Crisis Response on Google Search
For over a decade, Google has partnered with authorities and organizations to deliver timely and reliable emergency information across Google surfaces, develop predictive modeling, and provide post-disaster support globally. This involves leveraging AI and satellite data to offer crucial information to those affected by crises such as hurricanes, wildfires and floods. These efforts aim to empower communities and individuals to make informed decisions during crises, reaching billions of users in 120+ countries across the world to date.
The core alert experience
At times of crisis, one of the first things people do is… Google it. This gives Search a unique opportunity to deliver critical, reliable, life saving information early on to many of those affected.
But it also calls for a nuanced user experience - during an emergency, people have no time to wade through dozens of search results to answer their informational needs. Accuracy, reliability and actionability are key. Users are at a heightened state of stress and anxiety, so reducing cognitive load is a top need, as is maintaining a human and comforting touch.
When I joined Search as UX lead for Crisis Response in 2019, the team’s portfolio was fragmented and inconsistent - there were multiple products with different stacks and UI treatments, and a range of features highlighting maps, authoritative information, curated hyperlocal resources, safety guidance and news on top of the organic search results.
User feedback revealed that there was much in how our alert SRPs (Search Result Pages) looked and behaved that confused users - for example, different UI treatments in color and content based on user location; static elements were perceived as clickable, while important links weren’t; the meaning of texts like our long used “SOS alert” were too vague. The amount of strong red used on the page increased stress, and the alerts tended to be text heavy and difficult to scan.
From research, journey mapping and query analysis, we saw that during a crisis the top queries tend to be broad though informational needs are more explicit and varied, also changing depending on whether the user is in the affected area, has loved ones in the affected area or is completely unaffected.
Directly affected users need hyperlocal, actionable information, including what to do in case of emergency, and they require frequently updated information. Indirectly affected users need hyperlocal information about how their loved ones are affected and how to help them. Unaffected users have information needs similar to news consumption, with a focus on how to help from afar.
These insights coupled with learnings from Covid-19 led to the development of a Crisis OSRP (Organized Search Result Page) that would provide a more modernized, user-centered, informative, and less alarming experience during crisis situations, that also better aligns with the broader Search experience that users are familiar with.
I collaborated with PM and Eng leads to strategize the product and UX approach. To support distinct brand expression I introduced a badge as a prominent alert indicator, drawing on a familiar concept from the Covid-19 OSRP, to communicate the "emergency" context of a crisis without inducing alarm. I worked with UXW and visual designers to define terminology and iconography that would enable the badge to instantly communicate what the page is about. And finally, rather than using different visual treatments based on user location, I proposed dynamically adjusting the structure and ranking of content so the experience adapts to each user persona’s needs.
Feature redesigns
We followed up the Crisis OSRP launch with multi-method foundational research aimed at refining how we structure and present alert information in a cohesive way, including co-design sessions with users.
We found that users often feel overwhelmed by the amount of information presented during a crisis, and our alerts needed to be more visual forward, with clearer signposting and calls to action to help people prioritize and quickly find the most relevant information.
Users expressed a strong need for trusted, authoritative resources, but the alert feature that provides them suffered from poor scannability, lack of interactivity signals and took up too much screen real estate, resulting in a low interaction rate.
I redesigned the card with improved formatting and spacing, progressive disclosure, more prominent sources and CTAs, and added better signals for resource type. Post-launch metrics revealed a significant increase in user engagement, particularly a substantial rise in interaction rates, alongside positive impacts on ecosystem click-throughs.
Another top informational need during a crisis is clear and actionable guidance on what to do, that is easy to find and parse. To meet that need, many of our alerts include a Safety Tips card which includes crisis-specific guidance sourced from external partners.
However, the card is often long, text heavy and overwhelming. To improve scannability and helpfulness, we revamped the card UI with color, iconography and progressive disclosure patterns that break down the text and make it easy to understand on first glance. I also created partner guidelines to ensure content is concise and relevant, and updated the card title text.
In UXR, the new content format was perceived as informative and succinct and the new UI was received positively.
Extreme heat alerts with content from GHHIN are the first to roll out the updated card.
Alert entry points across Search
We teamed up with the Local Search team to address a critical gap in their experience: users searching for local businesses or points of interest within an area affected by a crisis wouldn't receive any warning about what is taking place, missing crucial context and potentially putting themselves at risk or hindering their ability to make informed decisions.
The solution was to integrate prominent alert banners directly into local search results, providing essential information like the type of crisis, its location and an entry point to the full alert page. The modular design referenced the Crisis OSRP UI and allowed for adjustments to information displayed and visual cues based on the specific crisis type.
Contextual crisis alert banners when users are searching for information about restaurants in an affected area
Impact
Evolving our alerts to the Crisis OSRP framework had a significant positive impact both for our users and for the team. Metrics showed the new framework reduced user friction, improved engagement for Search as well as the ecosystem, and increased helpfulness.
It reduced our tech and design debt and brought much needed flexibility and adaptability to our product, enabling us to quickly and seamlessly tailor helpful responses to new events as they emerged - for example, extreme heat and the EU energy crisis. It also unlocked new possibilities for alert automation that would enable us to increase coverage and reach more users in more places and more situations.