Help Center Optimization for AEO

Webflow's help center optimization strategy for AEO shows how support content can drive qualified conversions when properly structured.

The traditional approach to help centers often overlooks their potential for driving new business through answer engines. While most companies don't prioritize help center SEO, Ethan Smith discovered that help centers can be powerful for capturing the specific feature and use case questions people ask in chat interfaces.

The key insight is that people using ChatGPT and other LLMs frequently ask detailed follow-up questions about product capabilities, integrations, and specific use cases - precisely the kind of information found in help centers. When working with Webflow, Ethan implemented three critical optimizations:

First, move your help center from a subdomain to a subdirectory. Subdomains don't perform as well as subdirectories in search and answer engines. This simple URL structure change can significantly improve visibility.

Second, implement robust cross-linking between help center pages. Most companies have poor internal linking within their help documentation. By creating a well-connected network of help articles, you increase the likelihood of your content being surfaced in answers.

Third, expand beyond common questions to cover the "long tail" of specific use cases. Most help centers only document common workflows, but the real opportunity lies in creating content for niche scenarios. For example, Ethan mentioned searching for "which meeting transcription tool integrates with Looker" and finding no direct answer, though a solution existed using Otter with Zapier.

To capture this long tail, mine questions from sales calls and support tickets, then create dedicated help articles. Consider opening your help center to community contributions, allowing users to document edge cases and unusual workflows that your team might not prioritize.

This approach is particularly valuable because for highly specific questions, you might be the only citation available, making it easy to win that traffic. And the leads coming from these answer engines convert at significantly higher rates - Webflow saw a 6x higher conversion rate from LLM traffic compared to Google search traffic.

Implementation Steps

1. Move your help center from subdomain (help.yourcompany.com) to subdirectory (yourcompany.com/help)
2. Audit your help content for internal linking opportunities
3. Mine support tickets and sales calls for uncommon questions
4. Create articles for specific use cases, integrations, and edge cases
5. Consider implementing a community contribution system
6. Track performance with answer tracking tools

The beauty of this approach is that it works for companies of all sizes, including early-stage startups that might struggle with traditional SEO due to low domain authority.