Can you trust the numbers in Help Scout Docs?

What does Help Scout Docs keep track of?

• Help Scout counts a visit for each unique session on your help site within a 24-hour period.

  In Help Scout Docs's own words: A visit is counted for every unique session on your Docs site that takes place within a 24-hour period. Reports: Docs, read 2026-11-12.

• Help Scout keeps a popularity score for each help article, built from how often it is viewed.

  In Help Scout Docs's own words: Article popularity is calculated based on article views. How Article Popularity is Calculated, read 2026-11-12.

What can make Help Scout Docs's numbers look wrong?

1. Searches your own team runs while replying to customers do not show in the Docs report, as Help Scout's help pages say, so search totals cover only part of the searching that happens.

   In Help Scout Docs's own words: If your team is using the Docs search bar in the reply editor, those searches are not included. Reports: Docs, read 2026-11-12.

2. Searches run through other tools using Help Scout's API are missing from the Docs report, as its help pages say.

   In Help Scout Docs's own words: Searches done via the API are also not included in the report. Reports: Docs, read 2026-11-12.

3. An article’s popularity can look lower than its raw page views, because Help Scout’s help pages say a second view by the same person in one six-hour session is not counted.

   In Help Scout Docs's own words: For example, if somebody viewed an article twice in the same six-hour session, then only their first view is counted. How Article Popularity is Calculated, read 2026-11-12.

4. The newest visits and searches can be missing for a short while, since Help Scout's help pages say reports run 10 to 15 minutes behind.

   In Help Scout Docs's own words: When you run a report, you're looking at the most current data, save for a 10-15 minute catch up time. Understanding Reports in Help Scout, read 2026-11-12.

How do I check Help Scout Docs's numbers myself?

1. Someone with permission to view reports can narrow the Docs report to one help site or one Beacon to see where visits and searches came from.

   In Help Scout Docs's own words: Use Views to view data for specific Docs sites and Beacons. Reports: Docs, read 2026-11-12.

2. Where article ratings are switched on for a help site, an owner can open the Docs report to see how readers rated each article.

   In Help Scout Docs's own words: Head right into your Docs Report to see how your customers have rated your articles. Docs Article Satisfaction Ratings, read 2026-11-12.

3. Sorting the Docs report's article table by rating shows which articles readers liked least.

   In Help Scout Docs's own words: You can click on the Ratings and Score headers to sort the table in ascending or descending order. Reports: Docs, read 2026-11-12.

How does Help Scout Docs work with Feder?

Connect Help Scout Docs to Feder and it joins your Visits apps. Feder only reads. It never changes anything in Help Scout Docs.

When you connect Help Scout Docs, Feder checks the connection straight away and shows Connected only when that check passes. If a reading cannot be taken later, Feder shows it as not read, never as zero.

Other apps that feed Visits

• Google Adsad clicks
• Google Analyticspage views and sessions
• Everflowunique clicks
• Pendopage views

Questions owners ask about Help Scout Docs

• Why did views of a Help Scout Docs article suddenly drop?An article that has been unpublished can only be opened from inside Help Scout, so customers can no longer view it on the help site.
• Why did failed searches go up in my Help Scout Docs report?A search counts as failed when its terms match no article, so questions that no article covers can raise the failed search count.
• Why did my Help Scout Docs visits suddenly jump?A Beacon visit is counted each time someone searches or opens an article in it within a 24-hour period, so more use of a Beacon can raise visits.

See every connection.

Where do these answers come from?

Everything this page says about Help Scout Docs comes from Help Scout Docs's own pages, quoted above with the date we read them. Last reviewed 2026-11-12. We read them again by 2027-11-12. If one changes, this page changes or comes down.