Overview of Consumer Authorization with Yext | Yext Hitchhikers Platform

Overview

Yext supports the ability to create Sites and search experiences where they can control who sees what content. Using Authentication with Sites and Authorized Search, you can do any of the following:

• Create a Site that is locked down to only the set of users you want to have access to view.
• Choose which information can appear in search results depending on who executes the search on a Search experience.
• Ingest external documents from sources such as Google Drive or Salesforce and have your Search experience respect the permissions of the external source.
• Track every search and conversion on your site dimensioned at the visitor level.

Options and Flexibility

The system is designed to offer as much flexibility as possible. When exploring consumer authorization with Yext, you have the option to leverage both Authenticated Sites, and Authorized Search — or just one or the other. You can also choose exactly how you would like your users to authenticate and how to integrate permissions with your search experience.

Terminology

Before diving into the details, we want to define some key terms we will be using throughout the module:

Authenticated Sites or Secure Sites: A website that is locked down to only the set of users you want to have access to view it. This refers to the website itself.

Authorized Search: The ability to build a search experience where each user can see different results for the same query based on which entities or documents they have access to. This refers to the Search experience.

Use Cases

For example, if you have a site that requires a login to access, but once a user is logged in they can see everything in the search — you’d just need an Authenticated Sites.

If your site is public, but you want the content that appears in search to differ based on a user’s permissions (e.g., a Help Center where employees can see different content than customers) — you’d leverage Authorized Search

Before you get started with Authenticated Sites or Authorized Search, you’ll want to consider the various options and choose what makes the most sense for business given both your current and desired infrastructure.

The following units will provide you with an overview of what is available to you. Then, once you understand how you plan to utilize the new security offerings, use the relevant guides to get started implementing!