I plan the right knowledge and education, and organize it so people find answers fast.
I'm Hari Mahendra, a principal content strategist and knowledge management lead with 13+ years of experience. I decide what content a product needs and who it's for, organize help centers so people can find it, and set the rules that keep it current and ready for AI search.
Still need help?Chat with support, see your cases, or check service status.Chat now
The help home I proposed in my LinkedIn audit: one product chooser, one topic list, and support you can see. Read the case study
79.8%up from 61.4%help center task success at Simpplr
67%up from 31% in one monthquestion tickets deflected by the SIMA support bot
$324Kmore retained annual revenuefrom the HelpNext program at Adobe
1.8Musers a month, 4 productsreached by knowledge content at InfoEdge
Featured case study
LinkedIn Help center: an IA and knowledge management audit
Independent audit · October 2026 · Solo
Research and learning purpose only. Not affiliated with or endorsed by LinkedIn. Based only on the public Help center.
LinkedIn's Help center already has the answers people need. People just can't find them easily. I clicked through the help home and every page it links to, found 16 problems, and traced each one to where it starts.
Live chat is hidden. It says "Online now," but only the footer links to it.
Premium knowledge has no home. 60 articles, and nothing on the home page leads to them.
The product menu misleads. Picking Billing only changes the search, not the page.
Search snippets show broken text, like "ORDERED" and "FEATURE_LAUNCHER."
One topic, many names. "Connections" in one place, "Build Your Network" in another.
Seven page types, each with one job and one template
One topic list, used by the home page, the topic index, and every tag
The same labels on every article: type, main topic, audience, summary, owner, and last checked date
A Premium help home that sorts 60 articles by what members want to do
An owner for each product, a review when a feature changes, and a regular look at failed searches
I didn't have LinkedIn's data, so I list what I would measure instead of claiming results.
Approach
The five parts of a knowledge base I work on
Think of a help center as a library. Most problems look like bad wording, but they start in one of these parts. Select a part to see the projects where I worked on it.
The result
People find the right answer the first time, and support gets fewer repeat questions.
More work
Knowledge management and content strategy in practice
Simpplr · Help center · Knowledge management lead
Simpplr Help center: from hard to find to easy to use
Simpplr's Help center had grown fast and was hard to search. I audited it end to end, rebuilt its structure, moved it to a new platform, and set up rules so it stays healthy.
Audited 563 articles and studied nearly 19,000 searches to see where people got stuck
Rebuilt the information architecture and started single-intent articles: one article, one question
Managed the move from Zendesk to DevRev, with clear naming and structure rules
Set knowledge governance and AI-readiness standards, with clear owners for every area
Started weekly content health checks that catch outdated articles early
LayoutPage typesTopic namesLabels and searchUpkeep
Task success Help center
Before
61.4%
After
79.8%
563articles audited
~19Ksearches studied
Weeklycontent health checks
Simpplr · Support bot · Knowledge for AI
SIMA: knowledge that answers before a ticket is filed
SIMA is Simpplr's support bot. A bot is only as good as the knowledge it reads, so I rebuilt that knowledge for it.
Pulled a year of urgent tickets and merged repeats, where 4 to 6 tickets asked the same thing
Built an agent that keeps the answers current from Jira, Confluence, Slack, and GitHub
Put the answers in one easy-to-find FAQ article and trained SIMA on it
Built a support agent that solves the most common ticket type in 3 steps
Page typesTopic namesLabels and searchUpkeep
Support assistantExample conversation
Users in one group can't see the new page. Why?
This usually happens when the page's audience doesn't include that group. Check the audience settings first.FAQ: Pages not showing for a group
That fixed it, thanks.
31% → 67%question tickets deflected, in one month
Adobe · HelpNext program · Led a team of 4
Adobe HelpX: findable help built on structure
HelpX pages were hard to navigate and hard to find in search. I led content strategy for HelpNext and rebuilt the help around tasks, with a clear taxonomy and metadata.
Designed taxonomies, metadata, and reusable single-intent article patterns in AEM
Authored structured DITA/XML content for reuse across products
Set editorial standards, templates, style guides, and review workflows
Audited content for usability, WCAG accessibility, consistency, and quality
Wrote task-based help for new and underused features, which raised feature adoption 27%
LayoutPage typesTopic namesLabels and searchUpkeep
Results HelpX
$324Kmore retained annual revenue from HelpNext, in A/B tests
+45%organic traffic on articles I owned
+47%better search rankings
Premiere Pro
Learn the basics
Tour the workspace
Edit your first video
Fix common problems
Simpplr · AI-native product · Built from scratch
A 230+ page knowledge portal for six products
A new AI-native product needed a full knowledge portal from day one. I planned and built it from scratch, with one structure that scales as products are added.
