A Complex Schema Product, Simplified

😡

Developer

Codes

Validates

Errors in Code

Track

Performance

Monitor

Health

😡

😡

😐

🙂

Customer Journey Before Schema Tool

The Challenge

Schemas Integrated by Engineers Manually

It was clear from the start of the project that there was a huge need to offer a schema tool. Today, schema integration is a complex and time-consuming process that can be error-prone.


It can also be difficult to keep up with the latest schema standards and best practices. This can have a negative impact on a website's performance, user experience, and overall profitability for businesses.

The Solution

I Shipped a Schema Markup Product

I have successfully introduced our schema product to the market, which integrates several key components. This innovative offering aims to provide substantial value to our users by incorporating the following main features:

Multi Schema

Quickly add many schema types to a webpage.

No Code Required

Easily create and deploy Schema Markup for unique webpages without any coding.

Auto-Tag

Quickly add advanced Schema Markup to thousands of similar templated pages

Monitor Schema

Monitor the existing Schema Markup to ensure it's healthy and effective. Also, measure performance and create custom reports.

Project Overview

Designing Milestone's SEO Tools

As a product design lead at Milestone, I improved our suite of web development tools. Despite our flagship product's impressive range of features, we identified a critical gap in our SEO optimization tools. To address this, I spearheaded the design of Schema, an SEO feature that would close competitive gaps, resulting in a significant increase in organic traffic and conversion rates for our users.


As a product design lead at Milestone, I improved our suite of web development tools. Despite our flagship product's impressive range of features, we identified a critical gap in our SEO optimization tools. To address this, I spearheaded the design of Schema, an SEO feature that would close competitive gaps, resulting in a significant increase in organic traffic and conversion rates for our users.


Team

1 Product Design Lead (me)

2 Product Managers

6 Engineers

2 QA

2 Product Marketing



1 Product Design Lead (me)

2 Product Managers

6 Engineers

2 QA

2 Product Marketing

1 Product Design Lead (me)

2 Product Managers

6 Engineers

2 QA

2 Product Marketing

Timeline

4 Months








4 Months

4 Months





Responsibility

Research

Strategy

Design

Prototyping

Project Management




Research

Strategy

Design

Prototyping

Manage Project

Research

Strategy

Design

Prototyping

Project Management


Results

SEO Traffic lift from 25%-140%.


2022 US Search Awards: Best Software Innovation.


2022 Adrian Award.

SEO Traffic lift from 25%-125%


2022 Award: Best Software Innovation


2022 Adrian Award

SEO Traffic lift from 25%-125%


2022 Award: Best Software Innovation


2022 Adrian Award

Customer Journey Before Schema Tool

😡

Developer

Codes

Validates

Errors in Code

Track

Performance

Monitor

Health

😡

😡

😐

🙂

The Challenge

Engineers Manually Integrated Schemas

It was clear from the start of the project that there was a huge need to offer a schema tool because most competitors were already offering this.


Today, schema integration is a complex and time-consuming process that can be error-prone. It can also be difficult to keep up with the latest schema standards and best practices. This can have a negative impact on a website's performance, user experience, and overall profitability for businesses.

The Solution

I Shipped a Schema Markup Product

I have successfully introduced our schema product to the market, which integrates several key components. This innovative offering aims to provide substantial value to our users by incorporating the following main features:

Multi Schema

Quickly add many schema types to a webpage.

No Code Required

No Code Required

Easily create and deploy Schema Markup for unique webpages without any coding.

Auto-Tag

Auto-Tag

Quickly add advanced Schema Markup to thousands of similar templated pages

Monitor Schema

Monitor the existing Schema Markup to ensure it's healthy and effective. Also, measure performance and create custom reports.

Discovery

The Research Interviews Uncovered 3 Opportunities

  1. An All-In-One Solution

    I saw an untapped opportunity in the market - a lack of solutions that integrated schema markup with performance tools. By developing a tool that combined both, we could eliminate the need for context switching and provide users with an all-in-one solution.

Milestone replaces all 6 of these software products

Process

I Led This 16 Week Project From
Research Through Launch

3 weeks

Discovery

Planned and conducted 20 remote interviews with customer service agents, SEO team, key stakeholders, and users to understand gaps in existing Schema Products.

4 weeks

Strategy

Identified and prioritized the differentiated features for the schema markup product while collaborating with the PM, CSM, Stakeholders.


4 weeks

Design

Mapped and designed key user flows for first time user and repeat user to ensure that our web development tools are intuitive, and integrated with Milestone’s other products.



Mapped and designed key user flows for first time user and repeat user to ensure that our web development tools are intuitive, easy to use, and integrated seamlessly with our other products.

