A Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page that is well constructed and used to its fullest potential can be one of the most visited pages on your website.

Every day millions of curious people take to the internet to find answers to the burning questions they have.

Some may be very specific search queries. Others may be more general. Whatever the search, there is a chance you may be able to help.

A well-written FAQ page with accurate, concise information can become a key part of your digital marketing efforts.

Providing relevant answers to more commonly asked questions about your products and services can also set up the opportunity for conversions.

An FAQ page creates engagement

We won’t take a deep dive into sales funnels in this post, except to say that well-written responses to your users’ common question can ultimately help generate sales.

This is because they offer information pertinent to their search when they are in the “consideration stage” of their purchase.

When writing up your answers, reiterate your selling points. But remember to avoid being sales-focused.

Authenticity is another key factor in a successful FAQ page. It’s considered bad practice to add poorly thought-up content as this won’t be valuable to your target audience.

Be genuine in your answers and your FAQ page will deliver real value

If you have a lot of information, it’s useful to group answers according to topics. In our website design, we typically use an accordion-style plugin on WordPress to keep the information coherent. This makes it easier for your readers to find the information they are looking for. It also creates a better experience for your website visitors.

That said, many SEOs believe that content hidden beneath tabs can be seen as less valuable than if it was visible on the page. The jury is still out, as they say.

If you have more than 100 questions, it’s a good idea to include a search function so that answers can be found quickly. Content marketing guru Andy Crestodina suggests having your contact details on the FAQ page so that your website visitor can contact you quickly in case they can’t find what they’re looking for.

Presenting facts about the features and benefits of your products and services, information about deliveries and returns (if you have an e-commerce website), payment terms and the like is where your copywriting focus should lie.

It helps strike the right tone

A well-constructed FAQ page is an opportunity to create goodwill with your readers who can gain a positive impression of your company.

As Susan Greene notes, an FAQ page gives you the opportunity to make “your brand’s personality shine through.”

This is echoed by the Nielsen Norman Group that suggests FAQs offer strategic value to an organisation.

The answers “serve as indicators to prospective customers of how easy it is to resolve problems and to find a helpful person to talk to.”

By the same token, “unfavourable answers to any of these concerns mean that the visitor will likely find some other place to do business.”

It’s also important to strike the right balance between being too verbose or too brief in your answers – both will be unhelpful for your visitors.

It goes without saying that spelling, grammar and punctuation needs to be flawless in your content creation.

Nothing will bring your credibility into question faster than a sloppily edited or poorly written FAQ page.

The FAQ page is good for SEO

While creating great content for your FAQ page is good for your users, it’s also great for search engines. Google loves fresh, relevant content.

The chance of your site ranking higher in Google’s search engine results pages is that much greater if you include keywords relevant to your business in your answers.

Design questions and answers that can include keywords and phrases for maximum SEO impact.

Hyperlinking text in your answers to the relevant service or product pages on your website is also an SEO good practice as it links to pages within your website. This way you can route users to other areas of your website.

And the reverse also holds true – linking the FAQ page from your individual service or product pages will help with the overall optimisation of your website.

Remember, people search for their problem online, not the solutions you offer

By using the vocabulary of your users, your answers can better match their highly qualified search queries. This can increase the likelihood of people clicking on your website from the search engine results page.

Internal linking is good for SEO, but you would struggle to do proper optimisation on an FAQ page. As Andy Crestodina says, “SEO is about making a great page on a topic . . . and “FAQ pages are neither focused on a single topic nor are they the best page on any of those topics.”

Keep an eye on your analytics

The analytics data on your website will provide valuable insights into how your FAQ page is performing.

You will be able to see where your visitors came from, how long they stayed on your FAQ page, what interested them the most and what pages they visited afterwards.

Maintaining your FAQ page and tweaking it to ensure it remains relevant to your audience can help increase the time spent on your website, a metric that also helps boost SEO.

Conclusion

The best FAQ page is one that consistently delivers value to your website and your business. It can provide useful, valuable information in an efficient, precise and interesting way by linking to relevant content on your website and inviting some action from your users.

For a great FAQ page, remember these three things:
1. stay authentic
2. keep it simple
3. maintain it regularly

• If you need help setting up an FAQ page on your website, contact us.