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Google Analytics is a popular web analytics tool.

  • Information architecture
Title
BOLD Intern
Role
Intern for Google’s Global Lead of Information Architecture
Google Analytics original product overview

Context

The Google Analytics (GA) website regularly got millions of visitors a week and was the access point (as well as the main source of information) for the GA product.

The website needed a refresh to match GA's new product and marketing goals.

Role

I was an information architect intern on the (at the time) Web Studio team. I was part of Google's BOLD program, managed by the awesome "tobs" (who spelled his name lowercase before AI made it cool).

Process & tools

Research

Before jumping into any sketching or wireframing, we needed to first understand how the then current website was performing. Luckily, I had TONS of data to use.

We reviewed how our current users were using the site. This was done while paying attention to how our marketing strategy would influence the site's redesign and how it would affect users, both current and new.

Example analytics dashboard used to illustrate research
To understand the GA website's performance, I looked into various key insights. Not GA website's actual analytics.

Personas

We used 5 different personas that delved deeper into motivations and common pain points. These personas helped us prioritize content based on our targeted personas.

Example user persona
An example of a simple persona. Not an actual GA persona.

Competitor analysis

After understanding our site's analytics and users, we looked to see how similar products' websites marketed themselves to their users.

I created a competitor analysis (along with insights and value proposition recommendations) to help the team (and any stakeholders) quickly understand how our website currently stood against our competitors.

Animated competitor analysis example
A simplified, abstract example of a part of my competitor analysis.

Information architecture

One of the goals of the redesign was to have a more manageable, "future-proof" site – i.e. to streamline the pages and content in order to cut down on maintenance for the site over time.

We wanted the GA website to be more flexible as the GA product continued to evolve. One explicit goal was to not need another redesign within 2 years.

We managed to exceed a sub-goal: we significantly reduced the number of pages by 50%.

Google Analytics old and proposed site maps
A simplified version of the site map I created to show how the old site compared to the new one.

Wireframes

I created various options for wireframes and the basic structure for the new site.

I iterated on them with feedback from my teammates until we agreed on a direction that matched both user and business goals.

We also worked with the UX design team to user-test the content and copy.

Example website wireframe
Example of a wireframe. A tool for any UX, UI, or IA professional to quickly iterate on the structural design of a product's interface.

Impact

It successfully launched on time! Though I left Google before seeing the analytics / results after the launch, it looks like (as of 2015) one of the goals was reached: to support Google Analytics' marketing goals and not need another redesign for 2 years. (Great work, team!)