Planned the portal structure for six products at once
Wrote release notes, API documentation, KB articles, and structured DITA/XML content
Kept product documentation separate from marketing content, with clear ownership
LayoutPage typesTopic namesUpkeep
The portal 6 products
230+pages built from scratch
~$34Ksaved each year in platform costs
Targeted knowledge resources and customer education also supported 1 to 2 at-risk enterprise renewals per quarter, with ~$232K average ARR per customer.
Simpplr · Knowledge operations · Team of 6
Knowledge operations: one path for every request
A knowledge base stays useful only if requests, priorities, and reviews follow a clear path. I set up that path and lead the people who run it.
Lead and mentor 6 team members across content, support, and enablement
Moved knowledge requests to one Slack channel and a Jira form, so every request is tracked
Prioritize docs by customer need, business goals, and effort
Defined AI writing standards and guardrails, and built Accordis, a quality checker with 300+ rules
Labels and searchUpkeep
How a knowledge request moves Intake
1Post in the request channel
2Open a Jira ticket from the channel
3Prioritize by customer need, goals, and effort
4Write, check against 300+ rules, review, publish
Simpplr and Adobe · Content strategy
Content strategy: deciding what to write, for whom, and why
Good knowledge starts before anyone writes. For every feature and release, I decide what content is needed, how deep it goes, and where it lives, based on what users need and what the business needs.
Plan the docs for each feature: which articles to write, how much detail, what gets its own page, and how pages link
Combine product intent from PMs with ticket risk from support to set the plan
Prioritize content by customer need, business goals, and effort
Set global voice and tone guidelines at Adobe, and aligned regional teams on localization
Keep product documentation separate from marketing content, with clear ownership
Page typesUpkeep
How I build a content plan Every release
1Product intent from the PM
2Ticket risk from support and CS
3Business goal and effort
4The plan: articles, depth, page split, and links
+24%satisfaction after error message rewrites
−28%related support requests
+21%trial sign-ups from help content
How I work
Six habits in every project
I start with what the user expects
Then I follow each problem to where it really starts.
I let data set priorities
Searches, tickets, and task success decide what gets fixed first.
I fix the system, not only the page
Page types, one topic list, labels, and owners stop the mess from coming back.
I check by clicking, not guessing
I open the real pages and run the real searches.
A person checks all AI work
AI helps me move faster, and I test every output against the real product.
I don't claim results I don't have
Without data, I say what I would measure and how.
Resume
13+ years in knowledge management and technical writing
Principal Content Strategist and Knowledge Management Lead
Emailhari.mahendra957@gmail.com
Phone+91 99108 62957
LocationDelhi NCR, open to relocating in India
Summary
Knowledge management leader with 13+ years in technical writing, knowledge management, content strategy, and content operations. I build help centers and knowledge portals that people can search, set the governance that keeps them accurate, and prepare content for AI search and support bots. 6 years of hands-on work in Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Guides and 8+ years in DITA XML. Experienced in hiring, people management, and leading cross-functional teams.
61.4% → 79.8%help center task success
31% → 67%ticket deflection in one month
$324Kmore retained annual revenue from HelpNext
₹3.8 Craverage revenue lift per quarter
Experience
Principal Content Strategist and Knowledge Management LeadSimpplr, Gurugram
Apr 2025 to present
Lead and mentor 6 team members across content, support, and enablement.
Led knowledge management and IA for the Help center: audited 563 articles, studied nearly 19,000 searches, and raised task success from 61.4% to 79.8%.
Rebuilt the knowledge base behind SIMA, the support bot, raising question-ticket deflection from 31% to 67% in one month.
Set knowledge governance and AI-readiness standards, started weekly content health checks, and managed the Zendesk to DevRev migration.
Built a 230+ page knowledge portal for six products, saving about $34K a year in platform costs.
Supported 1 to 2 at-risk enterprise renewals per quarter (~$232K average ARR) with targeted knowledge resources and customer education.
Built in-app help that raised Comms AI and Newsletter usage by 31%; rewrote in-product text so 23% more users finished their tasks.
