The document provides an overview of the GOV.UK website, which has 3 main sections: 1) Mainstream content for citizens and businesses, 2) Detailed guidance linking to specific actions, and 3) Inside Government for policy and corporate information. The Mainstream section groups content by topic and relies mainly on search. Detailed Guidance links to specific actions. Inside Government aggregates all government policy content and allows searching by topic, policy, department, and other filters. It provides updates through email alerts. The site is continually improved through an agile process.
5. 1. Mainstream
Citizen- and business-facing content
(content that was on Directgov and Businesslink)
GOV.UK - mainstream
6. Finding content on mainstream
Content is
grouped
into
sections
GOV.UK - mainstream
7. Most people use search
• 69% of people come to GOV.UK
through search.
• Only 8% of people land on the
homepage
• Search is improving all the time.
• More on search later…
GOV.UK - mainstream
8. 2. Detailed guidance
Answers a specific user need for detailed information – usually
ending in a user action with government
GOV.UK – detailed guidance
9. Detailed Guidance
GOV.UK – detailed guidance
• Answers a specific user need for detailed information
– usually ending in a user action with government
• Linked to mainstream subjects (providing more
detail)
• NOT designed to give general advice or explain
government policy
11. 3. Inside Government
Policy and corporate information (content that was on
individual government departments’ websites).
Inside Government
12. Inside Government:
a new approach
• Completely different way of presenting
information
• Aggregates government policy content in one
place
• Content is all tagged – to a department, topic,
policy, etc
• ‘Google is the homepage’ – you don’t have to
know your way round department websites
Inside Government
13. Finding what you want -
search
• Split into 3 tabs –
General results,
Detailed guidance,
Inside Government
• Search is designed to
serve up results
relevant to where the
user starts.
• Will also give the option
to see results for the
other 2 parts of the site.
Inside Government
14. Searching by topic
• Content is
aggregated across
departments and
grouped by topics.
• Topics are broad
headings
describing what the
government as a
whole is doing
about an issue.
• All departments
with an input into
the topic are listed.
• There are 38
topics so far.
Inside Government
15. Searching by policy
Filter by:
• Keyword
• Topic
• Department
Inside Government
Same structure
for searching for
other types of
content (eg
announcements,
consultations,
publications,
statistics)
16. Policy format
• Policies say what government is trying to achieve and
why
• Each contains top-level page plus supporting pages
– Set format: Issue, Actions, Background, etc
• Policies are the ‘spine’ of Inside Gov – most content in
Inside Government is tagged to a policy
• Currently 119 policies on GOV.UK, including:
– Supporting the library services provided by local
authorities (DCMS)
– Keeping the UK safe in cyberspace (CO, FCO, NSI, TSE)
– Making local councils more transparent and accountable
to local people (DCLG)
Inside Government
20. Individual departmental webpages
Inside Government
Each department still
has its own
‘homepage’, together
with a number of
personalised pages.
But most information
is aggregated with
other departments’
information.
21. How government works
Inside Government
– Who runs government
– How government is run
– History of government
22. Get involved
Inside Government
• Respond to
consultations
• Start a
petition
• Follow a blog
• Make a
neighbourhoo
d plan
• Start a social
enterprise
• And more…
28. Continual improvement
• The Government Digital Service
(GDS) has on average 4 releases a
week
• Continuous improvements to the site
– Agile, iterative approach.
Inside Government
29. In the future?
• All ministerial departments on the site by the end of
April 2013.
– Dept for Work and Pensions 17 Apr
– Dept for Education 23 Apr
– HM Treasury 24 Apr
– Number 10 and Deputy Prime Minister 30 Apr
• Improvements to main site search and the filters on
Inside Government’s document lists
• All government blogs amalgamated and easy to find
from Inside Government.
Inside Government
30. Tell ‘em what you think!
Inside Government
If you’ve got any feedback on GOV.UK,
scroll to the bottom of any page and click
‘feedback’.
Editor's Notes
Me = involved in writing content for the mainstream part of the site. Qualified to tallk to you about GOV.UK and how to find content on it. Going to talk you through the GOV.UK website, then take questions and then, if there’s time, go through an exercise where we try and find content on the site together with you.
General = mainstream and high-level. Caters for common needs. Short, easy-to-read, not huge amounts of detail.
As Louise said, Gov.uk was built on the premise that “Google is the homepage” and most people will find what they want without using the navigation on a site. So most people will use the search on GOV.Uk or an external search engine. Detail 60% of visits to GOV.UK come from external search straight to a content page; another 5% come from search to a browse page, and 4% come from search to the homepage. In total, 69% of visits come from organic search. The rest are 16% referrals from other sites, and 15% direct, plus a little bit of campaigns etc. The homepage makes up 8% of all landing pages from any source: 4% from external search, 3% direct and 1% referrals from other sites.
Going to explain these areas of the site in more detail later in this presentation.
Detailed guidance = much more detail. Guidance that government has a duty to provide - statutory guidance, rather than general advice. Should give users information to complete a specific action. Detailed guides answer a specific user need for detailed information – usually ending in a user action with government. They are not designed to give general advice, explain government policy or be a dumping ground for information without a home. Use the Inside Government content types for things government is doing and use detailed guides for things the user is doing (or needs to).
Detailed guidance is always linked to a specific article on the mainstream section
Inside Govt = policy documents, statistics, all the corporate and policy info from departmental sites. 20 out of 24. 25 out of 300+
Policy = “Supporting economic growth through local enterprise partnerships and enterprise zones” Owned by BIS (business, innovation and skills), DCLG and DFT Topics = Transport and Economic growth HG notes: DCLG section visits for Feb: google 165,791 (direct) 43,886 planningportal.gov.uk 15,181 bing 12,973 communities.gov.uk 11,593 info4local.gov.uk 9,568
3 tabs relate to 3 audience types. You’re shown a different tab according to which part of the site you’re on.
Top-level page with set format: Issue, Actions, Background, etc
Supporting detail page
Latest page – announcements, press releases, news stories, speeches, etc – in chronological order, most recent first
A ‘get involved’ page showcasing the opportunities to participate in policy development and society
Another example of using tagging. Information tagged to a country, as well as to a policy and a topic
