PHP split the visitors to two different urls

Question

I am working on my PHP script to split the visitors to 2 different urls as as I am doing this for split tests to see which site conversion the best.

Example: http://clicks.domain.com/439aa03e2de3e7fd95cb7cb28a4396c519c129eb0cef4f7b3ca48c43effd3269a8706f1bd0e3e33813929f8570f37fc32963e5715d020d38f38e60856c21b2ea

When the user click on the link, the first user will go to site A www.siteA.com, the second user will go to site B www.siteB.com, the third user will go to site A and so on.

Here is the code:

<?php


//Connect to the database
include('config.php');

$url = "http://".$_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'].$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'];

if (!empty($url))
{
    $clicked_query = $link->prepare('SELECT clicked_today, campaign from tracking WHERE link = ? LIMIT 1');
    $clicked_query->execute([$url]);


    if ($clicked_query->rowCount() == 1)
    {
        $split_test_query = $link->prepare('SELECT site_A, site_B, campaign from split_test WHERE link = ? LIMIT 1');
        $split_test_query->execute([$url]);
        $row = $split_test_query->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC)
        $split_url_A = $row['site_A'];
        $split_url_B = $row['site_B'];

        if ($split_url_A !== site_B)
        {
            $split_test_query = $link->prepare('UPDATE split_test SET site_A = 1 WHERE id = ?');
            $split_test_query->execute([$id]);

            //User will visit Site A
            header('Location: http://www.sitea.com');
        }
        else
        {
            $split_test_query = $link->prepare('UPDATE split_test SET site_B = 1 WHERE id = ?');
            $split_test_query->execute([$id]);

            //User will visit Site B
            header('Location: http://www.siteb.com');
        }

        //Close connection
        $split_test_query = null;
    }

    //Close connection
    $$clicked_query = null;
}

I have stored 2 different urls in the database, so my question is do I have to use the database to update the value to allow me to control which site the users will visit?

Is that how it works? or i can do that by using .htaccess?

I have tried to find the answer on google but I couldn't be able to find it.

Thank you.

Vladan · Accepted Answer · 2019-11-23T19:12:29.710

1

In general, the approach is fine. Although, I'd recommend not to rely on the URL but on ID from the tracking table. Also, the condition to decide if is to go to site A or B is weird if ($split_url_A !== site_B). I would just use rand(1,2) and based on that pick the appropriate site.

EDIT:

Something like this can decide for you which site you need and then you'd just need a single SELECT query to find the appropriate link and a single UPDATE query to update the appropriate site.

$choices = [1 => 'site_A', 2 => 'site_B'];
$siteKey = rand(1,2);
$goToSite = $choices[$siteKey];

edited Nov 23 '19 at 19:12

answered Nov 23 '19 at 19:04

Vladan

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23

Thank you for your recommend, can I ask you that if i use `rand(1,2)` how does it work to control the visitors to go to site A and site B without using the database? – Robert Jones Nov 23 '19 at 19:08
You'd still use the database to get the link, it would be just decided by a random factor. I updated the answer to further explain it. – Vladan Nov 23 '19 at 19:14
Oh right, I get what you mean now. However, I have seen people are using google analytics to do the split tests, track where it is coming from and so on so i am not sure if i should use it? – Robert Jones Nov 23 '19 at 19:18
Sorry, I'm not familiar enough with Google Analytics split testing feature. Maybe someone else can answer how to do it using GA. – Vladan Nov 23 '19 at 19:55

PHP split the visitors to two different urls

1 Answers1