SEO Trends in 2024: What You Need to Know to Succeed
Yahoo Help Content Strategy - Chris Todd
1. Yahoo Help Content Strategy
Chris Todd
Information Development World 2014
2. How do you
make a case
study of a
strategy?
…the story of how we got here and
what we’re doing now.
Tell you how it
was executed,
of course!
3. Yahoo
Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) - NASDAQ
Mail
Fantasy Sports
Answers
Flickr
Founded January 1994
by two Stanford grad students
Jerry Yang and David Filo
incorporated March 1, 1995
Yahoo CEO and President
Marissa Mayer
appointed on July 16, 2012
Tumblr
Aviate
Search
Finance
and many more…
4. Assists over 11M unique Help visitors every month
My Yahoo
organization
writes customer
help content for all
Yahoo products
…everywhere
5. 20 years | Xerox ◆ Mentor Graphics ◆ Oracle ◆ Yahoo
Marketing | Customer Support | Training
Moda Center
Home of the Trailblazers
Mt St Helens
Willamette River
Me
PPoorrttllaanndd,, OORR
6. USABILITY.GOV
WHAT IS CONTENT STRATEGY?
KRISTINA HALVORSON
“…plans for the creation, publication and
governance of useful, usable content.”
http://alistapart.com/article/thedisciplineofcontentstrategy
Your content strategy is
everything you do
and don’t do related to
“…focuses on the planning, content. Content not only your creation, delivery, and governance of
includes content.
the words on the page but also the
images and multimedia that are used.”
http://www.usability.gov/what-and-why/content-strategy.html
Remember, no strategy is a
JEFFREY MACINTYRE
“…addresses the specific purpose, form, and development that we have at hand, or those that strategy circumstances too.
of the content assets
(and our analysis) require us to
produce. The analysis of content and assessment of its value lies at the core of our
labors.”
http://alistapart.com/article/contenttiousstrategy
7. What might be in your strategy?
Investment
Platform
Translations
Writing style and voice
Process and
governance
What you share
publicly
Hiring practices
8. 1 +
Apply 9
content principles
Write once for
9
everywhere My Strategy
9. Every user
▪ Customer
▪ Support agent
▪ Partner
Every device
▪ Mobile
▪ Tablet
▪ Desktop/laptop
▪ In-product
▪ Every language
▪ Every locale
(language + country)
EEvveerryywwhheerree!?
10. Content Principles
Know your audience
Must be able to follow the scent
Easy to scan titles
Easy to scan articles
Support SEO in every way
Use brand voice
Use translation best practices
Make strategic use of videos and
images
Write for multiple UIs
(user interfaces)
11. “ Users often leave Web pages Personas
in 10-20 seconds, but pages
with a clear value proposition
can hold people's attention for much
JAKOB NIELSEN
“How Long Do Users Stay on Web Pages”
Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, September 12, 2011
http://www.useit.com/articles/how-long-do-users-stay-on-web-pages/
“If your grandmother and
longer…”
your 10 year old niece
can read and understand
your content, you’re
Know your audience
doing it right!”
While customers will search on
our site; most searching occurs before
they reach us.
12. “Informavores will keep clicking as
long as they sense (to mix metaphors)
that they’re “getting warmer” -- the
scent must keep getting stronger and
stronger, or people give up.”
JAKOB NIELSEN
“Information Foraging: Why Google Makes People Leave Your Site Faster”
Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, June 30, 2003
http://www.useit.com/articles/information-scent/
Must be able to follow the scent
13. Easy to
scan titles
……tthhaatt pprroommiissee wwhhaatt
will be in the article
14. Easy to
scan
articles
Title <H1>
Heading <H2>
Caution
steps
Numbered Heading <H2>
15. Title <H1>
Heading <H2>
Support in
SEO in
every way
Locale SEO URL
Heading <H2>
en_US https://help.yahoo.com/kb/aviate/missing-apps-aviate-sln24249.
html
en_AU https://au.help.yahoo.com/kb/aviate/missing-apps-aviate-sln24249.
html
de_DE https://de.hilfe.yahoo.com/kb/aviate/Fehlende-Apps-in-Aviate-sln24249.
html
vn_VI https://vn.trogiup.yahoo.com/kb/aviate/Thiếu-ứng-dụng-trong-
Aviate-sln24249.html
16. Brand voice What’s your
“Brand voice is the purposeful,
consistent expression of
a brand through words and
prose styles that engage and
motivate...
brand voice?
The personality of your brand is
determined, in large measure, by
the words you use and the
sentences you write.”
LARSEN “Creating the right brand voice”
larsen.com/insights/creating-the-right-brand-voice
17. Use translation best practices
One idea per sentence
Simplicity over creativity Seafood
brought in by
LADIES
Reuse and consistency
Spend the time and get it
right the first time
Own your translation
memory SOURCES
customers
will not be
entertained.
