tgbot Command Menu and Bot Description Optimization Guide: Improving Telegram Bot discovery rate and /start conversion

If your Telegram Bot is online, but new user growth is slow and /start conversion rate is low, the problem is likely to be in the tgbot command menu and Bot description. Telegram’s search algorithm indexes the Bot’s name, description, and command text, but many teams only focus on the Bot functionality itself and ignore the SEO value of these “facade” fields. This article will start from the BotFather settings, combined with TG-Staff’s customer service and operational capabilities, to help you build a complete link from search discovery to manual agent handling.

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Why tgbot command menu and Bot description directly affect user growth

Telegram search is one of the main entry points for users to discover new bots. The search algorithm crawls the following:

• Bot name (username, such as @MySupportBot)
• Bot Description (/setdescription, up to 512 characters)
• Command List (name and text of each command in /setcommands)
• Bot discovery information (/setshortdescription and /setabouttext)

When users search for keywords such as “customer service”, “support”, and “quote inquiry”, whether your Bot can appear in the top three results depends largely on the degree of optimization of these fields.

Telegram Search How to Match Your Bot

Suppose the user searches for “tgbot customer service”, Telegram will scan all Bots:

• Name: whether it contains “customer service” or “support”
• Description: Whether words such as “customer service”, “live chat”, “manual” etc. appear within 512 characters
• Command: Whether the text of /support, /help and other commands contains relevant keywords

Best Practice: Embed the main keyword within the first 100 characters of the description, and ensure that the command name is concise and semantically clear. For example, /support is easier to index than /get-help-from-staff and has lower user memory costs.

The hidden effect of command menu on user retention and customer service efficiency

A clear, grouped command menu can:

• Reduce user confusion: After entering the Bot, new users do not need to guess “what to post”, they can directly click /start or /support.
• Improve /start conversion: If a clickable command button is displayed directly in the welcome message, the probability of the user initiating a session is higher.
• Reduce duplication of work by agents: When users first conduct self-service inquiries through /faq, and then transfer to manual inquiries through /support, the quality of consultation received by agents will be higher.

In TG-Staff, you can map optimized commands (such as /support) to Session Diversion Rules, allowing users to automatically enter the agent queue after clicking the command, achieving a seamless link of “Search → Command → Customer Service”. This will be expanded upon in step three.

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Step one: Set core commands and descriptions in BotFather

All Telegram Bot command menus and descriptions need to be set through BotFather (the official Bot management tool). Here are the specific steps and strategies.

How to write a Bot description with a high click-through rate (including templates)

Operating steps:

1. Open @BotFather in Telegram and send /mybots.
2. Select your Bot and click Edit Bot → Edit Description.
3. Enter the description text, not to exceed 512 characters.

Description template (can be copied and replaced directly):

🔹 你的 Bot 名称 - 你的核心价值主张（关键词）
• 实时客服与订单查询：输入 /support 连接人工坐席
• 多语言自动翻译：支持中/英/日/韩，跨境团队首选
• 7×24 小时自动化流程：欢迎词、FAQ、分流
• 数据安全：内容风控与钱包地址监控

点击 /start 开始体验，或输入 /help 查看全部命令。

Key Rules:

• The first 100 characters must contain the main keyword (such as “customer service”, “tgbot command menu”).
• Use list symbols (•) to separate function points to increase readability.
• Include a clear call to action (CTA) at the end, such as “Click /start”.

Naming and sorting strategy for command list

Operating steps:

1. Select Bot → Edit Bot → Edit Commands in BotFather.
2. Enter the commands in the following format (one per line, format command - 描述):

start - 开始使用 Bot，查看欢迎信息
support - 联系人工客服，获取实时帮助
faq - 查看常见问题与自助解答
order - 查询订单状态（如适用）
language - 切换语言 / Switch Language
help - 显示全部命令与使用说明

Naming Suggestions:

• Use all lowercase English to avoid Chinese commands (Telegram’s search matches for Chinese commands may be incomplete).
• Command names should be limited to 2–8 characters, such as /start, /help, /faq.
• High-frequency commands (such as /start, /support) are ranked first two in the list.

Sort strategy:

• Put the conversion guidance command (such as /support) on the top so that users can see it at first glance.
• Place self-service commands (such as /faq) on the second layer to reduce manual pressure.
• Avoid more than 10 commands or users will get confused.

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Step 2: Use Bot Discovery information to expand exposure

Telegram’s “Bot Discovery” function is a hidden entrance to obtain natural traffic. It mainly relies on two fields:

Fields	Character Limits	Purpose	Setup Commands
Short Description	120 characters	Summary of search results, the first text the user sees	/setshortdescription
About (About)	512 characters	Detailed introduction of Bot profile page	/setabouttext

Optimization Tips:

• Short description: Write clearly “who you are + what problems you can solve” within 120 characters, and embed the main keywords. For example: “Real-time customer service Bot supports multi-language automatic translation and manual agents, suitable for cross-border teams. Enter /start experience.”
• About the text: You can be more detailed than the description, adding usage scenarios and technical highlights (such as “Integrating TG-Staff content risk control”), but you should also avoid stuffing.

