diff --git a/.github/workflows/eamxx-gh-pages.yml b/.github/workflows/eamxx-gh-pages.yml
index a78f76c9c07..abd8b92e4f6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/eamxx-gh-pages.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/eamxx-gh-pages.yml
@@ -53,10 +53,10 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           echo "= The job was automatically triggered by a ${{github.event_name}} event."
 
-      - name: Set up Python 3.10
+      - name: Set up Python 3.11
         uses: actions/setup-python@v5.1.0
         with:
-          python-version: "3.10"
+          python-version: "3.11"
 
       - name: Install Python deps
         run: |
diff --git a/components/eamxx/mkdocs.yml b/components/eamxx/mkdocs.yml
index 609bd346bf4..ccf72c08039 100644
--- a/components/eamxx/mkdocs.yml
+++ b/components/eamxx/mkdocs.yml
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@ markdown_extensions:
       alternate_style: true
   - pymdownx.arithmatex:
       generic: true
+  - footnotes
 
 extra_javascript:
   # - javascript/mathjax.js
@@ -68,5 +69,6 @@ extra_javascript:
 repo_url: https://github.com/E3SM-Project/scream
 
 plugins:
+  - search
   - bibtex:
-      bib_dir: refs
\ No newline at end of file
+      bib_dir: docs/refs