Every SupportHQ account comes with a public help center where your customers can browse articles, search for answers, and submit support tickets — all under your brand. This guide covers how to write and publish articles, customize the appearance, and optionally connect your own domain.
Your Help Center URL
Your help center is live immediately at:
https://supporthq.ai/help/{your-company-slug}
The slug is auto-generated from your company name (e.g., acme-inc). You can find the full URL in Settings → Help Center, along with a copy button and a link to preview it.
Writing and Publishing Articles
Navigate to Help Center in the sidebar (not Settings — this is the article manager). Here you can create, edit, and publish articles.
Creating an Article
Click New Article to open the editor. Each article has these fields:
- Title — the article headline (max 200 characters). This also generates the URL slug automatically.
- Content — the article body, written using the rich text editor. Supports headings, bold, italic, underline, lists, blockquotes, code blocks, links, and more.
- Excerpt — a short summary (max 300 characters) shown in article cards on the help center home page. If left blank, it's auto-generated from the first 200 characters of your content.
- Category — a label to group related articles (e.g., "Getting Started", "Billing", "API"). Defaults to "General". Articles are grouped by category on the public help center.
Publishing
Articles start as drafts. Only published articles appear on your public help center. Toggle the publish status from the article list — published articles show a green badge, drafts show gray.
Organizing Articles
Articles are displayed grouped by category, sorted alphabetically. Within each category, articles are ordered by their sort order (lower numbers first), then by creation date. Use categories like:
- Getting Started — onboarding and setup guides
- Account & Billing — plan changes, invoices, cancellation
- Features — how to use specific features
- Troubleshooting — common issues and fixes
- API — developer documentation
Article Analytics
Each article tracks a view count that increments automatically when a visitor views it on the public help center. Use this to identify your most popular content and find gaps.
Customizing the Appearance
Navigate to Settings → Help Center to customize how your help center looks.
Help Center Title
The large heading displayed at the top of your help center. If left blank, it defaults to your company name followed by "Help Center" (e.g., "Acme Inc Help Center").
Subtitle
The smaller text below the title. Use this to set expectations, e.g., "Search our knowledge base or browse categories below."
Header Color
Override the header gradient color. By default, it uses your brand color from Branding settings. Use the color picker or enter a hex code to set a different color specifically for the help center header.
Footer Customization
The help center footer appears on every page and supports your branding.
Footer Logo
Upload a separate logo for the help center footer (or paste a URL). This is independent of your main brand logo — useful if you have a horizontal wordmark for footers. Supports JPEG, PNG, GIF, WebP, and SVG (max 2 MB).
Footer Text
A line of text next to the logo — typically your copyright notice, e.g., "© 2026 Acme Inc. All rights reserved."
Social Links
Add links to your social profiles and they'll appear as icons in the footer. Five platforms are supported:
- Website — your main site URL
- X (Twitter)
Only configured links are displayed. Leave a field empty to hide that icon.
Connecting a Custom Domain
Instead of supporthq.ai/help/your-slug, you can serve your help center from your own domain, like help.yourcompany.com.
Step 1: Enter Your Domain
In Settings → Help Center, find the Custom Domain field and enter your subdomain (e.g., help.yourcompany.com). Click Save.
Step 2: Add a DNS Record
Go to your DNS provider (Cloudflare, Namecheap, Route 53, etc.) and add a CNAME record:
| Type | Name | Value |
|---|---|---|
| CNAME | help |
supporthq.ai |
Replace help with whatever subdomain you chose. DNS propagation can take up to 24 hours, though it's usually much faster.
Step 3: Verify
Once DNS has propagated, visit your custom domain in a browser. You should see your help center with all your articles, branding, and footer — served from your own domain.
What Visitors See
Your public help center includes:
- Search bar — real-time filtering across article titles and excerpts
- Category sections — articles grouped and labeled by category
- Article pages — full content with rich formatting, back navigation, and view tracking
- My Tickets — a link in the header and footer that takes visitors to the ticket portal where they can create and track support tickets (email verification required)
- Branded footer — your logo, copyright, social icons, and "Powered by SupportHQ"
Tips
- Write for search — use clear, descriptive titles that match what customers actually search for. "How do I reset my password?" is better than "Password Management."
- Keep articles focused — one topic per article. Short, specific articles are easier to find and maintain than long multi-topic pages.
- Use categories consistently — stick to 4–6 categories. Too many makes browsing harder, too few makes everything a long list.
- Add excerpts — a good excerpt helps visitors decide if an article is relevant without clicking. Auto-generated excerpts are often too generic.
- Review view counts — high-view articles are your most important content. Keep them updated. Low-view articles might need better titles or may not be discoverable.
- Use a custom domain —
help.yourcompany.comlooks more professional and builds trust. It also helps with SEO since the content is on your domain.
Permissions
Writing and editing articles requires the Upload Doc permission (Admin or Owner). Deleting articles requires the Delete Doc permission. Only the Owner can change the custom domain. All appearance settings (title, subtitle, color, footer) require the Owner role.