Moved knowledge requests to one Slack and Jira flow, and prioritize docs by customer need, business goals, and effort.
Write release notes, API documentation, KB articles, and structured DITA/XML content; keep product docs separate from marketing content.
Built Accordis, a content quality checker with 300+ rules, and set AI writing standards and guardrails.
Senior Content StrategistAdobe, Noida · HelpNext program
Feb 2022 to Apr 2025
Led a team of 4 and content strategy for HelpNext across Creative Cloud and enterprise products, with Design, Research, Product, Engineering, Support, and Localization.
Designed taxonomies, metadata, and single-intent article patterns in AEM, and authored structured DITA/XML; articles I owned gained 45% organic traffic and 47% better search rankings.
Led HelpNext, the HelpX content and navigation redesign; A/B tests showed $324K more retained annual revenue.
Set content governance through editorial standards, templates, style guides, and review workflows.
Audited content for usability, WCAG accessibility, consistency, and quality.
Wrote task-based help for new and underused features, raising feature adoption by 27%; launch-aligned help led 19% more users to try color grading in 45 days.
Rewrote error messages: 24% higher satisfaction, 17% faster recovery, and 28% fewer related support requests.
Created the Premiere Pro trial CTA and help content: 21% more trial sign-ups, with 12% of trial users converting to paid.
Assistant Manager, Content Strategy and Knowledge ManagementInfoEdge India Ltd. (Naukri.com), Noida
Oct 2019 to Jan 2022
Led content strategy and knowledge management for Naukri.com and related platforms with a team of 14 writers and editors.
Set knowledge governance, editorial standards, and quality guidelines for accurate, reusable content.
Organized product knowledge, help docs, and FAQs for self-service; audited 800+ web pages for IA and findability.
Knowledge content across 4 products reached 1.8 million users a month and grew revenue by an average of ₹3.8 crore per quarter.
Content Strategist, Knowledge Management Specialist, and Technical WriterZee Media, Saur Energy International, NewsPiQ, and Lybrate
Apr 2012 to Oct 2019
Created technical documentation, KB articles, user guides, and FAQs across media, healthcare, and renewable energy.
Improved knowledge access and reuse through IA, content categorization, and structured documentation.
Led a 2-member content team at Lybrate and ran CMS publishing workflows.
Core skills
Knowledge management
Information architecture, content governance, taxonomy and metadata, knowledge base migration, AI-readiness audits, content audits, drift detection
Content strategy
Content planning and prioritization, documentation scoping, voice and tone, localization, content operations, content performance analysis
Authoring
DITA XML, structured and topic-based authoring, content reuse, technical writing, API documentation, release notes, in-product help
Leadership
People management, hiring, mentoring, cross-functional stakeholder management, editorial standards
Masters in Mass Communication AJKMCRC, Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi · 2014 to 2016
Achievements
30+ recognitions from leadership and peers at Simpplr
Led the HelpNext project at Adobe to make product help more useful
Extra Miles Award for COVID-19 coverage and video production
Certifications
Creating API Documentation
Overview of Swagger Editor
Master Writing Product Requirements
Build Solutions with SharePoint
Google UX Design Professional Certificate
GDPR Compliance Certification
Certified SEO Content Expert
Project Management for Technical Writers (ongoing)
Anthropic: Claude 101 and AI Fluency (ongoing)
Have more questions?
Quick answers for hiring teams
Select a question to see the answer.
LinkedIn Help center audit
Case study
LinkedIn Help center: an IA and knowledge management audit
Independent audit · October 2026 · Solo
For research and learning only. This is an independent study I did on my own to understand how a large help center is organized. I don't work for LinkedIn, I'm not affiliated with or endorsed by LinkedIn, and I had no access to its internal data. All findings come from the public Help center as I saw it, signed in to my own account, in October 2026. LinkedIn and related names belong to their owners.
In short
LinkedIn's Help center has the answers people need, but people can't find them easily. The page mixes different kinds of links, uses different names for the same topics, and hides the way to talk to a person. I checked the page and every page it links to, found 16 problems, and planned a simpler way to organize the help center.
My roleSolo. I planned how the help content should be organized, and checked whether the words make sense.
What I checkedThe LinkedIn, Billing, and Learning help homes, the topic list, a topic page, 4 articles, search results, Contact us, and the status page.
What I made16 findings, a before and after page plan, a Premium help plan, rules for the help center, better labels, and a way to measure success.
What I noticed first
I had two reactions as soon as I opened the page.
