What Visitor Information Does SoftwareRoad Knowledge Base Collect?

SoftwareRoad Knowledge Base includes optional analytics features that help you understand how visitors use your documentation.

Depending on the settings you enable, the plugin can record information such as:

• Knowledge base search terms
• The number of results returned for a search
• Article view totals
• Helpful Yes and No responses
• Privacy gate acceptance during the current browser session

These features are designed to provide useful totals without asking visitors to create an account or submit personal details.

Does the knowledge base collect names or email addresses?

The public knowledge base analytics do not ask visitors to provide:

• Their name
• Their email address
• Their postal address
• Their telephone number
• A customer account password

Visitors can search for articles, read guides and submit helpful feedback without completing a personal information form.

Your wider website may still collect personal information through contact forms, account areas or other services. Those features are separate from SoftwareRoad Knowledge Base analytics.

Search information

When Search Analytics is enabled, SoftwareRoad Knowledge Base can record the words or phrases entered into the knowledge base search box.

For example:

• activate licence
• product key
• change category icon
• search not working

This helps you understand what visitors are trying to find.

What is saved for a search?

The plugin can store information such as:

• The search term
• How many times it has been searched
• How many results were returned
• When it was last searched

Repeated searches for the same wording can be grouped together rather than being stored as completely separate reports.

For example, if visitors search for product key 20 times, the analytics can show the term and its total number of searches.

Why search terms are useful

Search data can reveal:

• Popular documentation topics
• Missing articles
• Wording visitors commonly use
• Searches that return no results
• Articles that may need clearer titles
• Subjects that should be easier to find

For example, if visitors regularly search for serial number but your articles only use product key, you may want to include both phrases naturally in the relevant guide.

Visitors should not enter personal information into search

The knowledge base search box is intended for documentation topics, not personal or account-specific information.

Visitors should avoid searching for information such as:

• Their full name
• Their email address
• Their complete product key
• Payment details
• Passwords
• Private support information

You can add suitable wording near the search box or in your privacy policy if this is a concern for your website.

Article view totals

When article view tracking is enabled, SoftwareRoad Knowledge Base can increase the saved view total when a visitor opens an article.

This allows features such as Popular Articles to identify the guides being read most often.

For example:

• How to Install SoftwareRoad Knowledge Base: 230 views
• How to Activate Your Licence: 184 views
• How to Create a Category: 96 views

The analytics are designed to show totals for each article rather than a named list of individual readers.

Administrator views

Views from users signed in with permission to edit or manage knowledge base articles may not be counted.

This helps prevent your own editing, previewing and testing from affecting the public article totals.

For the most realistic test, open an article while signed out of WordPress or use a private browser window.

Helpful article feedback

When helpful feedback is enabled, visitors can answer a simple question such as:

Was this article helpful?

They can then select:

• Yes
• No

SoftwareRoad Knowledge Base records the totals connected to the article.

For example:

• Yes: 18
• No: 3

The visitor is not required to enter their name, email address or a written explanation.

What helpful feedback tells you

Helpful feedback can show which articles may need attention.

A guide receiving several No responses may contain:

• Outdated instructions
• Unclear steps
• Missing troubleshooting information
• An inaccurate title
• Information that is difficult to find

Use feedback alongside article views and search analytics rather than judging an article from one response.

Privacy gate acceptance

If the Privacy Access Gate is enabled, SoftwareRoad Knowledge Base remembers that the visitor accepted the notice during the current browser session.

This is stored in browser session storage.

The saved value is used to decide whether the privacy notice should be shown again while the visitor continues browsing.

It is not intended to create a named consent record inside WordPress.

What session storage contains

The privacy gate only needs a simple browser value showing that the notice has been accepted.

It does not require:

• A visitor name
• An email address
• An account number
• A written signature
• A password

The value may be removed when the browser session ends.

The visitor may then see the gate again during a future visit.

Does SoftwareRoad Knowledge Base use cookies?

