Google has announced that Google Optimize and Optimize 360 ​​will no longer be available after September 30th. All experiments continue until this date.

Google launched Optimize over five years ago to help companies test and improve their user experiences.

Many companies have used the tool extensively to optimize their website, landing pages, and other online properties.

While the discontinuation of Google Optimize and Optimize 360 ​​may be disappointing, Google says it’s committed to providing a new solution in GA4.

Users are encouraged to download their data before it becomes unavailable at the end of September.

Google Optimize will go down in marketing history as a short-lived but popular tool. Organizations that rely on it for their experimentation needs need to find a new solution.

The history of Google Optimize

Avid users of Google Optimize may be interested in this story from Krista Seiden, a former member of the team since the early days.

In a 20-part twitter threadSeiden talks about her time on the Google Optimize team and describes how the tool came about.

She says the idea for Google Optimize came after realizing that content experiments in Google Analytics weren’t scaling to her team’s needs.

At that point, they decided to build their own server-side A/B testing solution, which eventually became Google Optimize.

11/ As the tool came to life, we became more and more excited to see what it would do for the market. And finally, in 2016, we introduced Google Optimize as part of the GA 360 suite. Here’s our picture of the War Room Launch Party (we’ve been there since 3am!) pic.twitter.com/M12jSwQNpd

— Krista Seiden (@kristaseiden) January 24, 2023

Seiden remained on the core Optimize team until leaving Google in early 2019.

During her time with the team, she has created dozens of tutorial videos and guides for Google Optimize and consulted many of its features.

Seiden’s story, which is worth reading in full, shows that Google Optimize was not only a valuable tool, but also a passionate team behind it.

When Google Optimize goes out of service on September 30th, it will leave a significant gap in the market for affordable and beginner-friendly A/B testing options.

According to Seiden, Google plans to expand A/B testing capabilities in GA4. However, the features are unlikely to be available until September 30th.

Finally, she adds that Google is working on integration with other A/B testing partners, which means companies using a third-party tool may be able to port their testing data to GA4.

Comment from the Marketing Director of Search Engine Journal

Heather Campbell, Search Engine Journal’s Director of Marketing, gives her perspective on Google Optimize’s retirement and what it means for others in the space:

I’m not surprised that day has come. It was only a matter of time before Optimize/360 would stop working as Google is retiring Universal Analytics in July.

Google is investing in GA4 and wants you to do the same.

It’s still frustrating when Google moves our marketing cheese, but don’t lose hope. This could be your opportunity to find a platform that better suits your needs.

What does that mean now?

It would be best if you start looking for alternatives. And there’s plenty out there. The first port of call, however, is GA4.

Hopefully you’ve already started implementing GA4, since that’s where the next iteration of Optimize will live. And if not, you should probably stop reading this and get started.

Make sure you retrieve all data from previous campaigns. You can still run campaigns until September 30th, but if you rely on testing and personalization (like any good marketer does), you might need a backup.

source: Google

Featured Image: Aa Amie/Shutterstock