved the needle.

2. Add UTM Parameters

Tag each variant so Google Analytics can tell them apart:

Version A: yoursite.com/product?v=hero-image&utm_source=campaign&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=launch&utm_content=variant-a


Version B: yoursite.com/product?v=video-demo&utm_source=campaign&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=launch&utm_content=variant-b

The key parameter here is utm_content. That's what separates your variants in analytics reports.

3. Create Short Links for Each

Head to y.hn and create two short links:

• y.hn/testA → points to Version A (with UTMs)
• y.hn/testB → points to Version B (with UTMs)

4. Split Your Distribution

This is the part where people overthink things. You don't need a traffic-splitting algorithm. Just alternate which link you use:

• Email newsletter: Send Version A to half your list, Version B to the other half
• Social media: Post with link A on Monday, link B on Tuesday
• Ads: Run two identical ad sets, each with a different short link
• Bio link: Swap between A and B every few days

The key is roughly equal exposure over the same time period.

5. Read Your Data

After a week or two (depending on your traffic), you'll have two sources of data:

From y.hn's dashboard:

• Total clicks on each short link
• Click-through by country, device, and referrer
• Click timeline (see if one variant gains momentum)

From Google Analytics:

• Go to Acquisition → Campaigns → All Campaigns
• Filter by your campaign name
• Use "Secondary dimension" → "Ad Content" to split by utm_content
• Compare conversion rates between variant-a and variant-b

A Real Example

Here's what my friend's test looked like:

Variant B won clearly. The video demo on the landing page nearly doubled her conversion rate. She never would have known without testing.

Tips From Running Dozens of These Tests

Start with high-impact elements. Test your headline or hero section first, not your footer font. The top of the page drives most of the conversion difference.

Run tests long enough. A few hundred clicks per variant is the minimum. If you're comparing 15 clicks vs. 12 clicks, that's noise, not signal.

Use the same UTM source and medium. Only change utm_content between variants. If you change the source or medium, you're comparing apples to oranges.

Don't peek too early. It's tempting to check results after day one. Resist. Early data is misleading. Set a date to evaluate and stick to it.

Document everything. Screenshot both page variants and note the exact date range. Future you will thank present you.

Why Short Links Beat Traditional A/B Testing Tools (Sometimes)

Look, Optimizely and VWO are great products. If you're running a high-traffic site and need statistical rigor, use them. But for most small businesses and solo marketers:

• You don't have enough traffic for real-time split testing to converge
• You're testing across multiple channels, not just website visitors
• You want something you can set up in five minutes, not five hours
• You'd rather spend $5/month than $100/month

Short link A/B testing won't give you 99% statistical confidence intervals. But it will tell you, pretty clearly, which page version people prefer. And for most of us, that's plenty.

Get Started

Create a free account on y.hn, set up two short links for your page variants, and run your first test this week. The hardest part is deciding what to test first.

Create your short links on y.hn →