Setup Steps (in BotFather):

• /setshortdescription → Select Bot → Enter a summary within 120 characters.
• /setabouttext → Select Bot → Enter a detailed description up to 512 characters.

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Step 3: Connect the command menu with the TG-Staff customer service process

The ultimate goal of optimizing the command menu is to allow users to enter customer service or operational processes faster. TG-Staff provides two key functions to take over the behavior after the command:

1. Session diversion rules

In the TG-Staff console (https://app.tg-staff.com/), you can configure diversion rules for each Bot project:

• Allocation in turns: Poll authorized agents in order, suitable for scenarios where the number of agents is even.
• Online Priority: priority will be given to the currently online agents, and will be assigned in turn when all agents are offline.

For example, when a user triggers the /support command, TG-Staff automatically assigns it to the “online priority” customer service group to ensure that the user receives an immediate response.

2. Diversion link (magic link)

Standard version and above packages support generating official domain name short links (such as https://app.tg-staff.com/{code}). This link can:

• Capture visitor’s IP, browser information, and URL parameters (for ad attribution).
• Jump to your Bot after the user clicks, automatically triggering the /start command.
• Cooperate with conversation diversion to guide users from different channels (such as advertising, official website, social media) to different agent groups.

Typical link: Ad serving → User clicks the diversion link → Jumps to Bot → Automatically triggers /start → Matches diversion rules → Agent accepts → Attribution data recording.

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Step 4: Improve multilingual user experience through content risk control and automatic translation

For cross-border teams, command menus and descriptions are prone to ambiguity in multi-language scenarios. TG-Staff’s two pro features solve this problem:

Automatic translation

• The standard version includes AI translation; the professional version additionally supports Google professional translation and DeepL professional translation.
• Automatic translation can be configured for messages replied by agents to ensure that the language users see is consistent with the Bot description.
• For example, when a Japanese user inputs Japanese, the agent sees Chinese and automatically translates it into Japanese after replying.

Content risk control (internal control management)

The professional version has built-in content risk control and can configure risk phrases (such as “wallet address”, “TRC20”, “receipt”). When an agent sends a message containing these words, the system will pop up a secondary confirmation window or block the sending.

Best Practice: Clearly mark “multi-language support” in the Bot description, and add the /language command to the command menu to allow users to switch languages ​​independently. This can not only improve search matching, but also reduce the duplication of work caused by language problems for agents.

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Checklist: tgbot command menu and description optimization self-check list

Copy the following list and confirm that your Bot has been optimized item by item:

• Description contains main keywords: Core function words (such as “customer service”, “tgbot command menu”) appear within the first 100 characters.
• Description ≤ 512 characters: Use a list format with a CTA at the end (e.g. “Click /start”).
• Number of commands ≤ 10: Keep high-frequency commands (/support, /start) at the top with short names (2–8 characters).
• All commands are in English: Avoid Chinese command names, and the description text can be in Chinese.
• Short description set: /setshortdescription Write the value proposition within 120 characters.
• About text has been set: /setabouttext Full of 512 characters, including usage scenarios and keywords.
• Configured triage rules: Set up at least one triage (rotating or online priority) in TG-Staff.
• Diversion link generated: Standard version and above packages, used for advertising attribution and channel tracking.

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FAQ

**Q: How long does it take for the commands in BotFather to take effect after being modified? ** Answer: Usually it takes effect immediately, but clients that have cached old commands may need to be refreshed from a few hours to a day; it is recommended to test a new session after modification to observe whether the command is displayed normally.

**Q: How many characters can be written in the Bot description? ** Answer: /setdescription supports up to 512 characters; /setshortdescription only supports 120 characters for search result summary.

**Q: Can TG-Staff help me automatically generate a command menu? ** Answer: TG-Staff’s visual command process (drag-and-drop editor) allows you to build multi-step Bot interactions, but the command menu itself still needs to be set up through BotFather; TG-Staff focuses more on transferring the conversation flow after the command to the agent or automated process.

**Q: Can the command name be in Chinese? ** Answer: Yes, but it is recommended to use English (such as /start) because the Telegram client’s search match for Chinese commands may be incomplete; Chinese can be used in the description and short description to optimize the search.

**Q: After optimizing descriptions and commands, how to measure the effect? ** Answer: You can view session sources, /start trigger times, and user portrait data through the statistics panel of TG-Staff (Professional Edition); you can also combine it with Telegram Bot API’s getUpdates for manual statistics.

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Act now

• Register for TG-Staff free trial (https://app.tg-staff.com/) to experience the integration of command menu and customer service link.
• Consult the TG-Staff documentation (https://docs.tg-staff.com/) for more offload configuration tutorials.
• Contact @tgstaff_robot for personalized optimization suggestions.

Optimizing the tgbot command menu and Bot description is not a one-time task. It is recommended to review it every quarter and make adjustments based on user feedback and search data. When your bot ranks higher in search and your /start conversion rate increases, you will find that the initial investment is well worth it.