ARE REQUESTED
NOT TO HAVE
CHILDREN IN
THE BAR
just-one-liners.com http://www.just-one-liners.com/category/translations
SignsFail https://www.etsy.com/shop/SignFail
21. 2009 Challenges
Global products
Distributed platform
and contributors
MMuullttiippllee rreeppoossiittoorriieess
$$$
Translations
Labor
Writing skills
UI inconsistencies
Emergence of mobile
22. 2010 Stop the bleeding ($$$)
Did we need content
everywhere?
How many
A new platform was needed
• 1 Global repository for self-serve and agents
• Use 14 languages (1 dialect or form per language)
• Reduce from 70+ down to 38 locales
(language + country, en_US)
This forced a new authoring strategy
independent
repositories are
needed?
A new language and
translation strategy
23. Easy!
Go to where the
customers are
Getting to fewer locales and languages
24. en_US
es_ES fr_FR
en_CA es_MX fr_BE
MASTER (1)
PARENTS (14)
CHILDREN (24)
Translate from
Master
to Parent
Replicate from
Parent to Child
en_US
en_GB es_CO
en_AU es_US * Use variables for
: :
14 languages in 38 locales
local values
fr_CA
25. Centralized oversight
Systems used to their fullest
Fewer experts necessary:
systems and content
Buying software once
Content consistency
across the world
Same reporting platform
Prod Groups work with
one team
Benefits realized, so far
26. The move to one system
Easy as flowers
growing after a
volcanic eruption
Come see me
afterward to
learn more
27. Support the language and
translation
2010
2012 -
Who writes it? OrUigninfaolr Veissieoenn issues
When do they write it?
Who maintains it?
Content authoring
strategy
KCS (Knowledge Centered Support)
• Anyone can add or modify content
• When errors are discovered, fix them
• Through coaching, grow skills
• The most skilled publish content
Coaching program challenges
Content updates were frequent;
hence more costly than planned
Sponsorship change
– labor investment reduced
28. ✱ System is complex even for
full-time users;
* too much for part-time
users to be successful
✱ No DAM (digital asset mgmt) –
more manual management
✱ Writing wasn’t a core
competency of the agents
✱ More coming:
✱ Multi-lingual
✱ Our voice / style
✱ SEO
✱ More coming:
✱ 3 more UIs (5 total)
+ Partner portals
The strategy didn’t support
the realities
of the environment
Failed authoring strategy!
Was it the strategy or the execution?
30. Product launch timelines
Writer
Product
Mgr
Prod
Supp
Mgrs
Rich
Media
Legal
and
Privacy
Marketing
and PR
Agents Writer
Prod
Engineer
Translate
/ Localize
Help Site
Admin
Search
Manager
The content Writer is the hub
31. Super Writer!
Skills
Writer
Project Manager
Communicator
Information Designer
SEO Specialist
Data Analyst
32. Writing standards and
processes
2012
2013 -
Applying the Content
Principles – in detail
When to translate
Engaging Legal and Privacy
departments
Utilizing the rich media
experts
Dealing with local content
33. Advantage of customer
support agents
2012
-
2013
RReeccoommmmeenndd oorr DDrraafftt
Emerging Issues
Urgent translations
Linguistic feedback
34. Using data for
content improvement 2013
TToopp uusseedd aarrttiicclleess
Least used articles
Articles not updated
Search tuning data
35. Improving our content
and growing team skills 2014
On-boarding
Writer workshops
Peer-to-peer reviews
36. 2014 Hiring the right people
Marketing, PR, and/or
Communication
background
MMuusstt hhaavvee eexxiissttiinngg
writing skills
Ability to manage multiple
projects/activities
Ability to deal with ambiguity
Passion for helping people
HTML / technology skills
are a bonus
37. A community
for each Yahoo
product
WWrriitteerr
2014 Communication model
38. Translation costs decreased
Greater collaboration with
Marketing and others
Same message from self-service
and assisted
support
“New” bugs are getting self-
self-service
content, fast
Full visibility on all content
expenses
More benefits realized
39. Challenges we still face
Site design
vs. content design
Content
ddiissccoovveerraabbiilliittyy
Goal conflict between
writing for self-support
and agent
support
Better customer
success data
40. How are you
measuring content
ssuucccceessss??
42. WRITERS RICH MEDIA HELP PROD MGRS SITE CONFIG
Team 1
Team 2
Video
Images
Desk
top
Mobile
Agent
In-
Product
QA
Nav/
Links
Search
Forms
Site
Msgs
ANALYTICS
UI DESIGN | USABILITY
IA AND TAXONOMY
REGIONAL SUPPORT
Organizing: the staff model