backport of commit bde372d (#20132)

Co-authored-by: Josh Black <raskchanky@users.noreply.github.com>

website/content/docs/enterprise/automated-upgrades.mdx

@@ -48,3 +48,19 @@ are enabled by default.
 Specify something like: `1.11.0-release.1` for the `autopilot_upgrade_version` configuration key in your
 existing cluster. When you're ready to deploy a new set of nodes, specify `1.11.0-release.2` for the new
 nodes. Any time you need to deploy an updated set of nodes to the cluster, increment the final number.
+
+It's important to note that Autopilot uses strict [semantic versioning](https://semver.org) when parsing
+upgrade versions. This means that in the above example, `-release.1` is considered the _pre-release version_
+in semantic versioning terminology. The pre-release version is denoted by a hyphen `-` after the patch version.
+This is semantically different from the _build metadata_, which is denoted by a plus sign `+` after either the
+patch version or the pre-release version. Build metadata is ignored when parsing versions, while the pre-release
+version is not. A table with some examples will help illustrate this.
+
+| Current upgrade version | New node upgrade version | Equal? | Will the upgrade happen? | Why?                                                                               |
+|:------------------------|:-------------------------|:-------|:-------------------------|:-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
+| 1.11.0                  | 1.11.0                   | Yes    | No                       | Versions are equal                                                                 |
+| 1.11.0-release.1        | 1.11.0-release.2         | No     | Yes                      | New node version is greater than current version                                   |
+| 1.11.0-release.1        | 1.11.1                   | No     | Yes                      | New node version is greater than current version                                   |
+| 1.11.0                  | 1.11.0-release.1         | No     | No                       | New node version is less than current version                                      |
+| 1.11.0+release.1        | 1.11.0+release.2         | Yes    | No                       | `release.1` and `release.2` are build metadata and ignored when comparing versions |
+| 1.11.0-release.1+123    | 1.11.0-release.1+456     | Yes    | No                       | Versions are equal, build metadata is ignored. |