Site search is great when readers know what to type. A lot of the time, they don’t.

They land on a post with a question. They skim an archive looking for a thread. They want to know whether you’ve written about a topic before, but they don’t know the exact keyword that will get them there.

Reader Chat gives them a more natural way in.

It adds a small chat experience to your public site, so readers can ask questions and get answers based on your site content. On a post, it can use that post as context. On the home page or an archive, it can help readers explore the site overall.

See Reader Chat in action

A better way into your archive

The more useful your archive gets, the harder it can be for readers to find the right entry point.

Reader Chat turns that archive into something readers can ask. Instead of guessing the perfect search term, a visitor can ask things like:

• What’s the main takeaway from this post?
• What else has this site published about this topic?
• Can you recommend a good post to read next?
• How does this idea connect to earlier posts?

Search is still the right tool when someone wants a results page, filters, sorting, and a list of matching posts. Reader Chat is for the next kind of question: the one a reader has while they’re already reading.

Suggestions that fit the page

Reader Chat starts with suggested questions, so visitors don’t have to begin from a blank box.

On a post, suggestions can focus on the article in front of them: the main point, key details, or related context. On the home page or an archive, suggestions can help them explore recent posts, learn what the site covers, or find something worth reading next.

After a reader gets an answer, follow-up suggestions help keep the conversation moving without sending them away from your site.

Give Reader Chat a voice

Reader Chat can use your site’s Guidelines to shape how it responds.

That means site owners can set the tone, boundaries, and style they want Reader Chat to follow. A travel site might want warm, practical answers. A technical site might want short, precise ones. A personal site might want responses that feel closer to the author’s own voice.

Reader Chat still answers from your content, but Guidelines help it respond in a way that feels like it belongs on your site.

How to enable Reader Chat

Reader Chat is opt-in. To turn it on:

1. Go to your site’s WP Admin.
2. Open Jetpack → Search.
3. Go to the Settings tab.
4. Turn on Enable Reader Chat.
5. Save your changes, then visit a public post on your site to try it.

Reader Chat appears only on eligible public sites with Jetpack Search plan. It won’t load on Coming Soon or unlaunched sites.

How to set Guidelines

Guidelines are optional, but they’re useful if you want Reader Chat to match your site’s voice and expectations.

1. Go to your site’s WP Admin.
2. Open Gutenberg → Experiments.
3. Enable Guidelines.
4. Open Settings → Guidelines.
5. Use Site to describe what your site is about, who it’s for, and what readers usually come there to find.
6. Use Additional for Reader Chat-specific guidance, like tone, answer length, topics to avoid, or when to point readers back to posts.
7. Click Save guidelines.

Example:

Keep answers warm, practical, and concise. Use the site’s existing posts as the source of truth. When possible, point readers to related posts they can keep reading. Avoid sounding formal or promotional.

Availability

Reader Chat is available in Preview on eligible public sites with Jetpack Search. It’s live now on WordPress.com sites with a Jetpack Search plan, and on self-hosted WordPress sites running Jetpack 15.9 or later.

Search that talks back

Search helps readers find the right post. Reader Chat helps them ask the next question once they’re there.

If your site has a deep archive, detailed guides, or posts that connect across topics, Reader Chat gives visitors a faster way to follow those threads and keep reading.