Case Studies

SEO Patterns | Content Strategy

SEO Patterns allows users to customize their SEO settings per page type, rather than needing to go page by page. Using variables, they can edit all their SEO settings in one go. This product was incredibly complex and a lot of infrastructure work went into it.

Unfortunately, we were forced to de-scope a lot of what we'd originally planned for this product.

Because of all the product and development gaps, content was used as a band-aid. For example, we were supposed to have a user-friendly UI for the variables but that was going to take additional weeks to develop. So we had to use content in tooltips to explain how to read the now-technical variables. Another example: We were supposed to have a "revert to default" ability, but that had to get scrapped. So we used the placeholder text to show them what the default should be.

A few months after launch, we got the resources we needed to add many of the features we'd had to leave out originally.

Challenge

The original content had been written specifically to compensate for product gaps. Now that those gaps were about to be fixed, all of the content needed to be rethought.

Additionally, the quick fixes had been done without a holistic look at the messaging, meaning things were a bit of a mess.

Lastly, as we'd begun to add more page types to SEO Patterns, we were realizing what a big undertaking it was - 37 keys per page type that needed to be created, updated, QA'd and localized.

We needed to decide on a content strategy for this product moving forward.

Solution

I did an audit of the entire product, taking screenshots and putting together a list of problem areas. I looked at everything, including product behavior and design. Then, I put together a presentation that explained the issues I found (broken down by product area), explained why they were problematic, and provided visuals.

I also provided ideas of new text we could implement, so that they could better understand the massive changes I was suggesting.

I met with the product manager, UX designer, and UX designer TL to go over everything. We discussed my suggestions and decided which ones to implement.

Results

We ended up implementing all of my content suggestions with the release of the next feature. This was much more than rewriting text. In addition to the usual responsibilities, I had to:

Map all existing keys
Work with the developers on creating new keys and deprecating old ones
Create a visual representation of which keys were shared and which keys would be new per page type
Work with the KB writer to update all relevant KB articles
Kick off & explain the project to localization writers

In the end, I was proud of the content strategy I put into place on this product. Combined with the product improvements, we saw a remarkable increase in the number of users who understood the product and didn't have errors.