The first section is confusing.
It is called "LinkedIn shortcuts." On a help page, I expect a link to explain something first. Half of these links skip that and take me straight to my settings to change something.
The page is not well organized.
Help, settings, rules, and contact options are all mixed on one page. It is hard to tell where to go.
When I clicked through every link, both reactions turned out to be right. "Cancel LinkedIn Premium subscription" opens a helpful article. But "Close your account," a much bigger step, opens a settings page with no explanation. The first time I clicked it, I got an error: "Hmm, this page doesn't exist."
These problems are not just about wording. They come from how the help center is built: what kinds of pages it has, how topics are named, and who looks after the content.
How I checked
1Wrote down my first reactions before looking closely, the way a normal user would see the page.
2Clicked every link, plus the Billing and Learning help pages, Contact us, and the status page. Some early guesses changed once I saw where links really go.
3Sorted every item by type, such as how-to article, topic page, settings link, or policy page, and marked where types were mixed.
4Compared topic names on the home page, the full topic list, article tags, and other help pages.
5Ran searches for "change password" and "cancel premium" and checked whether the top result matched what a person would want.
What is broken
The biggest problems: people can't easily reach a person, can't find the Premium and product help pages, and see messy text in search results. I found 16 problems in five groups.
Page layout
HighLive chat is hidden.
Contact us has "Chat with support," marked "Online now." The home page only links to it from the footer. Past support cases are hidden in the profile menu.
HighProduct help pages are hidden.
The product dropdown only changes what search looks in. The page itself doesn't change. Billing and Learning help homes exist, but only the profile menu leads to them.
HighPremium has no home.
There are 60 Premium articles, but no tile, topic, or dropdown option leads to them.
HighThe side box is mislabeled.
It says "Other ways we can help," but it holds policy pages and a status page. None of them help you contact anyone.
MediumThree sections show the same kind of thing.
Shortcuts, Recommended topics, and Suggested articles all show "popular" content. "Cancel Premium" shows up twice.
Types of content
HighShortcuts mix two kinds of links.
Three open your settings in a new tab, with no sign that they will. Three open help articles.
HighThe biggest action has no explanation.
"Close your account" opens settings, not an article, and never says what happens to your data or connections.
MediumThe full topic list is set up as an article.
"View all" opens "LinkedIn Consumer Solutions Topics," which even asks "Was this answer helpful?"
MediumHelp articles include ads and repeats.
One article ends with "Upgrade to Premium." The Premium cancel article says the same two rules twice.
Topic names and tags
MediumThe same topic has different names.
The home page says "Connections"; the full list says "Build Your Network." "Basics" is on the home page but not in the full list. Neither includes Premium.
MediumTags are messy.
One article is tagged both "Job Search" and "Search and Apply for Jobs." Another has no tag at all.
MediumTopics mix audiences.
"Basics" puts member help next to Recruiter product details. The Premium tag includes Sales Navigator webinars.
Search
HighSearch results show broken text.
Snippets include code words like "ORDERED" and "FEATURE_LAUNCHER," and even a raw web address.
HighSearch puts the wrong answer first.
For "change password," the top result is a reset flow for signed-out people. The "Reset your password" shortcut opens that same flow, even when you're signed in.
MediumSearch areas and related links overlap.
Billing search shows almost the same results as LinkedIn search. A privacy article suggests "Deceased LinkedIn member" as related reading.
Rules and upkeep
MediumThere is no shared standard.
Capital letters are used differently on the same page. One shortcut article was last updated a year ago. A fake-invoice warning shows only in Billing search.
Premium: the missing piece
Premium is LinkedIn's paid plan for members. The help center already has 60 articles about it, but there is no Premium section to find them. The only way in is a small tag link at the bottom of an article. That tag page is one long list with no order:
Plans: what Premium Career and Premium All-in-One include, and how free and Premium accounts differ
Features: Post proofreader, advice sessions, and Premium insights on company pages
Changing your plan: reactivate, cancel, or move to Sales Navigator
Partner offers: free trials through Headway and Motorola
Off-topic: webinars for Sales Navigator Core
So a member who wants to compare plans, learn a feature, or cancel has to scroll through 60 articles or guess the right search words.
I was signed in with a Premium plan, so the "Cancel Premium" shortcut may show only for Premium members. I couldn't check what a free member sees. Either way, a free member thinking about upgrading needs this information too.
