What Are the Best Practices for Creating a Knowledge Base?

Would you read in a library where books are scattered all over the floor? Maybe not, because finding the book you need would take forever. Similarly, an unorganized knowledge hub designed without following knowledge base best practices can leave users feeling lost.

But why should you follow these best practices? A well-crafted knowledge base effortlessly guides users to the answers they seek. It helps empower your customers with self-service, streamline support operations, and encourage a culture of team collaboration. 

In this blog, we’ll discuss the best practices to create a knowledge base that will convert it from a chaotic mess into a well-organized and valuable resource.

What Is a Knowledge Base?

For those new to the topic, a knowledge base is a centralized repository of information that provides easy access to valuable knowledge and insights. It’s like a library or a comprehensive guide that houses answers to frequently asked questions, troubleshooting instructions, product documentation, and other essential information. 

There are various types of knowledge bases, each serving a specific purpose. One common type is a customer-facing knowledge base, often used by businesses to provide self-service support to their customers. 

For example, an online retailer might create a knowledge base with articles on order tracking, returns, and product information. Customers can then access this knowledge base to find answers to their questions instantly, reducing the need for direct contact with customer support agents.

What Are the Key Benefits of Creating a Knowledge Base?

A knowledge base offers a centralized hub of information that empowers both customers and employees. Here are its five primary benefits:

Encourages customer self-service

A comprehensive knowledge base helps customers to find answers to their questions and resolve issues independently without contacting your support team.

This helps reduce support costs, improve customer satisfaction, and free your team to focus on more complex issues. You create a seamless and empowering customer experience by providing readily available solutions.

Improves employee productivity

An extensive knowledge base serves as a central repository for all essential company information, like policies, procedures, and best practices.

This eliminates the time wasted searching for information scattered across emails, files, and individual drives. Employees can quickly find the needed answers, increasing productivity and efficiency.

Streamlines employee onboarding & training

A knowledge base can be a valuable tool for onboarding new employees and providing ongoing training to existing staff.

By centralizing training materials, documentation, and FAQs, you can ensure everyone has access to the same information and resources, leading to faster onboarding, improved knowledge retention, and consistent training delivery.

Enhances collaboration & knowledge sharing

A knowledge base encourages a culture of knowledge sharing and collaboration. It provides a platform for employees to contribute their expertise, share insights, and learn from each other. This breaks down information silos, encourages teamwork, and promotes a more informed and engaged workforce.

Improves content marketing & SEO

A well-structured and optimized SEO knowledge base can contribute to your content marketing and SEO efforts.

Creating informative and keyword-rich articles can attract organic traffic to your website, improve your search engine rankings, and establish your brand as a thought leader in your industry.

What Are the Top Tips & Best Practices to Create a Knowledge Base?

Creating a consistent, rich, and responsive knowledge base requires meticulous planning and execution. Here are some best practices and tips to create a knowledge base: 

Clearly define your audience & purpose

Start by understanding who your knowledge base will cater to and why it’s needed. For a customer-facing knowledge base, focus on solving common queries, troubleshooting technical issues, and providing step-by-step guides. Ensure it supports employee workflows, training, and collaboration for internal use. 

Defining your audience and purpose will help tailor your content’s tone, format, and structure. For instance, customers might need simpler, jargon-free language, while employees might benefit from more technical or detailed resources. 

Clarify whether your goal is to improve self-service, enhance productivity, or reduce support tickets—and prioritize content accordingly.

Choose knowledge base software based on your needs

The foundation of creating an effective knowledge base is reliable software that aligns with your organization’s needs. Look for features like:

• AI-powered text editor: Users should be able to create error-free content quickly.
• Search functionality: Users should find what they need quickly.
• Customization: Maintain brand consistency with customizable templates and layouts.
• Multi-branding: To help you create multiple copies of a single help site and brand them differently.

Examples include ProProfs Knowledge Base for both customer-facing knowledge bases and internal collaboration. 

Choosing the right software also involves evaluating scalability—can it grow with your organization? If you serve global audiences, make sure it supports multilingual content.

Structure your knowledge base in a logical manner

A well-structured knowledge base is like a library: users should easily navigate the necessary information.

