Understanding a Zendesk Help Center

Jarod Stanton

Updated 05 December 2025 12:45

Q: What is a Zendesk Help Centre?

A: Zendesk Help Centre is a self-service portal structured to be intuitive and scalable with categories at the top level, which then contain sections that organise related articles that help customers to:

Find answers to common questions
Browse help topics
Engage with support content

Q: How is a Zendesk Help Centre structured?

A: Zendesk Help Centre is structured with a 3-level hierarchy.

1. Categories (Top-Level)

These are the highest-level containers, grouping related topics or products.
- For example, you might have categories like Getting Started, Statements, or Support.
- You can have multiple categories in your Help Centre.
- Categories must exist to create sections and articles.

2. Sections (Mid-Level)

Within each category, sections provide a further level of organisation, grouping similar articles.
- For example, a Getting Started category might have sections like Account Setup, Navigation, and Available App Integrations.
Sections allow you to organise related articles under more specific topics.
- For example, in the Account Setup category, you might have a section called Log In Steps.

3. Articles (Bottom-Level)

These are the individual help documents containing the specific information users read.
- Articles live inside sections (and therefore also belong to the parent category).
- This structure allows users to easily browse through the Help Centre, starting from broad categories and drilling down to specific articles.
- Zendesk also provides features like search functionality and intuitive navigation to further enhance the user experience.
- Additionally, Zendesk allows for customisation of the Help Centre's appearance and can integrate with other Zendesk tools and third-party applications.

Q: How can Agents use a Help Centre?

A: Zendesk's Help Centre empowers agents by providing a central knowledge base and a platform for collaboration, ultimately enabling them to resolve customer issues more efficiently.

Agents can leverage the Help Centre in several ways, including searching for relevant/related articles, linking to them in ticket responses, and even requesting new articles to address knowledge gaps. In addition, agents can...

Create Tags and Labels: Agents can use content tags and labels to categorise and organise information.
Create Macros: Agents can create macros to automate repetitive tasks and save time when responding to common issues.
Use Internal Notes: Agents can add internal notes to tickets to provide context for other agents or themselves.
Link Related Articles in Replies: Agents can easily insert links to Help Centre articles in their ticket replies using the Knowledge in the Context panel.
Set Autoreplies: Agents can configure Zendesk to automatically send replies to customer requests with a list of potentially relevant knowledge base articles.

Q: What are Related Articles?

A: In Zendesk, Related Articles are a way to group and suggest relevant Help Centre content to users, either when they are browsing or searching for information. They are designed to help users find the information they need more easily and efficiently.

Help Centre Browsing: When a user is reading an article, the Related Articles section will display other articles that are relevant based on the factors mentioned below.
- Content Tags: Similar to hashtags, content tags are used to group articles. When an article has a specific content tag, it will appear in the related articles list for other articles sharing that tag.
- Labels: In the Agent Workspace, labels can be used to group related articles together, making it easier for agents to find the right article while working on tickets.
- HelpCentrer Search: Related articles are also considered when users perform searches in the Help Centre, influencing the ranking of search results.
- Agent Workspace: In the Agent Workspace, related articles are suggested based on the ticket's brand, language, and other factors, helping agents find the right information quickly.
- Recently Viewed Articles: Zendesk maintains a log of articles a user has recently viewed. This data is used to suggest related articles.

You cannot influence what articles are displayed in the Related Articles list...

Articles in the Related Articles List are displayed based on a relevancy score, which is determined as follows:
- A log of each user's recently viewed articles is maintained.
- When a user views an article, a record is created linking the most recently viewed article to the currently viewed article as related content.
- As users continue to view articles, each article will accumulate relationships with multiple other articles, and the frequency with which an article is marked as related to another will increase its relevancy score, thereby enhancing the relevance and accuracy of related article suggestions over time
- For example:
  - User visits Article A
  - From Article A, the user visits Article B
  - Article A's relevant score in relation to Article B is increased
  - Another user visits Article B, and Article A is suggested as a related article

Q: What are Tags & Labels?

A: In Zendesk, tags and labels are both ways to categorise and organise information, but they are used for different purposes.

Tags are primarily used for tickets, users, and organisations to create custom views, reports, and business rules.
- Tags add context to tickets, users, and organisations, allowing for more flexible and customised workflows. They help with filtering, reporting, and automation.
- Tags can be added manually by agents, automatically through business rules (macros, triggers, automations), or by custom fields.
Labels are used to categorise and group Help Centre articles and community posts, making it easier for users to find relevant content.
- Labels are added to articles and posts, and they can influence search relevance and how the Answer Bot recommends articles.
In summary...
- Tags are for tickets, users, and organisations, while labels are for Help Centre articles and community posts.
- Tags are for workflow management and reporting, while labels are for content organisation and search optimisation.
- Tags can trigger automated actions, while labels primarily influence search and content recommendations.

For additional information on using a Help Centre, please review the following Zendesk Help support articles: