Improvement plan · Step 4 of 7: How
Most residents meet your page in Google, not your menu. Start the map there.
One simple map gives your web team, IT and the service the same picture of what a resident goes through.
The problem
To a resident, your website can feel like a TV obstacle course: hurdles, unclear instructions and a clock running. You lined up the contestants with your signposts and leaflets, but if the course isn't clear, many won't finish. And because each part of the course belongs to a different team, nobody sees it end to end.
The story
I once did user research at a council, asking residents whether they used the council's "MyAccount". One keen older gentleman really wanted to help, but he struggled. The only account in his life was his bank account, so that's what he thought we meant. A word that was obvious to the council stopped him at the first step.
Count the steps, because fewer steps win. Listening to music on the go took 8 steps with a CD and 11 with an early MP3 player. A music store synced to a player cut it to 5, a cloud library to 3, a smartphone to 2 and a streaming app to 1. Residents bring those expectations to council tasks too.
What to do
Use sticky notes on a wall, or a free online whiteboard.
- Write the resident's goal at the top.
- Lay out the steps left to right, starting where the resident actually starts: usually a Google search result, not your home page.
- Under each step, add the tasks: each one meets a resident's concern or something the service needs.
- Mark where residents get stuck, where words are unclear, and where a concern has no answer on the page.
Then count the steps on your map, and ask which ones you could remove or combine.
Try this week
Search Google for your chosen task the way a resident would. Screenshot every page you pass through until it's done. That's the first draft of your map.
Fix guides for this step
All fix guides-
Fix guide
Is Google sending residents to a bare form, not your service page?
Residents searching for garden waste, a pothole report or their bin day can land straight on a form with no explanation, and some give up and phone instead. This guide shows how to spot it in ten minutes and point Google back to the page that helps.
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Fix guide
Merging councils puts your top Google result up for grabs
Right now, residents who search Google for council tax or bin days land on their own council's website first. A merger, new domain or supplier change can quietly undo that. This guide shows how to check yours in 15 minutes and protect it.
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Fix guide
The 65 characters that decide whether residents click your page
Your page title is the blue link residents read on Google before they choose where to click. Too long and Google cuts it off. You can find yours in 15 minutes, and the fix is an editor's job, not a developer's.
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Fix guide
When Google writes your page summary, residents pick the wrong link
Leave a page's description blank and Google fills the space under your link with any text it finds, from cookie notices to opening hours. This guide shows how to spot the gaps in 15 minutes and write a line or two that helps residents choose your page.
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Fix guide
Your best school places page sits fourth. Parents pick from the top three
When the page that answers a resident's question sits fourth or fifth on Google, they click something weaker above it and often end up phoning. This guide shows how to check your main tasks in 15 minutes and lift the right page into the top three.
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Fix guide
Your page has one topic. Why does it tell screen readers it has two?
Screen reader users often jump straight to a page's main heading to learn where they are. If that heading is missing, or doubled up by a menu or a tool, they are left guessing. The fix usually sits in one template, so a single change can put many pages right.
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Fix guide
Your service page is current. Google shows residents a PDF
On a phone, a PDF means pinching, zooming and no button to apply. When one sits above your service page on Google, residents give up or phone. Check your top services in 15 minutes and put the right page back first.
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Fix guide
Your test site can beat your live site on Google. Residents can't tell
A copy of a council site, built for testing, can sit at number one on Google for council tax or parking permits. It is rare, but residents can end up filling in forms that go nowhere. This guide shows how to spot it in minutes and shut it off for good.
Want help with this step?
Book a free 30 minute call, or email david@digitaljourneycoach.com.
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