Let’s turn our attention to an important yet underappreciated destination in your website—the frequently asked questions page. For many companies, it’s clearly an afterthought, filled with questions someone plunked in to populate a box on the sitemap. (In which case you may not actually need an FAQ page at all.)

But what about SEO, you ask? … For this page, think about your users and if it helps out with search, then that’s a great bonus.

Lately, however, we’re seeing far too many sites that treat the FAQ as a repository for more marketing copy, filling it with questions like “Why are you so great?” and “How much do your customers love you?”

Yes, your FAQ is marketing. But not that kind of marketing.

Your FAQ has a role to play in the customer’s decision-making journey, filling in the blanks and supporting self-service answers if they get stuck. So how can you help reduce friction for your users?

1. Offer real answers to real questions. Find out what people are asking your sales and customer service teams, and what will move them closer to yes. Comb your site search data. Your FAQ should help already-interested people over hurdles, not indulge in self-promotion. Sometimes it makes sense to include responses to sales objections, but you’re likely better off including those on your product pages. And if you’re including details and rules you want the user to know, but they’re not really asking, maybe leave that for the small print.
2. Don’t save basic information for the FAQ. How to use the site, how to sign up, costs—those sorts of things should be clear throughout your user experience and included in your content. If you need an FAQ on how to order, you need to rework your ordering process.
3. Watch what’s being asked. If you can track interactions with individual questions—great! When you see certain questions getting a great deal of attention over time, you have a communication opportunity. Turn that into a content page. (If it’s already a content page, make sure it isn’t being missed in the user flow.)
4. Keep it simple. Complex, multi-part or too-specific questions need to be broken down and made relevant for general audiences. And keep the whole list as brief as possible. Please don’t ask users to wade through every question that’s ever come your way.
5. Consider not using questions. If every entry starts with “How can I…,” a list becomes very hard to scan. So, instead of “How can I find the serial number on my camera?” you might go with “Find the serial number on a camera,” or “Serial numbers: Where to find.” Google does like a question, though, so if you can be brief and clear, go for it.
6. Organize logically. Alphabetical FAQs drive people batty—20 questions starting with “how” followed by all the “what, when and wheres.” Use subheads to break up topics and subtopics, like event logistics, shipping, returns, whatever makes sense for you. And if you can include a quality search function, do!

But what about SEO, you ask? Google loves a question, but it also loves relevance. A long page with questions against a dozen topics isn’t likely to be a big help—neither is a header that says “FAQ.” For this page, think about your users and if it helps out with search, then that’s a great bonus.

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