Customize knowledge base settings

You can customize a knowledge base by setting the domain, visitor access, and language. You can also turn on features such as support forms and related articles. Learn more about customizing knowledge base appearance.

Before you get started

Before you begin working with this feature, make sure to fully understand what steps should be taken ahead of time, as well as the limitations of the feature and potential consequences of using it.

Understand requirements

Verify that you have one of the following user permissions:

• Super Admin permissions.
• Knowledge base settings permissions, Global content and theme settings permissions, and a Service Hub seat. Learn more about HubSpot's seats-based pricing.

Understand limitations & considerations

• These tools are only available for migrated knowledge bases. Learn more about migrating your knowledge base.

Set the knowledge base domain

You can set your knowledge base domain. 

• To customize your knowledge base domain:
  1. In your HubSpot account, click the settings settings icon in the top navigation bar.
  2. In the left sidebar menu, navigate to Content > Knowledge Base.
  3. On the General tab, click the Knowledge base domain dropdown menu and select a domain. Learn more about connecting a domain. 
  4. In the Knowledge base slug field, enter a URL slug.
  5. To use a language slug, select the Use language slug in URL checkbox. HubSpot recommends using a language slug in the URL if your knowledge base's primary language is different from your domain's primary language.

• When you've finished setting the knowledge base domain, click Save on the bottom left of the Settings page. This will immediately change the URLs of your live knowledge base articles. 

Customize knowledge base access

If you have a custom domain connected for your knowledge base, you can restrict access to some or all its content. Learn more about setting up private content for knowledge bases. 

• To restrict access to your knowledge base:
  1. In your HubSpot account, click the settings settings icon in the top navigation bar.
  2. In the left sidebar menu, navigate to Content > Knowledge Base.
  3. On the General tab, select an access option in the Access control section for visitors: 
     • Public and private: anyone can see the knowledge base, unless an individual article's access is set to Single sign-on or Access group membership required. 
     • Access group membership required: gives specific contacts access to the knowledge base using access groups. Learn more about restricting a knowledge base and articles to access groups.
     • Single sign-on (SSO) required: gives specific contacts access to the knowledge base using SSO. Learn more about restricting a knowledge base and articles to SSO.
• To manage crawler access to your knowledge base:
  1. In your HubSpot account, click the settings settings icon in the top navigation bar.
  2. In the left sidebar menu, navigate to Content > Knowledge Base.
  3. On the General tab, select an access option in the Manage crawler access to your knowledge base section: 

1. 1. • Block knowledge base search result pages from appearing in Google and other search engines: a no index tag will be added to the search results page of your knowledge base. This will prevent this page from appearing in search engine results. This is the default option and is recommended to avoid security and user experience issues. 
      • Allow knowledge base search result pages to appear in Google and other search engines: the no index tag will be removed from the search results page of your knowledge base. This will instruct search engines to crawl this page. 

Please note: this setting only applies to your knowledge base's search results page. All other knowledge base pages will be searchable unless specified in your robots.txt file. 

• When you've finished customizing your knowledge base's access, click Save on the bottom left of the Settings page.

Manage knowledge base multi-language variations

You can add or edit multi-language variations for your knowledge base articles. Learn more about customizing multi-language variations.

Use a support form

You can add a support form to your knowledge base so visitors can contact your team if they can't find an answer to their question. Learn more about adding a support form to a knowledge base.

Add related articles and last updated date

You can add a related articles section at the bottom of every article. This section will contain articles with similar content to the current article. Related articles are automatically adjusted based on visitor attributes and article performance.

You can also add the article's last updated date to the top of every article. The date is automatically updated any time the article is published or re-published to the knowledge base.

• To turn on related articles for a knowledge base:
  1. In your HubSpot account, click the settings settings icon in the top navigation bar.
  2. In the left sidebar menu, navigate to Content > Knowledge Base.
  3. On the Template tab, click to toggle the Related Articles switch on.
• To turn on the article's last updated date for a knowledge base:
  1. In your HubSpot account, click the settings settings icon in the top navigation bar.
  2. In the left sidebar menu, navigate to Content > Knowledge Base.
  3. On the Template tab, click to toggle the Article Last Updated switch on.

• When you've finished, click Save on the bottom left of the Settings page.

Customize article feedback consent

You can customize the type of data privacy consent displayed when a visitor provides feedback on your knowledge base articles.

At the end of each article, visitors will be asked for feedback. This section cannot be removed or changed.

When an unknown visitor leaves feedback, they're asked for their email address. The visitor is then created as a contact record and their feedback is stored. 

Please note: in certain cases, the language of your consent settings may not match your knowledge base language. To ensure compliance, consult with your legal team. Read more about your compliance obligations in HubSpot’s Data Processing Agreement.

• To customize the type of data privacy consent displayed:
  
  1. In your HubSpot account, click the settings settings icon in the top navigation bar.
  2. In the left sidebar menu, navigate to Content > Knowledge Base.
  3. In your knowledge base settings, click the Feedback tab.
  4. Click the Data privacy and consent dropdown menu and select an option. 
  5. In the preview, you can view how the current consent option will display to visitors.

• When you've finished customizing the article feedback consent, click Save on the bottom left of the Settings page.