Creating SEO-Friendly FAQ Pages - Seer Interactive

The goal of a FAQ page is synonymous with the meaning of SEO: provide the best answers to the question your audience is asking. Incorporating ... MobileMenuToggle SEO• Sep2,2020 CreatingSEO-FriendlyFAQPages PeteLong(Alumni) Evenifyoufeelthecontentonyoursiteiscompleteandthorough,frequentlyaskedquestion(FAQ)pagescanhelpfillinthegapsthataremissingorprovidehigh-levelanswerstoyourcustomers’mostcommonquestions.Butdotheyaddanyvaluefromasearchengineoptimization(SEO) standpoint?CanyouoptimizetheircontenttoincreaseSEOvalue?ReadontofindoutmoreaboutcreatingSEO-friendlyFAQpages! AreFAQPagesGoodforSEO? Yes.Whenoptimizedforrelevantkeywords,well-designedforoptimaluserexperience(UX)andproperlymarkedupwithstructureddata,FAQpagesarevaluabletoorganicperformance. Moreimportantly,FAQpageshelpanswerprominentquestionsyourcustomersaresearchingforandleadthemdownthepathtowardasolution(andaconversionforyourbusiness). GOODFAQpagesaregoodforSEO TheaforementionedresponsepaintsavividimageofyourbusinessreapingorganictrafficandprofitabilityfromFAQpages,butthefruitsofyourlaborrelyonakeycomponent:well-optimizedandSEO-friendlycontent. Youcan’ttossalaundrylistofrandomquestionsontoawebpageandexpecttoseePage1rankingsoranincreaseinqualifiedorganictraffic.Likewise,userswon’tfindanyvalueinanswersthatdon’tsolvetheirproblemorhavingtosurfthroughblocksofcopytofindwhatthey’relookingfor. ThegoalofaFAQpageissynonymouswiththemeaningofSEO:providethebestanswerstothequestionyouraudienceisasking.Incorporatingkeywordsintoon-pagecopy,optimizingtitletagsandmetadescriptions,addingstructureddata–allofthesepracticescontributetotheSEOvalueofyourFAQpageforGoogle.ButGoogledoesn’tbecomeavaluedcustomer,usersdo. Intheend,itallcomesdowntothis.GoodFAQpagesaregoodforSEO.BadFAQpagesare,well,bad.ForSEO,forGoogle,forusersandforyourbusiness.So,focusoncreatingthebestpossibleFAQexperienceforyourcurrentandprospectivecustomers! HowDoYouCreateSEO-FriendlyFAQPages? Okay,you’resoldonaddinganFAQsectiontoyoursiteorauditingyourexistingFAQpages.Wheredoyoustart?Howdoyouensureyou’reeffectivelyansweringquestionsthatareprevalenttoyourusers?WhatdoyouneedtodoforGoogletoserveyourcontentonPage1? Firstandforemost:haveastrategy(data-backed,preferably).Atahigh-level,theprocessofcreatingSEO-friendlypagesfollowsthisstructure: Compilethemostcommonquestionsusershave Providecomplete,conciseanswerstothosequestions FormatyourFAQpagesforuserexperience(UX) OptimizethetitletagandmetadescriptionsforyourFAQpages MarkupyourpagewithFAQschema CompiletheMostCommonQuestionsUsersHave FAQpagesshouldincludethemostcommonquestionsamongstyourusers.Thatsoundssimpleonthesurface,butit’snotaseasyasbrainstormingquestionsyouthinkusersaresearchingfor.Tapintoyourresources andletthedatainformyourchoices,tellyouwhatquestionsusersaresearchingfor. InternalTeamMembers:Your internalsalesteam andcustomerservicerepresentativesinteractwithuserseverydayandthey’veheardeveryquestioninthebook.Conductinterviewswithinternalteammemberstofindoutwhatquestionsaremostcommonandwhicharemostlikelytoleadprospectivecustomersfurtherdownthefunnel. AudienceResearch:Customersurveysandinterviewsallowyoutodiscoverwhatuserswanttoknow,directlyfromthesource. ChatLogsandSiteSearches:Gainabetterunderstandingofwhatusersaresearchingforbyanalyzingchatlogsandsitesearchdata.It’sanindirectformofaudienceresearchthatallowsyoutomakeinformeddecisionsatscalewithoutbreakingthebank. . Reddit,Quora,andOtherForums:Whiletheyaren’tdirectlyinteractingwithyoursite,forumslikeRedditandQuora