Does your website feature a frequently asked questions (FAQ) page? How online users search for information has evolved.
Rather than performing simple one- or two-word search queries, many users now perform longer queries structured as a question.
With an optimized FAQ page, your website will rank for these queries, resulting in more organic traffic as well as increased brand recognition.
Target Relevant Questions
Every question included on your FAQ page should be relevant to your website’s purpose as well as its audience’s interests.
FAQ pages covering a broad range of questions typically perform poorly. Visitors may find some but not all of the questions relevant to their interests.
When a visitor encounters an irrelevant question, he or she may leave your website. To discourage visitors from abandoning your website, only target relevant questions on your FAQ page.
Research Questions Using Multiple Channels
Use multiple channels to research and identify questions for your FAQ page.
If your website has visitor comments enabled, check the comments to see what questions visitors have asked.
Even without visitor comments, you can probably find questions asked by visitors in your inbox.
If a visitor has a question about your website or business, he or she may reach out to you with an email.
Your website, however, is just one source of prospective questions for your FAQ page.
Other channels to consider using include social media, industry-related forums, quora.com, answerthepublic.com, and SEMrush.
Using multiple channels allows you to build a long list of highly relevant questions to include on your FAQ page.
Use Subheadings for Questions
When creating an FAQ page, format the questions as subheadings and the answers as standard body text.
Subheadings tend to have a larger font size than the body text, so they serve as visual markers in the website content.
Instead of reading your FAQ page from top to bottom, visitors can scan its subheadings.
In this blog where I compared Yoast Free vs. Yoast Premium, you’ll notice the FAQ elements built into the WordPress Plugin.
Start Questions With an Interrogative Word
Start the questions on your FAQ page with an interrogative word. Also known as question words, they are used to ask a question.
Examples of interrogative words include who, what, whose, where, why, when, and how.
There are other ways to structure subheadings as questions, such as using a relevant keyword followed by the question, but starting them with an interrogative word improves readability.
Visitors can read and comprehend your FAQ page more quickly if you start the questions with an interrogative word.
Publish Concise Answers
Don’t make the mistake of publishing excessively long and wordy answers on your FAQ page.
Visitors enjoy reading FAQ pages because they offer immediate answers to their questions. If your FAQ page features long and wordy explanations, visitors may neglect to read them.
It’s not uncommon for FAQ pages to contain over a dozen questions and answers.
Some FAQ pages contain over 100 questions and answers.
Whether your FAQ page has a dozen or 100 questions and answers, though, you should keep the answers concise by using the fewest number of words possible.
Use Jump Links
Jump links can prove useful on an FAQ page. Also known as anchor links — not to be confused with anchor text links — they direct visitors to a specific area of the same web page on which they are published.
Traditional links direct visitors to a different web page than that on which they are published. Jump links are unique because they take visitors to the same web page.
In other words, jump links allow visitors to “jump” to a content section, such as a particular question.
At the top of your FAQ page, create a navigation menu consisting of jump links to all its questions. You can create jump links by giving each question a unique id attribute and linking to those id attributes.
Just remember to test your FAQ page’s jump links firsthand to ensure they function correctly.
In this blog, for example, the table of contents create jump links.
Add Internal Links to Answers
In addition to jump links, consider adding internal links to your FAQ page.
When building an FAQ page, you’ll probably cover some of the same topics as existing pages on your website.
Assuming you create unique content, it’s okay to publish answers covered elsewhere on your website.
You can even take advantage of this opportunity by adding internal links.
If a question included on your FAQ page is covered elsewhere on your website, add an internal link to its source.
Go Easy on Visual Content
Avoid adding too much visual content to your FAQ page. Images and videos are typically useful additions to web pages.
They help to break up the text so that it’s easier for visitors. On FAQ pages, though, visual content can distract visitors away from the questions and answers.
You can still add images or videos to your FAQ page, but you should use them sparingly.
Excessive visual content will dilute your FAQ page’s value by distracting visitors from its questions and answers.
Update Regularly With New Questions and Answers
You should update your FAQ page regularly by adding new questions and answers to it.
Regardless of how much time you spend researching relevant questions, you won’t identify all questions asked by your website’s audience.
As you think of new and relevant questions, add them to your FAQ page.
Besides adding new questions and answers, you may need to update your FAQ page by modifying existing answers.
Over time, answers can lose their accuracy. If an answer is no longer correct, you should make the necessary changes to it.
Failure to update inaccurate answers lowers the value of your FAQ page while also creating a negative image for your website’s brand.
An FAQ page is an essential asset for your website’s content marketing strategy.
It promotes a better UX, higher search rankings, and increased brand recognition.
By building and optimizing an FAQ page, your website will reap these performance benefits.
