Closed Bug 658884 Opened 13 years ago Closed 13 years ago

Improve discoverability of Sync on our websites

Categories

(www.mozilla.org :: General, defect)

defect
Not set
normal

Tracking

(Not tracked)

RESOLVED FIXED

People

(Reporter: philikon, Assigned: clooney)

References

Details

(Whiteboard: [ux-eye])

If I google for "Firefox Sync" right now, I get the following hits, in this order:

1. Firefox Sync :: Add-ons for Firefox
   https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/firefox-sync/
2. Firefox Sync - MozillaWiki
   https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox_Sync - Cached - Similar
3. Firefox Sync :: Add-ons for Mobile
   https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/mobile/addon/firefox-sync/ - Cached
4. Firefox Sync for Mobile
   https://www.mozilla.com/en-US/mobile/sync/
5. Firefox Sync » Home
   http://services.mozilla.com/
6. What is Firefox Sync? | How to | Firefox Help
   http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/what-firefox-sync
7. Firefox Sync - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox_Sync
8. Mozilla Labs » Sync
   https://mozillalabs.com/sync/

This is pretty terrible. Since the discoverability of Sync in the product right now isn't great, people almost exclusively resort to googling to find out about this feature. This list is confusing, to say the least:

* (1) and (3) are outdated since the release of Firefox 4 which ships with Sync built in. I've updated those pages to mention this now, and changed the add-on title to "Firefox Sync for Firefox 3.5/3.6" to make it crystal clear. But ideally they won't show up as high in Google searches.

* If I go to firefox.com/sync or mozilla.com/sync, I end up at (4), so I'm assuming this is the "homepage" for Sync. It should be search hit no. 1! Also, why is it part of the mobile section and why does it say "Firefox Sync for Mobile"?

* Why does (5) mention Firefox Sync? In fact, I wonder why it exists at all... See bug 658880.

* Why is (8) still around? See bug 621369 which I filed 6 months (!) ago.
You're right, it's not the best experience.

CCing Chrissie and Laura to figure out what is engagement input on that. Plus it fits into our SEO efforts.
Caitlin - I know you have a number of changes to improve some of the instances in comment 0. Can you reconcile against this bug and/or mark this as a dup?
Assignee: nobody → clooney
Target Milestone: --- → 2.8
(In reply to comment #0)
> * If I go to firefox.com/sync or mozilla.com/sync, I end up at (4), so I'm
> assuming this is the "homepage" for Sync. It should be search hit no. 1!
> Also, why is it part of the mobile section and why does it say "Firefox Sync
> for Mobile"?

Another thing: If I end up at that page and I'm already running Firefox 4 or later (most Firefox users are by now), why am I still being told to download Firefox? It should just tell me how to activate it.

Lastly, assuming this is indeed Sync's "homepage", it is lacking a value proposition. People are going to end up there to find out what Sync actually is. It should provide an answer to that. It should also answer: Why would I be wanting to use Sync at all?
Thanks Philipp - lots of good feedback here. Caitlin/Chrissie/Laura - what do you think? Seems like there are some short term things we can do and then maybe some longer term ones as well.

(In reply to comment #0)
> * If I go to firefox.com/sync or mozilla.com/sync, I end up at (4), so I'm
> assuming this is the "homepage" for Sync. It should be search hit no. 1!
> Also, why is it part of the mobile section and why does it say "Firefox Sync
> for Mobile"?

As a general practice, we put the appropriate download button on all our pages. Research has shown that a surprisingly large number of people wind up trying to download Firefox from unexpected places and we want to make that as easy as possible. I don't think the button in the upper right corner is harming anything.
(In reply to comment #4)
> As a general practice, we put the appropriate download button on all our
> pages. Research has shown that a surprisingly large number of people wind up
> trying to download Firefox from unexpected places and we want to make that
> as easy as possible. I don't think the button in the upper right corner is
> harming anything.

Indeed, but that's not the button I'm talking about. I'm talking about "Step 1: Install" which is very much unnecessary if I'm already running Firefox 4 or later.
Depends on: 662572
Target Milestone: 2.8 → 2.9
First big thanks to Phil!

Second...

Closing this out, resolution is in bug 658884, scheduled for 2.9

For quick reference, go to http://bit.ly/jyC0rL

Columns: 

* G (Page Title)
* J (Meta Description)
* M (There are only a few of these)

Let me address a few extra items:

RE: Google search results are best when you clear your cache, because they differ for all users, so it's a little tough to nail down a single/general search experience. Laura Forrest and Chrissie did a full audit of moz.com product pages (everything in the main navigation with the exception of support and add-ons) and SEO will be updated sitewide in 2.9 (HOORAY!)

