Generative search provides AI-generated answers to users' search queries in your help center based on your content. Users can view generated answers without clicking through search results or scanning related articles. However, users can still easily click into the articles for more information, because the generated answer is derived from the primary search results.
Generative search is available with all Zendesk Suite and Guide plans. All Zendesk Suite and Guide plans include up to 100,000 eligible searches per month that produce generative search results. If you exceed 100,000 searches, you can buy the Generative Search Extender add-on to perform additional searches. See Managing your generative search usage.
Generative search is turned on by default. Guide admins can disable generative search, if needed, by deactivating it in your search settings.
About generative search for help center
Generative search works by evaluating the question that a user enters in the help center search. The top matching articles and posts are evaluated by generative AI, which then generates an answer. On Enterprise plans with federated search configured, the generative AI also evaluates external content and can be included in the answer. The generated answer is posted by default at the top of the search results.
Generative search is activated by default in your help center. To deactivate this feature, see Viewing and managing your search settings.
- Quality of your knowledge base: Because generative answers are based on your help center and your external content, the quality of the answer depends on the quality of your knowledge base.
- Search input: Depending on the format and structure of the search query, you may not see a generated answer for every search. For the best results, avoid one- or two-word search queries, and instead, structure your search query as a phrase, sentence, or question. Additionally, if there are no articles, posts, or external content that match the search, an answer can't be generated.
Updating your help center theme
To use generative search, your theme must include the {{generative_answers}} helper. Newer accounts already include this helper, but accounts with themes that were customized prior to March 25, 2025 must add it.
For detailed information about how to update your custom theme for generative search, see Add generative search results to your custom theme.
Using generative search for help center
When generative search is activated, users can enter questions or phrases in the help center search field and receive AI-generated answers to their questions. Derived from the top search results for their query, answers show users the information they're looking for in the search results, without requiring them to open each link and scan through the articles for an answer.
Generated search answers are posted in a box above the search results, alongside buttons that let users provide feedback about how helpful the answer is. Providing feedback helps train the AI to produce better answers in the future. You can also improve the quality of your answers by enhancing the content in your knowledge base. Generative search uses the content in your help center to produce answers, so as a result, the answer is only as good as your content.
You can find information about supported languages for generative search in the Zendesk language support article.
- Enter a question or phrase in the help center search field and press
Enter.
The search page opens, displaying the search results and, if available, an AI-generated answer.
If there is not enough information for AI to generate an answer, you'll receive instructions to rephrase your search to sound more like a question or phrase. For example, the search query "What documents do we need to provide to create a joint account?" is more likely to generate an answer than the search terms "joint account."
- (Optional) Submit your feedback about the quick answer.
Zendesk retains feedback for up to 90 days and uses it to assess and improve the quality of answers produced by generated search.
- Click the thumbs-up icon
to indicate the answer was
helpful. - Click the thumbs-down icon
to indicate the answer was
not helpful. Select the reason that best matches the reason for your
rating. Type any additional feedback you may have, then click
Submit feedback.
- Click the thumbs-up icon