diff --git a/client/src/components/Tool/ToolHelpForum.vue b/client/src/components/Tool/ToolHelpForum.vue
index 912b417a425f..49589dec8604 100644
--- a/client/src/components/Tool/ToolHelpForum.vue
+++ b/client/src/components/Tool/ToolHelpForum.vue
@@ -6,10 +6,12 @@ import { computed, onMounted, ref } from "vue";
 import { GalaxyApi } from "@/api";
 import { galaxyLogo } from "@/components/icons/galaxyIcons";
 import { useConfigStore } from "@/stores/configurationStore";
+import { errorMessageAsString } from "@/utils/simple-error";
 import { getShortToolId } from "@/utils/tool";
 
 import { createTopicUrl, type HelpForumPost, type HelpForumTopic, useHelpURLs } from "./helpForumUrls";
 
+import Alert from "@/components/Alert.vue";
 import Heading from "@/components/Common/Heading.vue";
 import ExternalLink from "@/components/ExternalLink.vue";
 
@@ -22,6 +24,7 @@ const toolHelpTag = "tool-help";
 
 const topics = ref<HelpForumTopic[]>([]);
 const posts = ref<HelpForumPost[]>([]);
+const errorMessage = ref("");
 const helpAvailable = computed(() => topics.value.length > 0);
 
 const root = ref(null);
@@ -36,7 +39,7 @@ onMounted(async () => {
         },
     });
     if (error) {
-        console.error("Error fetching help forum data", error);
+        errorMessage.value = errorMessageAsString(error, "Failed to search the Help Forum.");
     }
 
     topics.value = data?.topics ?? [];
@@ -66,12 +69,14 @@ const configStore = useConfigStore();
     <div ref="root" class="tool-help-forum mt-2 mb-4">
         <Heading h2 separator bold size="sm">Help Forum</Heading>
 
+        <Alert v-if="errorMessage" variant="warning" :message="errorMessage" />
+
         <p v-if="helpAvailable">
             Following questions on the
             <ExternalLink :href="configStore.config.help_forum_api_url"> Help Forum </ExternalLink> may be related to
             this tool:
         </p>
-        <p v-else>
+        <p v-else-if="!errorMessage">
             There are no questions on the
             <ExternalLink :href="configStore.config.help_forum_api_url"> Help Forum </ExternalLink>
             about this tool.
diff --git a/lib/galaxy/webapps/galaxy/services/help.py b/lib/galaxy/webapps/galaxy/services/help.py
index e75bf087e685..279fcd3c7439 100644
--- a/lib/galaxy/webapps/galaxy/services/help.py
+++ b/lib/galaxy/webapps/galaxy/services/help.py
@@ -1,7 +1,12 @@
 import logging
 
 from galaxy.config import GalaxyAppConfiguration
-from galaxy.exceptions import ServerNotConfiguredForRequest
+from galaxy.exceptions import (
+    GatewayTimeoutException,
+    InternalServerError,
+    ServerNotConfiguredForRequest,
+    UpstreamProxyError,
+)
 from galaxy.schema.help import HelpForumSearchResponse
 from galaxy.security.idencoding import IdEncodingHelper
 from galaxy.util import requests
@@ -34,10 +39,49 @@ def search_forum(self, query: str) -> HelpForumSearchResponse:
         if not self.config.help_forum_api_url:
             raise ServerNotConfiguredForRequest("Help forum API URL is not configured.")
         forum_search_url = f"{self.config.help_forum_api_url}/search.json"
-        response = requests.get(
-            url=forum_search_url,
-            params={
-                "q": query,
-            },
-        )
-        return HelpForumSearchResponse(**response.json())
+        try:
+            response = requests.get(
+                url=forum_search_url,
+                params={
+                    "q": query,
+                },
+            )
+        except requests.exceptions.ConnectionError as e:
+            log.error("Could not connect to the Galaxy Help Forum at %s: %s", forum_search_url, e)
+            raise UpstreamProxyError(
+                "Could not connect to the Galaxy Help Forum. The service may be temporarily unavailable."
+            )
+        except requests.exceptions.Timeout as e:
+            log.error("Request to the Galaxy Help Forum at %s timed out: %s", forum_search_url, e)
+            raise GatewayTimeoutException("The request to the Galaxy Help Forum timed out. Please try again later.")
+        except requests.exceptions.RequestException as e:
+            log.error("Unexpected error requesting the Galaxy Help Forum at %s: %s", forum_search_url, e)
+            raise InternalServerError(f"An error occurred while requesting the Galaxy Help Forum: {e}")
+
+        if not response.ok:
+            if 400 <= response.status_code < 500:
+                log.error(
+                    "The Galaxy Help Forum returned a client error (HTTP %d) from %s. "
+                    "This likely indicates a misconfigured URL or API key.",
+                    response.status_code,
+                    forum_search_url,
+                )
+                raise InternalServerError(
+                    f"The Galaxy Help Forum returned an error (HTTP {response.status_code}). "
+                    "This may indicate a misconfigured URL or API key that requires admin intervention."
+                )
+            else:
+                log.error(
+                    "The Galaxy Help Forum returned a server error (HTTP %d) from %s",
+                    response.status_code,
+                    forum_search_url,
+                )
+                raise UpstreamProxyError(
+                    f"The Galaxy Help Forum returned an error (HTTP {response.status_code}). "
+                    "The service may be temporarily unavailable. Please try again later."
+                )
+
+        try:
+            return HelpForumSearchResponse(**response.json())
+        except ValueError as e:
+            raise InternalServerError(f"Received an unexpected response format from the Galaxy Help Forum: {e}")