---
title: Guides
description: Advice on writing, structuring and maintaining documentation that readers and AI tools can actually use.
---

The rest of this site tells you how Reed works. These guides are about the documentation
you build with it: how to write it, how to organize it, how to get it found, and how to
keep it true after the launch.

Most of the advice holds on any platform. Where a guide touches something Reed does or
does not do, it says so plainly.

One rule outranks everything below. Start from what your readers are trying to do, write
what helps them do it, and let them get back to work.

## AI discovery

More and more readers meet your docs through a search engine or an AI assistant before
they ever see your site.

- [GEO](/docs/guides/geo): structure pages so AI answer engines can find, quote and cite
  them correctly.
- [SEO](/docs/guides/seo): titles, descriptions, sitemaps and redirects that help search
  engines rank the right page.
- [AI coding assistants](/docs/guides/ai-coding-assistants): let an agent draft and update
  pages in your repository without letting it guess.

## Writing

What goes on the page, and how it sounds.

- [Style and tone](/docs/guides/style-and-tone): one consistent voice, however many people
  write the docs.
- [Content types](/docs/guides/content-types): tutorial, how-to, reference or explanation —
  pick the right one before you write a word.
- [Content templates](/docs/guides/content-templates): copyable starting points for each
  content type.
- [Understand your audience](/docs/guides/understand-your-audience): find out who reads
  your docs and what they came to do.

## Structure

How pages fit together, and how readers move between them.

- [Navigation](/docs/guides/navigation): information architecture that matches how readers
  look for things.
- [Linking](/docs/guides/linking): internal links that help readers and do not break when
  pages move.
- [Media](/docs/guides/media): images and video that earn their place and their upkeep.
- [Accessibility](/docs/guides/accessibility): docs that work with a screen reader, a
  keyboard, and a zoomed-in browser.

## Operations

Keeping the docs accurate and getting changes out.

- [Maintenance](/docs/guides/maintenance): ownership, reviews and automated checks that
  stop docs from drifting.
- [Improving docs](/docs/guides/improving-docs): use traffic, feedback and support data to
  decide what to fix first.
- [Git workflows](/docs/guides/git-workflows): branch, check, review and deploy — the only
  way changes reach a Reed site.

## Use cases

End-to-end plans for the three kinds of site people most often build with Reed.

- [Developer documentation](/docs/guides/developer-documentation): docs that engineers
  use to integrate with your API, SDKs and tools.
- [Internal knowledge base](/docs/guides/knowledge-base): a team knowledge base behind
  your own access control, kept from decaying.
- [Help center](/docs/guides/help-center): self-service answers for customers, with a
  route to your support team for the rest.

## Where to start

<CardGroup cols={3}>
  <Card title="New to documentation?" href="/docs/guides/content-types">
    Learn the four content types and how each one is structured.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Improving existing docs?" href="/docs/guides/improving-docs">
    Use metrics and feedback to find the pages worth fixing.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Working with a team?" href="/docs/guides/git-workflows">
    Set up the branch-and-review loop your docs will run on.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>
