Nearly every online business has a frequently asked questions page somewhere on their site, offering visitors key info in a clear question-and-answer format.
But as new digital marketing trends emerged over the years, the FAQ page took a backseat to the latest and greatest SEO strategies.
That’s too bad, because the FAQ can be a goldmine for potential customers, and is also playing a much bigger role in the most recent wave of SEO.
Let’s run through 9 strong reasons to revisit your FAQ in 2020, and give you some tips on how to make the most of this often-overlooked page.
1. Give Readers What They Want
The main reason you need to take your FAQ page seriously is right in the name: these questions are the ones most frequently asked by your customers and potential buyers!
Your FAQ page should be loaded to the brim with comprehensive answers to the most pressing questions about your products, services, and logistical contingencies.
Think of your FAQ as the first line of defense for customer support. If you take the time to fully flesh out an FAQ, you will save yourself, and your readers, lots of time and headache.
Even if a question seems to have an obvious answer, remember that huge portions of your audience are unfamiliar with your business and may have no familiarity with the industry, so be accommodating to everyone.
At the end of the day, your FAQ is an investment in customer experience, appreciation, and service. Treat it as such, and you’ll reap the rewards.
2. Make Your Products Look Powerful
Nobody knows your products and services as well as you do, so use your FAQ page to put them in the best possible light and give as much relevant information as possible.
Far too often, users have to browse dozens of customer reviews across the web to find the answers they need about a product, which is not only annoying but also leads to misinformation and confusion.
It’s always better to give product info upfront and straightforwardly answer questions. You can highlight the key benefits of your product in the context of customer inquiries and leave nothing up to chance.
3. Establish Your Niche Authority
A good FAQ acts as a magnet for anyone even remotely curious about your products or the industry in which you operate.
Your FAQ should have so much valuable content packed onto the page that wayward Google searchers will find themselves on your site, regardless of whether they set out to learn about your brand in the first place.
The message here is that you have a golden opportunity to establish authority in your niche with a good FAQ page, so don’t miss it.
Go into detail about common questions that not only relate to your product but about your industry at large.
Selling custom cutting boards? Answer some questions about wood types or chefs’ knives. Selling artisanal lip balm? Lay down some science about why beeswax is such an amazing ingredient.
Think outside the box and you can turn your FAQ into a legit resource for many potential customers outside your immediate niche.
4. Understand Your Audience Better
Don’t underestimate the market research potential of your own website.
By analyzing frequently asked questions, you can pinpoint your audience’s desires, identify key pain points, and learn more about their decision-making processes.
The FAQ can also help you in terms of R&D, guiding your product teams to create improved versions of existing products or come up with something completely new.
Treat your FAQ like a living, breathing feedback form that can point you in the right direction, and you’ll see how valuable this resource can be for each branch of business.
5. Fuel Your Content Strategy Organically
It’s common to hit roadblocks when mapping out a content calendar, and many marketers get stuck in the same old routine of recycling played-out topics.
The FAQ can help your content team avoid this trap by drawing from pressing questions posed by real customers.
Lots of great content ideas can be mined from the FAQ, and even inspire big, in-depth guides and how-to’s that earn your site quality backlinks and traffic in the long run.
Search Engine Watch recommends checking analytics regularly to identify areas of focus on the FAQ, and structure content accordingly.
6. Differentiate from the Competition
With that said, you must stay 100% transparent and honest about your products and services, even if it means giving up a point to the competition.
As an article from Web Solutions points out, it’s better to be real with your audience and give them the full scoop rather than the runaround.
This will pay dividends for customer trust in the long run and allow your brand to rise to new challenges instead of hiding from them.
7. Build a Keyword Castle
Traditional blog posts are great canvases for keywords, but this format is somewhat limiting.
The SEO consensus is to use keywords sparingly throughout your posts and avoid jamming too many of them on a single page to avoid penalties from the Google algorithm.
FAQs, on the other hand, allow you to naturally include a wide range of long-tail and niche keywords that will benefit you in the search results pages.
Mage Plaza reminds marketers to stick with meta tag best practices to make the most out of each one.
While you may not get credit for every keyword on the FAQ, it can be an SEO powerhouse if you play your cards right.
8. Make Moves in Mobile Search
The number of daily mobile search queries outpaced desktop searches years ago, and the FAQ is perfect for the mobile format.
When they’re on the go, users want their questions quickly and without the fluff. Optimize your FAQ pages to appeal to this growing audience of mobile users and you will see SEO boosts as well.
Just make sure it’s mobile-friendly and uses a speed-boosting protocol like Google Accelerated Mobile Pages to maximize the smartphone user experience.
9. Connect with the Voice Search Crowd
Closely connected to the mobile trend is voice-activated search, which is gaining a lot of momentum as smart speakers and devices become the norm.
Believe it or not, FAQ content is among the most commonly cited search results for voice-activated search, meaning you have a huge opportunity to reach new audiences.
Invest in long-tail keywords that reflect real speech patterns, and answer questions that people would be likely to ask in the middle of a task or a hands-free environment like a car.
Conclusion
Rather than letting your FAQ gather dust in the corner, brush it off and make some much-needed updates in 2020. You have so much to gain, and you’ll see the big benefits sooner than you think.
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