How is the Related articles list in help center populated?

Question

How is the Related articles list in the help center populated? Can I influence what articles are returned?

Answer

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

Articles in this 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

For more information, see our developer documentation: Recent articles helper.