Data-Informed Website Design and Continuous Improvement

My Role and Responsibilities

Role: Website Designer and Graphic Design Coordinator
Organization: TELL Japan
Period: October 2020 – Present
Primary Platforms: WordPress, Google Analytics 4, Yoast SEO, and Google Search Console

Key Responsibilities:

• Website performance

• User behavior

• Search visibility

• SEO

• Ongoing UX improvements and website iterations

I used website analytics and search data to understand how users interacted with TELL's websites and identify areas to improve their user experience. I used these findings, along with feedback from staff and users, to update UI, page structure, content, and search visibility across TELL's websites.

  The Process

Websites need to change as user needs, content, technology, and organizational KPIs change. I regularly used Google Analytics 4 from 2023 to 2026 to evaluate how visitors interacted with TELL's website, specifically where they went, what they did once they arrived, and whether they were struggling to find information. Analyzing page views, active users, engagement, and page popularity helped me identify changing user needs and opportunities to improve the website's content structure, navigation, and user experience. 

  2023: Establishing Baseline User Behavior

I monitored page-level performance over several years to understand which TELL services, resources, and content users accessed most frequently.

Throughout 2022 and 2023, the TELL homepage was the website's most-viewed page, followed closely by TELL's English Speaking Lifeline page (where TELL's chat and phone resources are housed). Other high-interest pages included counseling, Lifeline hours, mental health resources, and volunteer information.

These patterns helped me understand which services and information users were prioritizing, allowing me to make informed decisions about website navigation and content visibility.

  2024: Identified User Behavior Patterns

In 2023, I worked with a backend developer to integrate WikiTELL from a separate external website into TELL's main website. By 2024, Google Analytics showed that WikiTELL had become much more prominent among TELL's top-performing pages.

The increased visibility and use of WikiTELL highlighted the importance of making the resource database easier for users to access, navigate, and search. View the WikiTELL Search Feature case study.

Based on Google Analytics data, I also redesigned TELL's homepage so users could access frequently queried webpages, such as the counseling page, outreach events page, and workplace information, from the landing page. This improved the user experience for desktop and mobile users by making content easier to find.

2025 - 2026: Continued Evaluation and Implemented UX Improvements

WikiTELL remains one of TELL's top-performing pages alongside service-related pages like counseling, lifeline, and lifeline hours. WikiTELL is one of TELL's most important database resources on the TELL website, serving both the community and Lifeline support workers, who use it to search, access, and distribute resources to Lifeline users in real time. The homepage and English-speaking Lifeline page accounted for the largest share of website views, indicating strong demand for immediate access to TELL's core support services.

Google Analytics 4 showed me where users went after landing on the TELL website. The next challenge was understanding what users were looking for. 

More detailed, event-level analysis of internal search behavior revealed the specific information and resources users were actively seeking. Users were frequently seeking information about depression, anxiety, and general well-being throughout 2023 to 2026. The data also showed that users were becoming more interested in learning about domestic violence resources and pregnancy options in Japan. Other high-interest pages included TELL's counseling services, immigration information, stalking information, and contact details for Japanese police. Internal search data revealed user needs that were not obvious from page-view data alone. The chart below shows examples of user search behavior on the TELL website.

These patterns helped me understand what information users were prioritizing, allowing me to make informed decisions about website structure and content visibility. I wanted users to find what they needed without unnecessary clicks, which can cause them to give up their search entirely.

2026: Continued Monitoring and Design Iteration

I used these findings, along with page analytics and stakeholder requirements, to identify opportunities to improve how users discovered and accessed information across TELL's homepage, resource page, and WikiTELL. These improvements included:

• Improving navigation and content hierarchy to make frequently sought information easier to locate on the resource page (see the screenshots below).

• Improving the organization and discoverability of resources within WikiTELL.

• Improving internal search functionality and the way search results were presented to users (see the WikiTELL Search Feature case study).

• Identifying content gaps where users searched for information not clearly represented in the existing website structure. To address these gaps, I created more than 10 new webpages within TELL's resource section based on the website's most frequently searched topics.

This approach grounded improvements in observed user behavior and stakeholder needs rather than assumptions about how visitors navigated and searched for information.

Extending the Findings Beyond The Website

User behavior also informed the development of PDF mental health fact sheets for TELL's Outreach team to use at tabling events at schools, university events, corporations, and community festivals, helping extend awareness of mental health resources beyond the TELL website.

The design problem on TELL's resource page: Frequently searched information was difficult to locate within the existing resource page structure.

My design decision: I reorganized the page hierarchy and navigation to make the most-searched topics easier to find, and I created dedicated pages for information users were actively searching for.

Implementation: Updated the page structure and added more than 10 new webpages addressing high-demand search topics.

Visits to the updated resource page increased, including visits to the newly created pregnancy options page, which became one of the website's top-performing pages. WikiTELL also saw increased engagement after its 2023 integration into the TELL website, rising from a handful of views to 614. Continued improvements to navigation and content structure helped make the resource database easier for users to access and explore.

 The Outcome - From Data to Design Decisions

Monitoring website performance and user behavior helped me identify areas where users might struggle to find information and opportunities to improve navigation, page structure, content, and search visibility.

Using analytics and search data in the design process let me make improvements based on how users actually interacted with TELL's content, rather than relying solely on assumptions about how visitors navigated the website.

Rather than treating the website as a finished product, I continued to review user behavior and iterate as new needs emerged. This ongoing process helped TELL maintain a website that could adapt to changing user needs while letting me evaluate design decisions with real user data.

 View My Other Web Design Case Studies