Use a balanced scorecard rather than one headline number. Select a small set of metrics from each layer below, define the decision each metric informs, and record a baseline before changing the content.
Findability metrics
- Search impressions, clicks, and click-through rate for priority queries.
- Internal search success, refinements, and zero-result searches.
- Entry pages used for critical reader journeys.
- Navigation paths and exits before the first task step.
These metrics answer whether readers can reach the right page using their language.
Task-success metrics
- Completion rate for a documented setup or integration.
- Time to first successful outcome.
- Error and retry rate at documented steps.
- Escalation to support after visiting a guide.
Instrument the product outcome when possible. A guide is successful when the reader completes the job, not simply when the page receives a visit.
Accuracy and trust metrics
- Percentage of critical examples tested against the current product.
- Confirmed defects per 100 reviewed pages.
- Age of unresolved documentation bugs.
- Reader reports that identify inaccurate or missing information.
Maintenance metrics
- Critical pages with a named owner and review trigger.
- Documentation changes merged before or with the related release.
- Median time from product change to documentation update.
- Pages beyond their expected review interval.
Business and support signals
Connect documentation to product outcomes carefully. Compare support contacts, onboarding completion, activation, or integration success for well-defined journeys. Avoid claiming causation when several product or campaign changes occurred at the same time.
A compact monthly scorecard
- Discovery: priority-query clicks and internal-search success.
- Completion: success rate for one critical journey.
- Accuracy: open high-severity documentation defects.
- Freshness: percentage of critical pages within review interval.
- Feedback: top unresolved reader problem and its owner.