Question 1

How are Related FAQs determined and can I change this?

Accepted Answer

Related FAQs are auto-generated and by default are FAQs either in the same category or similarly tagged (we combine this pool of FAQs). We take the top 4 results from that pool, based on the sort order defined in the instance. For info on how to change the default sort order see this FAQ.

You can choose to force the Related FAQs to use tags or just the category by updating the setting in MyMalcolm / Settings / FAQs:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/mNimQ1t2R3/Screenshot%202020-03-30%2021.19.11.png (Settings in MyMalcolm)

In this scenario we will then take the top 4 results from just the category or tag pool using the defined sort order.

Question 2

Can I change meta information and optimise Malcolm! for SEO?

Accepted Answer

Malcolm! offers lots of options to configure your hosted hub for SEO purposes. Below is an overview.

Hosted Hub Homepage

You can set the page title, meta description and keywords for your hosted hub homepage via Settings --> Instance --> Meta Content.

Hosted Hub homepage meta options in MyMalcolm

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/1YN7mN8DHC/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2022.08.09-13_02_55.png (Hosted Hub homepage meta options in MyMalcolm)

Hosted Hub homepage meta options in MyMalcolm

You can configure whether you want search engines to see this page via the visibility tab.

FAQs and Workflows only homepage

If you use the FAQs only and Workflows only homepages, you can set the page title, meta description and keywords for them via Settings --> FAQs --> Meta Content and Settings --> Workflows --> Meta Content respectively.

You can configure whether you want search engines to see these pages via the visibility tab.

Visibility settings in MyMalcolm

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/SYnelFDeLl/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2022.08.09-13_08_05.png (Visibility settings in MyMalcolm)

Visibility settings in MyMalcolm

Authors, Categories & Tags

By default the results pages for Authors, Categories & Tags are not shown to search engines, but you can change this and configure the meta information via the respective Author, Category and Tag in the FAQ section.

Tag configuration in MyMalcolm

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/9qAnoZ47Lg/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2022.08.09-13_04_47.png (Tag configuration in MyMalcolm)

Tag configuration in MyMalcolm

Advanced Settings

You can set much of the above, and some additional title and meta info via the language file which can be found at Settings --> Instance --> Advanced. Click "Show dictionary" to see what can be edited.

Advanced SEO options in MyMalcolm

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/SmUzmyq955/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2022.08.09-13_03_41.png (Advanced SEO options in MyMalcolm)

Advanced SEO options in MyMalcolm

Individual Content

You can edit the meta content and visibility (ie whether a search engine can see it) of an individual FAQ or Workflow via the configure tab of the FAQ or Workflow in question.

Social Images

A social image is the image that will be used when you link to content via services like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc.

A default social image is defined in your theme (Brand --> Theme --> edit icon on theme --> General)
That can be overriden by defining a social image in Settings --> Instance --> Meta
For your hosted hub home, the FAQs and Workflows only homepages and the Authors, Categories & Tags results pages the above can be overriden via the respective setting screens mentioned above.
An individual piece of content (ie an FAQ or Workflow) can set their own social image and override the above via the configure tab of the content in question.

Site Map

All published and "visible" pages/content will appear in the sitemap.xml file which can be found at yourhostedhub.com/sitemap.xml where yourhostedhub.com is your actual Malcolm! hosted hub URL.

Schema

We mark up content created in the FAQs section using Schema. This means your content may appear in Google as Rich Results. You can choose between marking content up as FAQPage (perfect for questions and answers) or as a WebPage. See here for more info. In addition if you insert a How-to / Step by Step into your content this is also marked up using Schema. See here for more info.

Question 3

What are promos and how can I use them?

Accepted Answer

Promos are part of your hosted hub theme and are very flexible multi purpose content areas that appear towards the bottom of your hosted hub homepage (and also your FAQs only and Workflows only home if you are using those).

You can use them to link to content within your Malcolm! instance, for example a particular category, tag, FAQ or Workflow and you can also use them to link out to content or functionality you may have elsewhere. They can be a great tactical tool as well, for example if you've a YouTube channel and want to draw attention to it use a promo!

On our own Malcolm! Help & Support Hub the "Upgrade your content" and "Hey there!" areas are promos.

Promos on Malcolm!