Since Synch is distributed among microsites that we don't manage, opening specific bugs with SEO recommendations directed towards those different site owners might be helpful in future efforts: 

1. Firefox Sync :: Add-ons for Firefox - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/firefox-sync/ (Recommend opening a bug for the Add-ons Team to update any specific SEO)
2. Firefox Sync - MozillaWiki --  https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox_Sync - Cached - Similar
3. Firefox Sync :: Add-ons for Mobile -- https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/mobile/addon/firefox-sync/ - (Recommend opening a bug for the Add-ons Team to update any specific SEO)
4. Firefox Sync for Mobile: https://www.mozilla.com/en-US/mobile/sync/ (Good to go!)
5. Firefox Sync » Home:  http://services.mozilla.com/  (Recommend opening a bug for the Services Team to update any specific SEO)
6. What is Firefox Sync? | How to | Firefox Help: http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/what-firefox-sync  (Recommend opening a bug for the Support Team to update any specific SEO)
7. Firefox Sync - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox_Sync (no recommendation)
8. Mozilla Labs » Sync:  https://mozillalabs.com/sync/ (Recommend opening a bug for the Labs Team to update any specific SEO)
Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 13 years ago
Resolution: --- → FIXED
(In reply to comment #6)
> Closing this out, resolution is in bug 658884, scheduled for 2.9

Wait, that's *this* bug... Did you mean to link to different bug perhaps?

> RE: Google search results are best when you clear your cache, because they
> differ for all users, so it's a little tough to nail down a single/general
> search experience. Laura Forrest and Chrissie did a full audit of moz.com
> product pages (everything in the main navigation with the exception of
> support and add-ons) and SEO will be updated sitewide in 2.9 (HOORAY!)

Awesome! Thanks!

> 4. Firefox Sync for Mobile: https://www.mozilla.com/en-US/mobile/sync/ (Good
> to go!)

Sorry, what does that mean? That the SEO index has been fixed? If that is all, I shall file another bug to actually improve the page.

> 8. Mozilla Labs » Sync:  https://mozillalabs.com/sync/ (Recommend opening a
> bug for the Labs Team to update any specific SEO)

Like I said in comment 0, this should go away (bug 621369 which was filed over half a year ago :/)
(In reply to comment #7)
> (In reply to comment #6)
> > Closing this out, resolution is in bug 658884, scheduled for 2.9
> 
> Wait, that's *this* bug... Did you mean to link to different bug perhaps?

Yes. Bug 657387, please refer to the bitly link for specific SEO fixes.
 
> > RE: Google search results are best when you clear your cache, because they
> > differ for all users, so it's a little tough to nail down a single/general
> > search experience. Laura Forrest and Chrissie did a full audit of moz.com
> > product pages (everything in the main navigation with the exception of
> > support and add-ons) and SEO will be updated sitewide in 2.9 (HOORAY!)
> 
> Awesome! Thanks!
> 
> > 4. Firefox Sync for Mobile: https://www.mozilla.com/en-US/mobile/sync/ (Good
> > to go!)
> 
> Sorry, what does that mean? That the SEO index has been fixed? If that is
> all, I shall file another bug to actually improve the page.

Hopefully we're always improving the page, but are also always open to suggestions. Especially when suggestions relate to the design, it might be more helpful to schedule a meeting with a stakeholder, review the metrics, roadmap, and usually wiki pages. Keep great ideas coming, but get them into a workflow (as noted here, there was a much bigger effort for SEO across the site taking place).

> > 8. Mozilla Labs » Sync:  https://mozillalabs.com/sync/ (Recommend opening a
> > bug for the Labs Team to update any specific SEO)
> 
> Like I said in comment 0, this should go away (bug 621369 which was filed
> over half a year ago :/)

I can't disagree, but please take that bug up with the site owner, who would be on the Labs team. This  bug involved owners from more than 3 different sites, so it wasn't clear who the owner should be.

Thanks Phil!
(In reply to comment #8)
> Hopefully we're always improving the page, but are also always open to
> suggestions. Especially when suggestions relate to the design, it might be
> more helpful to schedule a meeting with a stakeholder, review the metrics,
> roadmap, and usually wiki pages. Keep great ideas coming, but get them into
> a workflow (as noted here, there was a much bigger effort for SEO across the
> site taking place).

Ok, will do! For now I filed bug 662682 so I won't forget.

That said, I'm just a client engineer who went through (the rather painful) process of watching real people (that's right! :)) figure out Sync. I don't mean to interfere with the processes, but merely to push them off. As far as my understanding goes, bugs are the way to do this.

> > > 8. Mozilla Labs » Sync:  https://mozillalabs.com/sync/ (Recommend opening a
> > > bug for the Labs Team to update any specific SEO)
> > 
> > Like I said in comment 0, this should go away (bug 621369 which was filed
> > over half a year ago :/)
> 
> I can't disagree, but please take that bug up with the site owner, who would
> be on the Labs team.

Done (I think.)

> This  bug involved owners from more than 3 different
> sites, so it wasn't clear who the owner should be.

Yeah. This was more meant to be something like what we call a "meta bug" in engineering: a bug that doesn't necessarily have actionable items but instead refers to other action items (which are typically filed by those who actually know what has to be done to get the problem fixed, which I don't!).

Should've made that clearer, sorry!
Component: www.mozilla.org/firefox → www.mozilla.org
Component: www.mozilla.org → General
Product: Websites → www.mozilla.org
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