The privacy access gate uses browser session storage rather than a long-term cookie.

However, your wider WordPress website, theme, hosting service or other website features may use cookies.

Review the complete website rather than assuming the knowledge base is the only feature processing browser information.

Does the plugin create visitor profiles?

The built-in analytics are intended to provide grouped usage information, such as search totals, article views and feedback totals.

They are not designed to create named visitor profiles.

For example, the dashboard can show that an article received 100 views, but the knowledge base analytics are not intended to display a list of the 100 people who opened it.

Does the plugin track visitors across other websites?

SoftwareRoad Knowledge Base analytics are used within your WordPress knowledge base.

They are not intended to follow visitors across unrelated websites.

Social sharing buttons may open external services when selected, but those services operate under their own privacy policies.

Social sharing buttons

When social sharing is enabled, visitors can choose to open sharing pages for services such as:

• Facebook
• X
• LinkedIn
• Email

Selecting one of these buttons takes the visitor to the relevant service or application.

SoftwareRoad Knowledge Base does not record a social sharing history in its analytics dashboard.

The external service may process information according to its own policies after the visitor opens it.

Copy URL

The Copy URL button copies the current article address to the visitor’s clipboard.

This action takes place inside the browser.

The knowledge base does not need to record who copied the link or where they later pasted it.

Licence activation information

Licence activation is separate from public visitor analytics.

When a website administrator activates SoftwareRoad Knowledge Base, the plugin sends the entered purchase email, product key and product information to the SoftwareRoad licence service so the licence can be checked.

This information is entered by the website administrator, not automatically collected from people reading public knowledge base articles.

Your licence details should only be entered through the official SoftwareRoad Knowledge Base activation screen.

WordPress and server information

Although SoftwareRoad Knowledge Base analytics are designed around grouped totals, your website server may separately create technical logs.

Depending on your hosting setup, server logs can contain information such as:

• IP addresses
• Requested URLs
• Browser information
• Date and time of a request
• Error details

These server logs are controlled by your website hosting and server configuration rather than the SoftwareRoad Knowledge Base analytics dashboard.

Your privacy policy should consider the complete website and hosting environment.

Other WordPress features

Other parts of your website may collect information independently.

Examples include:

• Contact forms
• Customer accounts
• Online payments
• Website analytics
• Security tools
• Spam protection
• Embedded videos
• Live chat
• Mailing list forms
• Comments

Enabling or disabling SoftwareRoad Knowledge Base analytics does not automatically control these other systems.

Which analytics features can be enabled?

Depending on your settings and plugin version, you may be able to use:

• Search Analytics
• Article View Analytics
• Helpful Article Feedback
• Popular Articles based on views
• Privacy Access Gate

Review the settings under:

Knowledge Base > Settings > Features

and:

Knowledge Base > Settings > Privacy & SEO

Only enable features that are useful for your documentation.

Search Analytics information

Search Analytics can help you review:

• Popular search terms
• Total searches
• Searches with results
• Searches with no results
• The last time a term was searched

This information can help you create new articles or improve existing wording.

It should not be used to encourage visitors to enter personal details into the search box.

Article View Analytics information

Article View Analytics can show which published articles receive the most views.

This can help you:

• Identify commonly used guides
• Choose important articles for updating
• Understand which features need more documentation
• Display Popular Articles
• Compare usage between articles

View totals show general activity rather than whether the article solved the visitor’s problem.

Helpful Feedback Analytics information

Helpful Feedback Analytics can show:

• Yes totals
• No totals
• Total responses
• A helpfulness percentage

A high percentage based on only one response is not enough to judge an article confidently.

Always check the number of votes as well as the percentage.

How long is analytics information stored?

Analytics information remains in your WordPress database until it is removed through the available plugin controls, database maintenance or another website process.

The exact retention period therefore depends on how you manage your website.

Decide how long the information is genuinely useful and describe your approach in your privacy policy where appropriate.