5 weeks

Prototype & Test…

Created several interactive prototypes.


Conducted remote usability testing with 10 participants and optimized key parts of the user flow  to identify pain points and areas for improvement.

Discovery

The Research Interviews Uncovered 3 Opportunities

  1. An All-In-One Solution

    I saw an untapped opportunity in the market - a lack of solutions that integrated schema markup with performance tools. By developing a tool that combined both, we could eliminate the need for context switching and provide users with an all-in-one solution.

Milestone replaces all 6 of these software products

  1. Visualize Schema Entities

    I observed users struggled with visualizing schema entities, which made it difficult to effectively manage their data. By incorporating a visualizer into our tool, I aimed to provide our users with a comprehensive and seamless experience.

  1. Setup Schema Easily

    It was painful to setup schemas in most competitors. I proposed the inclusion of all website URLs into our platform for easier setup.

Alignment

Convincing Stakeholders to Expand Scope

Expanding the scope of a project can be challenging, especially when it involves convincing stakeholders to invest more time and resources. 


To expand the scope of the project, I put together a pitch which included concept tests, competitor eval and opinions from industry experts. I organized an alignment workshop where I facilitated a discussion around addressing these opportunities in the project.


Frustration with frequent context switching and losing track of tabs

Frustration with frequent context switching and losing track of tabs


Through the alignment workshop, the stakeholders were able to see the value of expanding the scope of the project and addressing the identified opportunities. The workshop helped to create a shared understanding of the project's potential and the benefits of incorporating the new functionality. As a result, the stakeholders were convinced to expand the scope of the project to include the all-in-one solution, visual schema entities, and first-time and repeat user flows.

Design

First I Mapped Out the User Flow

Setting up schemas was complex, so I designed a guided flow for our product. The diagram illustrates two main flows: the setup flow and the ongoing schema flow.


Design

Narrowing it down to 3 Options

After conducting user research and competitive analysis, as well as creating sketches, I have now narrowed down my focus to three distinct concepts for the Schema product.


Design

Narrowing it down to 3 Options

After conducting user research and competitive analysis, as well as creating sketches, I narrowed down my focus to three distinct concepts for the Schema product.

Right Panel

Centralizes all elements in a single location.

Right Panel

Centralizes all elements in a single location.

Detached Right Panel

Distinguishes between webpage and schema functions.

Top & Side

Utilizes a stepper. Segregates Primary and Secondary actions.

Detached Right Panel

Distinguishes between webpage and schema functions.

Top & Side

Utilizes a stepper. Segregates Primary and Secondary actions.

Validation

Testing the Prototype

After creating a functional prototype and getting buy-in, I concept tested these with users.


  1. We tested SEO Marketeer flow

    Users can monitor the existing Schema Markup on your site to ensure it's healthy and effective. Also, they can measure performance and create custom reports.


  1. Then I tested Engineer tagging flow

    This tool is designed to assist in tagging elements on corporate websites. This tagging enables Google to comprehend the content within the page more effectively. With improved understanding of page data, Google can then display it in a larger format and better presentation styles within Google Search.


Design

Changes After Testing

The concepts really resonated with people and we were headed in the right direction overall. We needed to make 1 change to the schema tagging flow.

Added colors to form fields to make the hierarchy clearer

After

Design

Schema's Impact on Google Search Results

The true test was Google Search results. With the new schema tool, Google could showcase schema markup in a drastically improved search result. Our clients have witnessed remarkable SEO outcomes, with our product outperforming competitors.

Outcome

The Schema Tool is Proving to Be a Huge Impact with SEO Traffic Lift From 25%-140%

Organic traffic lift after schema deployment

  • Regional Bank has 43X increase in visitors from rich results in 4 months, and 600 increased visitors per week.

  • Mexican Resort Hotel: +225% Increase in Impressions, +67% Increase in Clicks Post-90 Days of Milestone Schema Deployment.

  • Hospitality Company Surges Conversion & Organic Share of Revenue 2.5X with Schemas, SEO.

  • Impression Share on Search By 52% and Clicks to Website by 135% Using Milestone Schema Manager.

17B

Impressions

539M

Clicks

2.5B

Rich Results

Conclusion

Strategic Design Led Milestone to be Successful

This is a success story of how I convinced stakeholders to expand scope, and create a differentiated website SEO tool product. Despite initial hesitation from stakeholders, I was persistent in advocating for the expansion of the project's scope to address these areas, and our decision proved to be highly beneficial. Ultimately, the launch of the Schema tool was a resounding success and emerged as our top-grossing product.

