WebProNews

You asked, they listened.  Google's Website Optimizer team has unveiled a handful of "highly requested" things that should make the tool better in just about every way.

The first new feature is experiment pruning, which, as Trevor Claiborne explains on the Inside AdWords Blog, "allows you to disable one or more combinations from taking part in your Website Optimizer experiments."  This will lead to faster results with fewer irrelevant distractions mixed in.

Then, by way of a nice backup plan, comes A/B Offline Validation.  Claiborne writes, "If your test or goal pages aren't accessible to Website Optimizer then no worries.  You'll now be able to just upload a copy of your tagged page and Website Optimizer will make sure that everything is tagged properly."

The third change isn't so much a new feature as a smart redesign.  Since testing does little good without a correct interpretation of the results and an appropriate follow-through, "We've enhanced our reports to more clearly show how your combinations are performing, and to better indicate when we've found one or more high-confidence winning combinations."

On the whole, it looks like users of the Website Optimizer will wind up saving time and making smarter decisions.  Several videos are available to anyone wanting an introduction, and don't forget to keep giving Google your feedback so that it can be incorporated into the next round of revisions.