Can analytics information be cleared?

Depending on the analytics section and plugin version, controls may be available for clearing or resetting stored information.

Before removing analytics, consider whether you still need it to:

• Compare article performance
• Find missing documentation
• Review long-term search trends
• Identify articles needing updates

Once analytics information is deleted, it may not be recoverable unless it is included in a website backup.

Keep access to analytics restricted

Knowledge base analytics are available through the WordPress administration area.

Only trusted users with suitable WordPress permissions should have access to the dashboard.

Use good WordPress security practices, including:

• Strong passwords
• Appropriate user roles
• Limited administrator accounts
• Current WordPress and plugin versions
• Secure hosting
• Regular backups

Do not give administrator access to someone who only needs to read public documentation.

Update your privacy policy

Your website privacy policy should describe the knowledge base features you have enabled.

It may need to explain that the website records information such as:

• Anonymous article view totals
• Knowledge base search terms
• Search result counts
• Helpful Yes and No responses
• Browser session storage for privacy gate acceptance

The wording should match your actual setup.

Do not describe features that are disabled.

Example privacy policy wording

You could use wording similar to:

Our knowledge base records anonymous usage information, including article view totals, search terms, the number of results returned and helpful Yes or No responses. This information is used to understand how our documentation is used and to improve the articles we provide. If the knowledge base privacy notice is enabled, browser session storage is used to remember acceptance during the current browsing session.

Review and adapt this wording for your website.

It is not a replacement for professional legal advice.

Be careful with the word anonymous

The SoftwareRoad Knowledge Base reports are designed around grouped usage totals rather than named visitor records.

However, the wider website or hosting server may process technical information separately.

Avoid claiming that the entire website collects no identifying or technical information unless you have checked every service involved.

It is safer to describe exactly what the knowledge base records and explain other website processing separately.

Disable Search Analytics

To stop recording knowledge base searches:

1. Open Knowledge Base > Settings.
2. Find the Search Analytics option.
3. Disable it.
4. Select Save Changes.
5. Clear the website cache if needed.

Previously recorded search information may remain in the analytics dashboard until it is cleared separately.

Disable article view tracking

To stop increasing article view totals:

1. Open the relevant Features or Analytics settings.
2. Disable article view tracking.
3. Select Save Changes.
4. Clear the website cache.

Popular Articles may no longer be able to use new view information after tracking is disabled.

Disable helpful feedback

To remove the Yes and No prompt:

1. Open Knowledge Base > Settings.
2. Find Helpful Article Feedback.
3. Disable it.
4. Select Save Changes.

Previously recorded feedback may remain available in Analytics.

Disable the privacy access gate

To remove the gate:

1. Open Knowledge Base > Settings > Privacy & SEO.
2. Disable the Privacy Access Gate.
3. Select Save Changes.
4. Clear the website cache.

This only removes the access notice.

It does not automatically disable Search Analytics, article views or helpful feedback.

Check your current settings

To understand what your website is currently collecting:

1. Open Knowledge Base > Settings.
2. Review the Features tab.
3. Review the Privacy & SEO tab.
4. Open Knowledge Base > Analytics.
5. Check which reports contain information.
6. Review your privacy policy.
7. Test the public knowledge base while signed out.

Repeat this check after changing analytics or privacy settings.

Visitor information checklist

Before publishing your privacy information, check that:

• You know which analytics features are enabled
• Search terms are described accurately
• Article view totals are explained
• Helpful feedback is included
• Privacy gate session storage is mentioned
• Visitors are not asked for unnecessary personal information
• The wider website and server logs have been considered
• Access to WordPress Analytics is restricted
• Your privacy policy matches the current settings
• Disabled features are not described as active
• Visitors are discouraged from entering private information into search
• The public knowledge base has been tested while signed out

You now have a clearer picture of the information SoftwareRoad Knowledge Base can record and how it is used to improve your documentation.