Labeling Guide

All articles in the Knowledge Base must have labels. Labels (also known as metadata) are word-based tags attached to a page that characterize page contents. Labels in Confluence are used to pull related articles into the Content by Label macro and are also used to pull articles during a user's search. Therefore, it is important to pay careful attention to the labeling of KB articles and follow the guidelines below.  

Choosing Appropriate Labels

When choosing labels, follow two specific guidelines:

• Choose labels that describe the article's content. 

• Choose labels that use plain, user-friendly language. 

Describing the Article's Content

Choose the labels that best characterize the article's content or topic. Doing so helps Confluence in pulling articles for the "Related Articles" section. Typically, choosing descriptive keywords from the title of the article is the best practice. For example,

• With the article, "Changing Your NetID Password," you should include the labels "Password" and "NetID" because these labels describe the content and topic of the article. You should not include "your" because the word "your" is non-specific. 

User-Friendly Language

Users may ask for information in similar, yet slightly different, ways than we have described it. Thus, choose labels that are in accordance with how users ask for or will perceive the information. For example,

• With the "Changing Your NetID Password" article, a user might search "How do I change my NetID password" or "changing my NetID password."

• Thus, include both labels: "changing" and "change."

• The inclusion of both labels maximizes the likelihood that Confluence will pull the most relevant article during a user's search. 

Oftentimes, users will search for content in ways they understand it which may not be the way you have technically described or labeled it. You also may not have created a title that includes the search terms a user is most likely to look for. For example,

• With the "Changing Your NetID Password" article, include the labels "student" and "account." 

• Some users may search "how do I change my student account password," so including the labels "account" and "student" will maximize the likelihood that the most relevant article will be pulled during a user's search. Even if these words do not appear in the title of the article, they are likely to be the terms a user would search when looking for the article. 

Summing it Up

In total for this section's example article, Changing Your NetID Password, use the following labels for the "Changing Your NetID Password" article. Each of these labels follows the guidelines above. 

• password

• netid

• changing

• change

• student

• account

Inputting Labels

When to Input Labels

For How-to and Troubleshooting articles, input labels when prompted to do so at the beginning of the article creation process. You are prompted to add labels immediately after clicking the ellipses next to "Create" and selecting either "How-to article" or "Troubleshooting article." The labels you add here at the beginning of the article creation process will be automatically included in the Content by Label macro at the bottom of the article. Any labels you add to the article after this initial step has to be manually added to the Content by Label macro at the bottom of the Edit window for that article. 

For Informational articles, you are not prompted to input labels at any point during the article creation process. Therefore, you must manually input labels while in the Edit window by clicking on the icon. Also, make sure to input the same labels into the Content by Label macro at the bottom of the Edit window for that article. 

Two-Word Labels

Two-word labels can be used in Confluence by putting a dash between the two words (i.e., "outlook-email"). However, be sure to also include the two words as separate labels (i.e., for "outlook-email," also include the labels "outlook" and "email"). 

Changing the Scope of the Content by Label Macro

Because our KB is so large, we have to narrow the scope of the Content by Label macro. We restrict the scope of this macro by only allowing it to pull articles that are under the same parent article as the article we are currently working on.  

For a detailed explanation of how to change the scope of the Content by Label macro, see Adding the "With Parent" Filter in the Content By Label Macro. 

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