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/j0yBsWZi2d/screenshot-support.malcolm.support-2022.08.03-06_58_32.png (Promos on Malcolm!)

Promos on Malcolm!

Promos are created and managed via your theme (Brand --> Themes).

Promo management in MyMalcolm

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/6O1572FsqO/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2022.08.03-07_03_19.png (Promo management in MyMalcolm)

Promo management in MyMalcolm

When creating a promo you have various options such as uploading your own background image, plus configuring links

Adding a promo in MyMalcolm

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/QnCg1Rjnpm/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2022.08.03-07_03_59.png (Adding a promo in MyMalcolm)

Adding a promo in MyMalcolm

Also see featured boxes for similar functionality that enables you to create and manage content towards the top of your hosted hub home page.

Question 4

How do I add a Gallery, How-to or Step by Step to my FAQ or other content?

Accepted Answer

You can now add clickthrough or swipe through galleries to your content.

Hit the insert images icon in the markdown editor to begin, and then select the images you want to include from your media gallery.

Insert images in MyMalcolm

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/Gp51whKPhC/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2022.06.09-13_41_40.png (Insert images in MyMalcolm)

You'll then see a dialogue where you can edit the order of the images plus add descriptive text, titles and caption.

Gallery / How-to dialogue in MyMalcolm

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/VmGuJfIuRb/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2022.06.09-13_41_15.png (Gallery / How-to dialogue in MyMalcolm)

You can choose between a traditional image Gallery or a numbered How-to (sometimes called a Step by Step). These are subtly different and will also be marked up differently using Schema which means Google will see them slightly differently.

Choosing a Gallery or How-to in MyMalcolm

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/yWFMXqJm9Y/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2022.06.09-13_42_13.png (Choosing a Gallery or How-to in MyMalcolm)

Once you've set things up as you want the markdown will be generated for your Gallery or How-to. If you want to change things just highlight that block of markdown and hit the insert media icon and you'll be taken back into the edit Gallery or How-to dialogue.

A How-to on a hosted hub page

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/bn4yI4KwR7/screenshot-tom-test-15.malcolm.app-2022.06.09-14_05_27.png (A How-to on a hosted hub page)

Remember, as with all content you put into Malcolm! you can surface your Gallery or How-to's in multiple ways - as well as your hosted hub pages they will work in pop up widgets, drawers, overlays and inline page embeds.

See the below video for a walkthrough:

Question 5

Can I send the person who completes a Workflow an email?

Accepted Answer

If you want to send the user who completes a Workflow an email you can do this by creating an email answer rule and specifying the "to" email address as the email address supplied in the Workflow.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/iqjmD58nO8/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2022.04.20-13_07_20.png (Configuring email answer in MyMalcolm)

Note that you can edit the sender name, subject line and email contents in this same create email answer dialogue.

To edit the sending email address see this FAQ and to change the branding/design of the email that is sent see this FAQ.

Question 6

How can I change my Hosted Hub URL?

Accepted Answer

You can change the URL of your Hosted Hub via the Settings Section of MyMalcolm. Go to Custom Domains and you choose a new URL on malcolm.support or malcolm.app here. The URL must be available ie not being used by another customer.

You can also configure your own external domain or sub domain in this area as well.

If you want to change the part of the URL after your domain please see this article.

Question 7

Do you mark content up in Schema?

Accepted Answer

By default we mark up your FAQ hosted hub content using the FAQPage schema. This is useful for search engine results. If your content is more general in nature you may prefer to change the schema used to WebPage. You can also do this from Settings --> FAQs.

Question 8

Can I change the path or base URL of my hosted hub pages?

Accepted Answer

As you are probably aware you can configure the Malcolm! hosted hub to use your own custom domain - see here for further details - but sometimes you may wish to change the part of the URL that comes after your domain.

By default your FAQs live at /faqs and your Workflows at /workflows

You can now choose from some alternative "base URLs" in the Settings area of MyMalcolm. Visit the FAQs or Workflows sub section respectively to choose an alternate URL for each content type. This feature may be particularly useful if you are using Malcolm! for more general content (eg how to's) rather than questions & answers.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/2HZEwPaFKU/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2022.02.14-09_32_41.png (Changing base URL in MyMalcolm)

By default we mark up your FAQ hosted hub content using the FAQPage schema. This is useful for search engine results. If your content is more general in nature you may prefer to change the schema used to WebPage. You can also do this from Settings --> FAQs.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/oBmGTh9Taw/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2022.02.14-09_33_40.png (Changing Schema type in MyMalcolm)

See below for a video walkthrough of changing your base URL:

Question 9

How do I embed content from Malcolm! into my own website or app?

