Last Updated on October 31, 2024 by Owen McGab Enaohwo
It is believed that users prefer to avoid reading manuals and technical descriptions, and some startups use this belief as an excuse not to spend resources on developing and keeping documentation up to date. But it works differently: users don’t read knowledge bases until they have a question documentation could solve.
If there are no online documents, or they are uninformative, the business has problems. But who wants that? No one. So, in this guide, let’s figure out how you should use online documentation for SEO and your digital marketing efforts to avoid any issues.
Consequences of Poor or Missing Online Documentation
Many think that SEO is all about targeting keywords, getting backlinks, and sending out press releases. Yes, it is important to introduce your service or product to new audiences, but it is not enough. Any project (including SEO) needs proper documentation. A simple example: few people study a car manual until they need to understand what kind of error is displayed on the dashboard or how to change a flat tire.
If the documentation does not help them or there is none at the moment, then the person will have to try something else. In the case of online projects, call the support service. It is bad for business for several reasons. First, the company wastes support resources on an issue a user could handle independently with good documentation.
Secondly, no one likes to waste time, and if a person was looking for the answer to a question, did not find it, and had to make a call, which many do not like to do, then this will not have the best effect on the brand image. In addition, the business misses the opportunity to save resources and use documentation as a marketing tool.
Main Benefits of Online Documentation
Now, let’s check how online marketing documentation can help your company for the best brand presentation.
Reduced Load on Support Service
Users get frustrated when they can’t figure something out. There are those who, with any question, grab the phone and call support or write a letter, but for many people, it’s easier to figure it out themselves and not bother anyone. Well-developed documentation makes them feel great as they have coped with difficulties. And when a product gives positive emotions, it’s good.
What’s even more important is that satisfied users do not burden the support service but could hang on the phone or clog the helpdesk system with their tickets. In our case, as the most popular questions about setting up infrastructure and choosing services were closed with educational articles, the number of support requests for simple issues decreased by an average of 25%. However, the number of users is constantly growing.
Less Time Spent on Solving Queries
In addition, a knowledge base with answers to the most popular user questions helps to serve those who do contact support quickly. Often, during discussions, additional questions arise, the answers to which have already been described. Then, it’s easier for an employee to provide a link to the desired article than to waste time on explanations.
In addition, many users may not find the desired article in the knowledge base or FAQ on their own. So, digital marketing assets are excellent SEO tools that boost user experience. Besides, if you want to automate your processes in the future, proper documentation is a must.
Help for Team Members
If you have ever done any project management, you know – even those who work on the product may not know all its intricacies. No one will be surprised by a Toyota designer who doesn’t know how to change a tire on a Prius or an Apple developer who doesn’t immediately remember how to add a keyboard layout.
The company’s employees may also need help, so the knowledge base helps process customer requests faster because the best solution is already there. Learn how to manage an SEO team to make the joint efforts coordinated and efficient.
Marketing Boost
Examples of digital asset optimization show its effectiveness for marketing needs. The company sends “warm-up” letters to users so that they work more actively with the product. At some point, marketers began to include links to the most popular knowledge-based articles in such messages. It allows the company to resolve many issues before the user has real problems.
6 Ways to Use Online Documentation for SEO
One of the peculiarities of documentation published on the site is that users do not read it sequentially. They often go directly to a specific help page from the search engine results for a particular query. But for this, the online help must work in context-sensitive help mode. It must be taken into account when optimizing online documentation.
Use Table of Contents
The table of contents should be available on any page of your documentation. It immediately shows the document’s structure and the current section’s position and, most importantly, allows you to move on to other sections instantly. Avoid situations where the table of contents is a separate root page of the documentation. In this case, the user must constantly return to the root table of contents to then move on to another section. It is not convenient. Typically, documentation created on wiki platforms has this structural flaw.
Don’t Neglect “Breadcrumbs”
Breadcrumbs show a list of parent sections for a given page. With their help, the user can quickly understand which global sections on a particular topic are included and click to go to one of them. Use special software for digital asset management to find the best words and word combinations.
Go For Linear Navigation
Links to the next and previous pages are convenient when reading documentation sequentially, especially if the table of contents is enormous. Linear navigation saves the user from always looking for the current topic in the section tree and trying to understand which topic is next.
Add Related Sections and Subsections
A list of associated sections (“See also”) and subsections of the current topic can be placed at the end of the page. This “selection” helps the user quickly find additional information on a topic of interest without using the search function.
Remember About the Search Function
The importance of the search function in the documentation that is divided into separate pages shouldn’t even be discussed. You can use third-party tools like Google Site Search or self-written scripts to implement the search. However, you will get this feature if you create documentation in a professional HAT program.
Consider Branding and Integration With the Project Website
Documentation is part of a project or product, and online documentation is also part of the site. The user must quickly understand what project website they are on and be able to move from any documentation page to other sections of the site, for example, to commercial and financial information, a forum, technical support, etc.
So, we’ve covered some of the fundamental recommendations. But if you want to learn more details, check this post to navigate your SEO process more efficiently.
Conclusion
Thus, proper online documentation becomes an excellent marketing and project promotion tool. Remember to do some basic optimization and make the documentation as user-friendly as possible. Then, you can not only improve SEO but also user experience. And, of course, never stop improving – continuous learning is the only way to keep up with the ever-changing digital world.
Alexandra Rumiantseva
With degrees in both journalism and marketing, Alexandra is a research geek who loves discovering and testing new digital marketing strategies. While she’s all about SEO and advertising, her heart beats for dogs and sunset, but she doesn’t get to write much about those.