Smart Answers Analytics helps you understand how visitors interact with Smart Answers in your search experience. Use it to evaluate answer coverage, identify unanswered question patterns, and understand how visitors engage with generated answers.
Smart Answers Analytics is available when Smart Answers is enabled for your account.
Before You Start
Before you review Smart Answers Analytics, make sure Smart Answers is available for the search experience you want to analyze.
- For Smart Answers setup and configuration details, see Smart Answers.
- For custom search UIs, confirm that your Smart Answers tracking implementation sends the required analytics events and properties. For implementation details, see Tracking API (Javascript) and Tracking API (REST).
Note: If Smart Answers Analytics appears incomplete, ask your developer or web team to confirm that Smart Answers tracking is implemented correctly.
Open Smart Answers Analytics
Smart Answers Analytics is available from the Analytics Dashboard when Smart Answers is enabled for your account.
- Go to Analytics > Dashboard.
- Select either All Profiles or one Search Profile.
- Select Smart Answers from the Overview and Smart Answers view selector.
Smart Answers Analytics uses the selected date range and profile scope, so you can review performance for all profiles or a specific profile.
Use Smart Answers Analytics to Improve Answer Coverage
Use Smart Answers Analytics to find where Smart Answers is working well and where your content, configuration, or relevance settings may need attention.
Start with Question-Based Searches to understand how often visitors ask direct questions in your search experience. A higher percentage of question-based searches means visitors are using search in a way that Smart Answers can support.
Next, compare Question-Based Searches with Answered Questions. Answered Questions shows how often Smart Answers returns an answer for those question-based searches. A high question volume with a low answered-question rate may indicate that your source content, Smart Answers configuration, or relevance settings need review.
Find Content and Coverage Gaps
Use the Top Questions and Questions without Answers tables to prioritize review based on real visitor demand.
The Top Questions table shows the most frequently asked question-based searches for the selected date range. Use this table to identify high-demand topics and confirm that important questions are covered.
The Questions without Answers table shows the most frequently asked question-based searches that didn't return a Smart Answer. Use this table to find possible content gaps or opportunities to improve Smart Answers coverage.
Each table shows normalized question text and a count. Similar question variations are grouped together, and the count reflects the total number of matching queries in that group. Tables are sorted by count by default, with the highest-volume questions first.
When you review unanswered questions, look for patterns before making changes. A repeated unanswered question may mean:
- that relevant source content is missing
- the content exists but isn't easy for Smart Answers to use
- or the Smart Answers configuration or related relevance settings need adjustment.
Not every unanswered question requires a change.
Review Answer Engagement
Use Show More Rate and Citation Click Rate to understand what visitors do after Smart Answers appear.
Show More Rate shows how often visitors select Show More when a longer Smart Answer is available. A high Show More Rate may indicate that visitors want more detail than the initial answer displays. Review the related answers and source content before changing answer length or display settings.
Citation Click Rate shows how often visitors select at least one citation link when citations are available. Multiple citation clicks within the same Smart Answer count as one citation interaction. Citation clicks can indicate that visitors are using the cited source content to continue their research, verify an answer, or get more detail.
Review engagement signals together with question volume, answered-question rate, unanswered questions, and other search analytics. Avoid making changes based on one metric alone.
When to Ask Your Developer or Web Team
Ask your developer or web team for help when Smart Answers Analytics doesn't match expected activity, when custom UI tracking needs to be verified, or when you need to confirm which Smart Answers tracking events are being sent.
For implementation guidance, see Tracking API (Javascript) and Tracking API (REST).