Our Blog

Empathy was one of the guiding principles we used when we created the new version of USAGov’s benefit finder. We believe that in addition to being a critical component of human-centered design, empathy is essential for our product. People who are applying for federal benefits may be going through a difficult life situation. If we can’t empathize and fail to offer a product that understands and meets people where they are, we might lose the opportunity to provide the practical support they need. 

Making sure USA.gov and USAGov en Español remain accessible to people with disabilities is essential. So accessibility testing is a regular part of our development process.

We’re excited to celebrate USAGov en Español’s 20th anniversary this month. Since 2003, the site has been a trusted guide to government information and services for Spanish speakers.

USAGov works to make it easier to find and understand government benefits, programs, and information. 

Project handoffs are not simple. Teams have their own cultures and work styles. Without planning, a project could lose institutional memory, time, quality, and funding when it passes from one team to the next. 

When creating content for our newly reimagined websites, the USAGov content team spent many hours researching topics, analyzing data, and writing user-friendly copy. We also spent a fair bit of time thinking through one small, but impactful detail: What is the best case style to use for titles and headings?

In 2022, USAGov launched a government benefits locator tool. It was created following extensive research on how to help people find benefits for specific life events. The tool is available in English and Spanish and started with one life event, the death of a loved one, to find survivor benefits after losing someone close. By answering a few questions, people can learn about as many as 33 survivor benefits from seven government agencies that they might qualify for. 

What is Search.gov?

Search.gov is a search engine built by the government. Our mission is to create a standard search experience across government websites, connecting the public with quick, easy access to the information and services they need. Working in support of federal agencies, we serve about 300 million searches a year for about 2,200 websites across one-third of federal domains.

To help make the voting process accessible to everyone who is eligible, vote.gov works with state election offices, federal agencies, and non-partisan organizations to create a national source of accurate voting information and clear registration instructions in multiple languages.

The vote.gov website is the primary authoritative non-partisan resource for voting information for the public from the federal government. We help people register to vote in their state and work to break down barriers for all voters regardless of background, socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, national origin, or age. We provide content in 12 languages, with more to come.