# See what people search for

_Category: Statistics and feedback_

Searches tell you, in your readers' own words, what they came to find. Failed searches show what your help center doesn't answer yet, which makes them the best list of articles to write next.

**Who can do this:** Owners, Admins and Editors · **Plans:** All plans

## See your searches

1. In the left menu, click **Statistics** and pick a period.
2. Scroll down to **What people search for**.
3. Click **All**, **Successful** or **Failed** to choose which searches to list.

![Screen recording. Scroll down to What people search for. Click Failed to list the searches where no article was opened. Content gaps are the searches that keep failing.](https://helpcenter-io.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/self/RCP6QWsUwtgrvWKbUuoGoGghISYdOcC3jqW14MK9.gif)
Content gaps are the searches that keep failing.

## What counts as successful

A search is successful when the reader opens an article from the results. It fails when they don't open any, either because nothing matched or because nothing looked like the answer.

The counts at the top follow the tab you pick, so keep **All** selected to compare successful and failed searches side by side.

## The lists

| List | What it shows |
| --- | --- |
| **Repeated searches** | Searches people make again and again, with how many times. |
| **Common terms** | Words that come up most often in searches, with how many of those searches failed. |
| **Content gaps** | Searches that keep failing. Each one is an article you haven't written yet, or one readers can't recognize from its title. |

## The search table

Below the lists, a table shows every search in the period. Type in **Search within queries…** to find a word.

| Column | What it shows |
| --- | --- |
| **Query** | What the reader typed. |
| **Surface** | Where they searched, such as your help center or the widget. |
| **Results** | How many articles the search returned. |
| **Outcome** | **Found** when the reader opened an article, **No result** when they didn't. A search can show results and still read **No result**, because nobody opened one. |
| **Article opened** | The article the reader opened from the results. |
| **When** | When the search happened. |

## Questions readers ask AI

With [AI Answers](https://self.helpcenter.io/content/ai-answers) on, you also see:

- **helpful AI answers** and **unhelpful AI answers**, counted from how readers rated the answers they got.
- The **What people ask AI about your articles** card, which lists questions readers asked about a specific article, how many times and by how many visitors, and how often they were **Answered well**.

## Turn failed searches into articles

1. Click **Failed** and look at **Content gaps**.
2. For each gap, check **Results** in the table. If a search returned nothing, write the missing article. If it returned articles that nobody opened, the article probably exists: give it a title and opening lines that match what readers typed.
3. Use your readers' words. If they search for "invoice" and your article says "billing statement", add "invoice" to the title or the first paragraph.
4. Check the same list again in a week or two to see the gap close.

For a routine that keeps your help center current, see [Keep your help center up to date](https://self.helpcenter.io/content/keep-your-help-center-up-to-date). To pull content gaps into your own tools, see [Analytics](https://developers.helpcenter.io/content/analytics-api) on the developer portal.

## Related articles

- [Read your help center statistics](https://self.helpcenter.io/content/statistics)
- [How search works in your help center](https://self.helpcenter.io/content/how-search-works)
- [Keep your help center up to date](https://self.helpcenter.io/content/keep-your-help-center-up-to-date)