Organize your content into clear categories, like FAQs, troubleshooting guides, and product tutorials. Use subcategories for more specific topics and employ tagging for cross-referencing. For example:

• Main Category: Product Support
  • Subcategory: Software Installation
  • Subcategory: Feature Walkthroughs

Include a table of contents or sidebar navigation to guide users intuitively. Avoid overwhelming users by prioritizing critical information and using a consistent structure in every article (e.g., problem, solution, steps, visuals).

Create high-quality content with visual elements

Create content that is concise, relevant, and user-friendly. Convert complex ideas into simple steps using bullet points or numbered lists for clarity. Where necessary, include visuals like screenshots, diagrams, or videos to make instructions easier to follow. 

For example, a tutorial on configuring software should include step-by-step screenshots or a short video demo. Consistency is key—use the same tone, formatting, and style across all articles. 

Double-check for accuracy, as outdated or incorrect content can frustrate users and reduce trust in your knowledge base.

Make sure your knowledge base is easily searchable

Search functionality is vital to the success of your knowledge base. Users should be able to find relevant articles by typing keywords or phrases. Optimize your articles by:

• Including relevant keywords in titles, headings, and tags
• Using descriptive headings like “How to Reset Your Password” rather than vague titles like “Password Issues”
• Highlighting synonyms or alternative terms in the content (e.g., “log in” and “sign in”)
• Implementing AI-powered search tools that suggest articles based on user behavior or search intent. Test your search feature regularly to ensure it provides accurate and helpful results.

Encourage your users to provide feedback

A solid, comprehensive knowledge base evolves with user input. Add options for users to rate articles, leave comments, or report issues. For example:

• Include a “Was this helpful?” button at the end of articles
• Provide a feedback form to capture suggestions for improvement.

Analyzing this user feedback helps you identify areas for improvement, like articles with low ratings or unclear instructions. Respond to feedback promptly, showing users that their input is valued and leading to continuous improvement.

Promote your knowledge base across channels

A knowledge base is only effective if users know it exists. Promote it actively by:

• Embedding links in email signatures, onboarding materials, and help desk responses
• Integrating it with customer support chatbots to provide quick answers
• Displaying a prominent “Help” or “Knowledge Base” link on your website or app.

Internal knowledge bases should be introduced during employee onboarding, and regular training sessions should be held to ensure adoption. Share updates whenever new articles are added or existing ones are improved.

Regularly update your knowledge base  

A stagnant knowledge base quickly loses its value as it fails to serve its purpose of enabling effortless self-service. Also, outdated articles, broken links, or missing information can frustrate users. 

Schedule regular reviews of your content to ensure it’s up-to-date and relevant. Develop a system for:

• Assigning team members to review and update articles periodically
• Removing obsolete content
• Adding new articles based on emerging user needs or product updates.

Utilizing knowledge base analytics is also a useful method to identify low-performing articles and refine them to improve usability and engagement.

Track & analyze your knowledge base performance

Measure the effectiveness of your knowledge base using metrics like:

• Search Queries: What are users searching for, and are they finding it?
• Popular Articles: Which articles are frequently viewed?
• Failed Searches: Where are users leaving the knowledge base without finding answers?

Use this data to identify content gaps, improve underperforming articles, and enhance overall usability. Advanced tools can also provide insights into user behavior, helping you prioritize high-impact updates.

 Encourage a knowledge-sharing culture

Encourage your teams to contribute their expertise to the knowledge base. Establish clear knowledge-sharing processes for submitting content ideas or drafts and provide recognition for valuable contributions. 

For example, create a “Contributor of the Month” program to celebrate team members who actively enhance their knowledge base. This culture ensures the knowledge base evolves with your organization, incorporating diverse perspectives and keeping content fresh.

Encourage Customer Self-Service & Team Collaboration with Knowledge Base Best Practices

Creating an engaging and detailed knowledge base requires careful planning, thoughtful design, and adherence to best practices. By focusing on user needs, content quality, and search optimization, you can streamline support operations.

By following best practices like defining your audience and purpose, choosing the right software, structuring your content logically, and creating high-quality articles, you can make your knowledge base a valuable resource that enhances user satisfaction and strengthens your brand.

ProProfs Knowledge Base can help with all that. Its intuitive interface, powerful features like AI-powered search and customizable templates, and seamless integrations make it an ideal choice for building a knowledge base that truly shines. You can explore it more or request a demo below.