Declare and adopt an A/B test winner

When you adopt an A/B test winner, Algolia applies the winning variant’s settings to your live search. You don’t have to copy each setting by hand or set up your index again.

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Before you begin

You’ll need:

• Admin access to your Algolia dashboard. Without it, you can declare a winner, but you can’t promote the settings.
• An eligible A/B test. The test must have reached 80% of its planned duration. For Bayesian tests, you can also declare a winner earlier if there’s enough evidence for the primary metric of at least one variant. For frequentist tests, wait until the planned end before declaring a winner.
• An eligible A/B test.
  • For frequentist tests, the dashboard enables Declare winner once 80% of the planned duration has elapsed. Wait until the planned end before declaring a winner.
  • For Bayesian tests, you can declare a winner at 80% of the maximum test duration, or earlier if there’s enough evidence for the primary metric of at least one variant.
• A variant as the winner. You can’t adopt the control, so the dashboard hides this option if the control wins.

Plan for 5 to 10 minutes to adopt the settings, then 2 to 3 hours to watch the results.

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Declare an A/B test winner

1. Go to the Algolia dashboard and select your Algolia application.
2. On the left sidebar, select Search.
3. On the A/B testing page, select the A/B test you want to work on.
4. On the A/B test detail page, select the variant you want as the winner and click Declare winner.

Declaring a winner doesn’t change your indices. You can adopt the winning settings as soon as you declare it.

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Promote settings

Before promoting settings, test the winning configuration with your search UI. After you declare a winner, click Promote settings. This copies the winning settings to your control.

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Confirm promotion

To confirm updating the index settings:

• If the winning variant uses the same index as the control, enter COPY
• If the winning variant uses a different index from the control, enter UPDATE

Click Confirm to proceed.

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What adoption changes

Adoption copies most settings from your winning variant to your control. Some limits apply.

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Changed settings

• The control’s index settings, updated to match the winning variant. If the variant shares the control’s index, the custom search parameters change instead.
• These feature settings, toggled on or off to match the winner:
  • Dynamic Re-Ranking
  • NeuralSearch
  • Personalization
  • Advanced Personalization

If the control is a replica, Algolia applies only the settings supported by that replica type.

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Unchanged settings

• Records. Adoption never modifies your data.
• Synonyms and Rules. Adoption leaves these untouched.

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Verify adoption

After promoting settings, verify the changes work as expected:

1. In the Algolia dashboard, check the control’s settings against What adoption changes.
2. Monitor your app’s search analytics for unexpected changes over the next 2 to 3 hours.

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Revert settings

You can revert the adoption for 15 days after your A/B test ends, or after you stop it. To revert to your previous settings:

1. Open the A/B test details page in the dashboard.
2. On the control variant, click Revert.
3. Confirm by entering REVERT and clicking Confirm.

The winning variant still appears as the winner, but no longer shows as promoted.

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Revert limitations

• You can’t promote settings again for this A/B test after reverting.
• Reverting can only undo the settings that adoption applied.
• The replica and feature limits also apply when you revert settings.

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See also

• How to read your A/B test results