Old page and new page
In the new plan, each section has one clear job, in the order people need it: search, browse, then contact someone.
Now
Search with product menu changes search only
LinkedIn shortcuts settings and articles mixed
Recommended topics
Suggested articles repeats shortcuts
Other ways we can help policies, not help
Footer: Contact us only way to chat
Proposed
Search scope picked from the question
Choose a product Premium included
Quick actions labeled as settings
Browse by topic one shared topic list
Popular articles
Still need help? chat, your cases, status
Footer policies and legal
How the help center should be built
A new layout only lasts if the help center underneath follows clear rules. The first rule: every page is one type, and each type has one job. Then a link's label can say exactly what it opens.
Product help homeStarting point for one product
Same layout for every product: search, quick actions, topics, popular articles, and contact at the top.
LinkedIn, Billing, Learning, and a new Premium home
Topic pageBrowse one subject
A real page, not an article. Its name comes from one shared list.
"View all" opens "All help topics"
How-to articleDo one thing
Steps first, a "Go to settings" button at the top, no ads.
Change your password
Explainer articleUnderstand before acting
What will happen and what the limits are, then a link to the how-to.
What happens when you close your account
Fix-it articleSolve a problem
"What happened" explains the cause; "What to do" gives the steps.
Bounced or unconfirmed email address
Fact sheetLook something up
Tables, no steps.
Tax rates by country
Settings linkGo straight to a setting
Only in quick actions and how-to articles, always labeled "(opens settings)."
Change your email address
Premium help home
Premium gets its own help home, listed in the product chooser and the topic list. The 60 articles are sorted by what a member wants to do:
1Compare plans: free versus Premium, and each Premium plan side by side
2Use Premium features: InMail, profile insights, Post proofreader, and advice sessions
3Manage your plan: upgrade, reactivate, or cancel, split by where you bought Premium
4Billing and refunds: linked to the Billing help home, not copied
5Partner offers: kept separate so they don't crowd out how-to articles
Sales Navigator and Recruiter articles move to their own help homes.
One topic list, labels on every article, and clear owners
One topic list for everything. The home page tiles, the full topic list, article tags, and every product help home use the same list, so each topic has one name everywhere.
Labels every article carries
Page type, from the list above
One main topic, plus up to two extra topics
Product and audience, such as member, admin, or recruiter
A one-line summary, written by a person, used by search instead of raw text
Owner and last checked date
Owners and checks
One owner for each product's help center, and one group that approves topic names
An article gets checked every time its feature changes, and at least once a year
A regular look at searches where people don't click anything or search again
Before publishing: capital letters, a summary, one main topic, and no ads
Better words on the page
Labels are how people move through a help center. Once each page type has one job, each label can say exactly what it opens.
Section headingLinkedIn shortcutsQuick actions
Says these links do something, not explain something.
Password linkReset your passwordChange your password (opens settings)
Matches what a signed-in member wants.
Close account linkClose your account (opens settings)Close your account (opens an article first)
Explains what happens before you decide.
ContactContact us, in the footer only"Chat with support" in a "Still need help?" section
The chat already exists; people just can't see it.
Side box headingOther ways we can helpStill need help?
Fits once the box holds chat, your cases, and status.
Full topic listLinkedIn Consumer Solutions TopicsAll help topics
Drops company jargon.
Search snippetChange your password You can change... ORDERED Click the Me icon...You can change your password in Settings, under Sign in and security.
Uses a written summary, not raw text.
How I would know it worked
I didn't have LinkedIn's data, so these are what I would track after launch, not results.
UpSearches that end with someone opening an article
DownSearches with no results, or where people search again
UpProblems people solve without contacting support
Up, then steadyChats started from the new "Still need help?" section
UpArticles checked in the last 12 months
Every articleHas one main topic and a written summary
ZeroSearch snippets with broken code words
Before launch, I would test the new topic list with a card sort, where people group topics the way they think of them, and a first-click test, where people get five common tasks and I check whether their first click is right.
What this shows about how I work
I start with what a user expects, then follow each problem down to where it really starts. "LinkedIn shortcuts" looked like a wording problem, but the real fix was deciding what types of pages the help center has.
I trust my first reaction, then test it. Both held up once I clicked through.
I check by clicking, not guessing. Three early ideas changed after I opened the real pages.
I fix the system, not just the page. Page types, one topic list, labels, and owners keep it from getting messy again.
I don't claim results I don't have. Without data, I say what I would measure and how.