Why do my articles not appear in suggested articles on requests or Help Center search?

Question

My search terms seem like they apply to one of my articles, but the intended article doesn't appear when I search. Why does that happen?

Answer

Many factors influence how likely an article is to surface, including the article title, labels, and body content. Suggested articles follow the same logic as a traditional end-user search. For more information, see About Help Center end-user search. Two other factors may impact your articles:

Spelling

The query isn't spelled correctly. Search doesn't assume what a searched word should be. If the word is misspelled, you may not see results.

Relevance

Additionally, the search looks for a 2/3 match of search terms to the article content. If an end-user uses an entire sentence as a search query, but over 1/3 of those terms don't appear in the articles, a particular search may lack results.

Resolution

In both cases, consider modifying the article title, content, or adding labels to the article. For example, if users consistently misspell a word, add that misspelling to the article as a label. Making the article a better match for common end-user searches allows users to serve themselves.

Google Analytics helps you identify how customers use search. For more information on using Google Analytics with Zendesk, see Enabling Google Analytics for your help center.