Retrospective

What is Happening Now

The launch of ChatGPT marked the beginning of our journey, during which we promptly embarked on integrating an AI feature into our schema product. While this AI tagging feature is currently in the development phase, we are diligently working towards its impending launch. Concurrently, we continue to make minor enhancements to the Schema product, ensuring that it remains up-to-date and refined.

I am excited to work with you!

Please email me for any inquiries

© 2024 James Berta. All rights reserved.

© 2024 James Berta. All rights reserved.

  1. Visualize Schema Entities

    I observed users struggled with visualizing schema entities, which made it difficult to effectively manage their data. By incorporating a visualizer into our tool, I aimed to provide our users with a comprehensive and seamless experience.

  1. Setup Schema Easily

    It was painful to setup schemas in most competitors. I proposed the inclusion of all website URLs into our platform for easier setup.

Alignment

Convincing Stakeholders to Expand Scope

Expanding the scope of a project can be challenging, especially when it involves convincing stakeholders to invest more time and resources. 


To expand the scope of the project, I put together a pitch which included concept tests, competitor eval and opinions from industry experts. I organized an alignment workshop where I facilitated a discussion around addressing these opportunities in the project.


Frustration with frequent context switching and losing track of tabs


Through the alignment workshop, the stakeholders were able to see the value of expanding the scope of the project and addressing the identified opportunities. The workshop helped to create a shared understanding of the project's potential and the benefits of incorporating the new functionality. As a result, the stakeholders were convinced to expand the scope of the project to include the all-in-one solution, visual schema entities, and first-time and repeat user flows.

Design

First I Mapped Out the User Flow

Setting up schemas was complex, so I designed a guided flow for our product. The diagram illustrates two main flows: the setup flow and the ongoing schema flow.


Design

Narrowing it down to 3 Options

After conducting user research and competitive analysis, as well as creating sketches, I narrowed down my focus to three distinct concepts for the Schema product.


Right Panel

Centralizes all elements in a single location.

Detached Right Panel

Distinguishes between webpage and schema functions.

Top & Side

Utilizes a stepper. Segregates Primary and Secondary actions.

Validation

Testing the Prototype

After creating a functional prototype and getting buy-in, I concept tested these with users.


  1. We tested SEO Marketeer flow

    Users can monitor the existing Schema Markup on your site to ensure it's healthy and effective. Also, they can measure performance and create custom reports.


  1. Then I tested Engineer tagging flow

    This tool is designed to assist in tagging elements on corporate websites. This tagging enables Google to comprehend the content within the page more effectively. With improved understanding of page data, Google can then display it in a larger format and better presentation styles within Google Search.


Design

Changes After Testing

The concepts really resonated with people and we were headed in the right direction overall. We needed to make 1 change to the schema tagging flow.

Added colors to form fields to make the hierarchy clearer

After

Design

Schema's Impact on Google Search Results

The true test was Google Search results. With the new schema tool, Google could showcase schema markup in a drastically improved search result. Our clients have witnessed remarkable SEO outcomes, with our product outperforming competitors.

Outcome

The Schema Tool is Proving to Be a Huge Impact with SEO Traffic Lift From 25%-125%.

Organic traffic lift after schema deployment

  • Regional Bank has 43X increase in visitors from rich results in 4 months, and 600 increased visitors per week.

  • Mexican Resort Hotel: +225% Increase in Impressions, +67% Increase in Clicks Post-90 Days of Milestone Schema Deployment

  • Hospitality Company Surges Conversion & Organic Share of Revenue 2.5X with Schemas, SEO

  • Impression Share on Search By 52% and Clicks to Website by 135% Using Milestone Schema Manager

17B

Impressions

539M

Clicks

2.5B

Rich Results

17B

Impressions

539M

Clicks

2.5B

Rich Results

Conclusion

Strategic Design Led Milestone to be Successful

This is a success story of how I convinced stakeholders to expand scope, and create a differentiated website SEO tool product. Despite initial hesitation from stakeholders, I was persistent in advocating for the expansion of the project's scope to address these areas, and our decision proved to be highly beneficial. Ultimately, the launch of the Schema tool was a resounding success and emerged as our top-grossing product.

Retrospective

What is Happening Now

The launch of ChatGPT marked the beginning of our journey, during which we promptly embarked on integrating an AI feature into our schema product. While this innovative feature is currently in the development phase, we are diligently working towards its impending launch. Concurrently, we continue to make minor enhancements to the Schema product, ensuring that it remains up-to-date and refined.

I am excited to work with you!

Please email me for any inquiries

© 2024 James Berta. All rights reserved.

© 2024 James Berta. All rights reserved.