Write for the words people actually type
· 1 min read
An accurate article still fails if people search in the language of the problem and you wrote in the language of the service.
In brief
The article exists. It is accurate. It is even well written. Nobody finds it, because it is called Multi-factor authentication enrolment and people type new phone, cannot sign in. Knowledge teams write in the language of the service. Customers search in the language of the problem. Those two vocabularies overlap less than we like to think. Search does not fail loudly. It returns nothing useful, the person shrugs, and a ticket arrives that says please help. The good news is that your users are already telling you their words. Every search that finds nothing is a free lesson in how they think. This article sets out a few plain habits: read the failed searches every week; add the words people use as keywords, including the slang and the misspellings; put the problem, in their words, in the title or first line; and ask the service desk what callers actually say. Keywords are not a box to tick when you publish. They are a conversation with the people searching, and it never quite ends. This matters more as AI assistants start answering from your knowledge. They are only as good as the match between the question and the content.
The article exists. It is accurate. It is even well written. Nobody finds it, because it is called "Multi-factor authentication enrolment" and people type "new phone, can't sign in".
Knowledge teams write in the language of the service. Customers search in the language of the problem. Those two vocabularies overlap less than we like to think.
Search does not fail loudly. It returns nothing useful, the person shrugs, and a ticket arrives that says "please help".
The good news is that your users are already telling you their words. Every search that finds nothing is a free lesson in how they think.
A few plain habits
- Read the failed searches every week.
- Add the words people use as keywords, including the slang and the misspellings.
- Put the problem, in their words, in the title or first line.
- Ask the service desk what callers actually say.
Keywords are not a box to tick when you publish. They are a conversation with the people searching, and it never quite ends.
This matters more as AI assistants start answering from your knowledge. They are only as good as the match between the question and the content.
Next step
What is the strangest thing people search for in your knowledge base? Join the conversation on ESM's Exchange: https://exchange.esm.institute
Tags: knowledge management, service management, self-service, ESM
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