Can we report on what users are searching for in the Service Portal (Zing Search)?

[Palle]

Hi Community,

We are using the Service Portal and would like to understand user behavior around search — specifically the Zing Search.

Is there a way to report on:
What users are typing/searching for in the portal search? Whether their search queries are returning results or not? How often certain search terms are used?

Essentially, we're looking to track search analytics to improve the relevance of our knowledge base and search experience.

Any guidance or best practices would be appreciated — including whether OOTB (out-of-the-box) capabilities exist?

Thanks in advance!

[Pau Besalu]

Yes, you can could create a report on the 'sys_search_event' table and filter by the interested "Application ID".

[Palle]

Hi @Pau Besalu 

Thank you for your response. I can see the table with some results, but not every search filter appears to be recorded. I performed a search on the service portal and then checked the table, but I couldn’t find any record matching my search query. Additionally, I noticed that all the records associated with other users have the result marked as Has Result “false,” which doesn’t seem accurate. Could you please clarify how data is being recorded in this table? what could be the reason of my search query missing?

[Pau Besalu]

Hello @Palle ,

- If you are using AI search, you need to active the following property: "com.glide.cs.click_metrics.ai_search".

- If you use Zing search for KB's you can go to the following path:

Navigation Path : All > Knowledge > Administration > Search Log

[ChallaR]

HI @Palle ,

we do have OOTB functionality -

Out-of-the-Box Capabilities

ServiceNow provides AI Search Analytics Dashboard (available from the Zurich release onward) that offers:

• Search query trends over time
• Top clicked results
• Queries with no results
• Search performance metrics per application
• Interactive filters to analyze by date range, application, etc.

To access it:

• Navigate to: All > User Experience Analytics > Launch Dashboard > Search Analytics
• You’ll need roles like ais_admin, analytics_admin, or portal_analytics_viewer. [support.se...icenow.com]

If the dashboard doesn’t load, you may need to configure the Service Portal to send analytics data.

Custom Tracking Options -

If you're using Zing Search (not AI Search), OOTB tracking is limited. However, you can implement custom logging by:

• Creating custom events using spUtil.addTracedEvent() in widgets
• Logging search queries via client scripts or widget controllers
• Storing search data in a custom table for reporting

This allows you to track:

• What users are typing
• Whether results are returned
• Which articles are clicked

  Thanks,

Rithika.ch