FAQ-type knowledge articles -

[Karolina]

Hi All,

I'm currently working cleaning up our knowledge base and got a little stuck with the FAQ-type articles, namely whether how to structure them.

In our case, such KAs are not individual articles, each answering a single question, but a collection of Q&As somehow related to the main topic, bulked in one KA, e.g. "What should I do if I can't access the survey" is in the same article as "How often is the survey sent out to employees". What is troubling me with this approach is the efficiency of the search engine and how accurate the results are in comparison to having one article address one question.

I was wondering of anyone could share their experience on this? Any insights or best practices to share?

[Lauren Methena · Accepted solution]

This question is a great example of where user experience, editorial best practices, and technology intersect!

First, I have found the search algorithms for ServiceNow knowledge to be scary accurate. For example, one time I was testing the search function and I used the word "ostrich," because I knew it was in the text of one article. I wanted to see if it would actually come up. 

I actually got two results! The second article didn't have the word "ostrich" in the body content - but it did have it in the PDF attachment! It was an older article that I hadn't seen before. But I was impressed that I was able to find it with such an obscure word!

So, as far as search capability, as long as you are following half-way decent SEO practices (i.e., your content contains common sense words and phrases that people are searching by), an article with several FAQs should come up in a variety of pertinent searches. 

You can also add additional search terms to the Meta field on the backend. This will boost where your article ranks, what terms users can use to find the article, etc. 

Second, from a user experience perspective, it may actually be more frustrating if your FAQs are all separated out and you have to seek individual questions or articles to get all the info you need. 

It's hard to predict if someone coming to a topic will want the answer to one specific question, if they'll have one question but then want to browse because it turns out they need the other information and didn't know it, or if they'll actually come looking for several answers on the same topic.

For these reasons, it's often good to put FAQs together in one article. (It also can make for a tidier knowledge base.)

The next question is - how can you make a list of FAQs more user friendly? (Because it is all about user experience, right?)

A couple of considerations:

• How long is the article? An article without a lot of length/scroll to it can be skimmed easily by users.
• Formatting counts - having an easy-to-read format where questions are bold and answers are in regular format can help. Spacing - giving the eyes room to "breathe" - can go a long way in making an article skimmable. Make sure the eyes can take in the info easily. Most users want to skim the questions and then will pay attention to the answer once they find a question that matches their concern.
• For longer articles, consider grouping FAQs into topics - and then use anchor tags (AKA jump links) or the new table of contents tool in Paris to create a table of contents at the top that people can then use to jump to the section they need.
• Consider putting directions at the top to tell users how to use CTRL+F to search an article for the keywords they're looking for. (We add these directions to long documents, such as PDFs of medical benefits information.)

Using these content best practices combined with these search best practices should make your FAQ articles, no matter how long, more usable.

If you find these tips worthy and of use in your situation, I hope you'll mark my response helpful or correct. 🙂

Thanks, Karolina! All the best to you! 

-Lauren

[Karolina]

Hi Lauren,

This is SO helpful, thank you so much!

Would you then say an FAQ should be a part of a knowledge article, or, if there is a lot of content in both, to have them separately? 

[Lauren Methena]

That's a great follow-up, @Karolina! You're thinking of this the right way. It's going to depend on length/quantity of content. Our articles tend to be on the longer side, so we usually have a separate overview/program description article, and then we have either a section called "Additional Resources" where we link to a separate FAQ article and any other pertinent resources or we just say, "Get more details in the FAQs." And then we link over to the article.

If it's a short description or article, and you only have a few FAQs, then they could probably be combined into one article - unless there's some strategic reason for them to be separated (such as search options?). 

So, it's a bit of a judgement call. 

If you want to put both in one article you could put them in separate sections and then have a table of contents at the top. Have the items in your table of contents link to the sections - Overview section and FAQ section (or more sections if you have them). You can do this super easily either with the new table of contents feature in Paris onward or simply code anchor tags/jump links using HTML code on the backend of your article. That way, users can jump directly to the section they need.

Either way, keep usability in mind.

Here's a link to another discussion about table of contents and anchor tags (super easy to find the coding for anchor tags with a Google search).

https://community.servicenow.com/community?id=community_question&sys_id=7418db44db8fec507d3e02d5ca96...

Hope you find this helpful! Happy coding and organizing content! (haha!)

-Lauren

[PAWAN K]

Hi Karolina,

I understand this FAQ is related to a theme: Employee pulse survey or Employee Engagement Survey. If these questions are general, don't involve technical troubleshooting and if you have the HR document repo / channel, then create a guide listing all FAQs related to "Employee Engagement Survey"

If you are managing this whole document in a KB, then still it is good to have ONE theme article. E.g. All about Employee Engagement Survey.

Consider the user experience.

Advantages:
1. It will be a complete guide / learning experieicne for the employee. He will find all questions lined up on a page. It will be easier to update / edit when required.
2. List all questions and use anchors to the questions and hyperlink the answer.
3. Use appropriate tags e.g. "expired survey", "survey frequency", "confidentiality", "anonymous survey", "survey access".

I hope this helps!!!!

PK