Accepted Answer

You can easily embed content from Malcolm! into your existing website, app, product or online service with just a few lines of code.

Begin by going to the Share section of MyMalcolm and then select Embed.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/N17DhjfW2Z/Screenshot%202021-12-30%20at%2013.57.57.png (Choose your embed type in MyMalcolm)

We offer the following type of embeds:

Floating Widget (with button and draw options) - this option floats a button or drawer “pre-expand” over your site, application, product or service - when clicked a content panel opens up
Overlay / Pop Up - this opens an overlay / popup over whatever the user is currently seeing - it’s triggered by a link you can place wherever you want in your site, application, product or service
Inline - pull content directly into the same pages/screens your users are seeing with this option - use blend mode for a truly seamless experience!

We also offer a fourth option which can be useful in some circumstances:

Redirect - this option creates an automatic redirect which will replace the page the embed is fired from with a Malcolm! hosted page. This is achieved by auto forwarding the user. This option can be useful in certain scenarios, for example if you constrained by only being able to publish via a CMS and want some navigation or pages within your CMS structure to link out to Malcolm! hosted content. Note you will likely want to use URL rules in conjunction with the redirect embed (otherwise the redirect will happen on all pages the embed is present on!).

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/jbX8ylorUd/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2019.11.05-13_16_07.png (Choose your embed content in MyMalcolm)

In terms of the type of content you can embed options include:

Hosted Hub results - paginated results showing the default filtered FAQs and Workflows as seen on your Hosted Hub homepage
A single FAQ - your choice of FAQ
A single Workflow - your choice of Workflow
Author listing - paginated results showing FAQs from a particular author
Category listing paginated results showing FAQs within a partiuclar category
Filtered results paginated results showing FAQs and Workflows filtered by your choice of filter (eg most popular, most recent, most helpful etc)
Search results (contextual) - paginated results showing FAQs and Workflows according to a search query provided via a meta tag on your page
Search results (specified search query) - paginated results showing FAQs and Workflows according to a given search query
Tag listing - paginated results showing FAQs referenced by particular tag

Note that if you just want to embed a single FAQ or Workflow you can also access a quick embed interface via the Library in both the FAQ and Workflow sections of MyMalcolm. Simply select "Embed" from the menu accessible on the right hand side of the respective published FAQ or Workflow.

You can configure various options around the visual stlye of your embed. The exact options available depend on the type of embed you have chosen.

When you have finished configuring the content and visual appearence of your embed, Malcolm! will give you the code that can be used to pull your content into your website, app, product or online service.

Watch a video guide to embeding Malcolm! content into your website below.

Question 10

How do I embed a Workflow into my website?

Accepted Answer

It's quick and easy to embed a Workflow into your website or app. In the Library screen of the Workflow section of MyMalcolm click the three dots on the right hand side of the screen and select "Embed"

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/bk1dEegpoU/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2019.08.18-17_01_27.png (Quick link to Embed from the Workflow Library in MyMalcolm)

This will take you into the Share section of MyMalcolm! Here you can choose the type of embed you want to create.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/N17DhjfW2Z/Screenshot%202021-12-30%20at%2013.57.57.png (Create your embed in MyMalcolm)

If you want to float your Workflow over your webpage in a widget launched from a button or drawer that hugs the side or top/bottom of the screen select Widget.
If you want to launch an overlay that contains your Workflow from your webpage choose the Overlay option.
If you want your Workflow to appear within a part of an existing webpage select the inline option.
Finally if you the page to redirect to the Malcolm! web hosted version of your Workflow when the embed tag is fired select Redirect. You may wish to use URL rules with this option otherwise the redirect will fire on all pages the Malcolm! master tag is present on.

Follow the create embed process through - the Workflow you came from will be preselected as the content you want to embed. You will be offered various styling and display options based on the type of embed you choose.

At the end of the process you will be supplied with the embed code that you can add to he site or app where you want the Workflow to appear.