aregreatsourcesforidentifyingindustry-widetrendsandissuesfromusersthemselves. PeopleAlsoAsk(PAA)Results:PAAresultsdisplayquestionsthatarecloselyrelatedtoausersintentforspecifickeywords.UsePAAresultsthatareservedforrelevantkeywordstofillinanyremaininggapsonyourFAQpages. ProvideComplete,ConciseAnswerstoThoseQuestions OnceyouhaveacompletelistofquestionstoincludeonyourFAQpages,it’stimetoprovidethebestanswertoeachone.Again,youcanpullfromexistingresources(ex:salesteam,internalSMEs,whitepapers)toensuretheanswersareaccurate.Manyoftheanswerscanbefoundinexistingcontentonyoursite,justbesuretorephrasethemtoavoidduplicatecontentpenalties. Thoughyouwantanswerstobethorough,it’sequallyimportanttokeepthemshortandtothepoint.UserscometoFAQpagesforanswers,youdon’twanttomakethemworkforit.Includeenoughinformationtocompletelyanswerthequestion,buttrynottoexceed2-3sentencesforeach.Utilizeinternallinkingtodriveuserstorelevantcontentwithinyoursitewheretheycanfindmoreinformationonthespecifictopic. FormatYourFAQPagesforUserExperience(UX) Alongwithprevalentquestionsandthebestanswers,youwanttostructureyourFAQpagesforahigh-qualityUX.Makeiteasyforuserstofindwhatthey’relookingforandthey’llbemorelikelytoremainonyoursite. AcommonpitfallistodropallofthequestionsontoasingleFAQpage,forcinguserstoscrollendlesslytofindananswer.NotonlyisthatapoorUX(likelytoresultinahighbouncerate),itdoesn’ttakeadvantageofSEOopportunities. ConsiderbreakingyourlistofquestionsintomultipleFAQpages,separatedbycategoriesandtopics.ThisallowsthemainpagetoserveasacontenthubforyourFAQexperienceandcreatesanorganizedstructureforuserstoeasilynavigate.Ifyouhavetheresources,youcanconsideraddingasearchbarthatallowsuserstosearchwithintheFAQhubtofindtheiranswer. FromanSEOkeywordperspective,creatingmultipleFAQpagesallowsyoutotargetspecifictermsforeachtopicorcategory. OptimizetheTitleTagandMetaDescriptionsforYourFAQPages Withmultiplepages,youcanincorporatetopically-relevantkeywordsintothetitletagandmetadescriptionofeachFAQpage.Titletags playamajorroleinhelpingsearchenginesunderstandwhatthepageisaboutandusersunderstandwhatcontentlivesonthepage.Thoughmetadescriptionsaren’tarankingfactor,theyareanimportantcomponentthatcanimpactCTR.Byoptimizingbothoftheseon-pageSEOfactors,youprovideusersandGooglewithaclearexplanationofwhatthepageisabout. MarkupYourPagewithFAQSchema Nowthatyouhavethebestanswerstothemostcommonquestionsformattedforahigh-qualityUXwithoptimizedtitletagsandmetadescriptions,you’vereachedthetopofMozlow’sHierarchyofSEONeeds(asmadefamousbytheMozGuide). Adding FAQschema totheheadofyourHTMLcanhelpyouearnadditionalrealestateintheSERPs.MarkingupyourpagewithstructureddatacanresultinaFAQrichsnippet(similartoaPAAresult)withinyourSERPlistingandanactionontheGoogleAssistant. ExampleofFAQrichsnippetintheSERPs Tolearnmoreaboutimplementingstructureddata,visittheGoogleDevelopersFAQSchema resource. WhataretheSEObenefitsofFAQpages? OptimizingyourFAQpagesprovidesmanybenefits,someofwhichextendoutsideofSEO.WhileyouoptimizethepageswithrelevantkeywordsandFAQschema,leaningondatatoinformthecontentinherentlycreatesahigh-qualityresourceforusers. Somebenefitsinclude: Answeringcommonquestionsdirectlyon-pagereducesthenumberofchatsandcallstocustomerserviceandinternalsalesteammembers IncorporatingPAAdataandtargetkeywordsonthepageincreasesopportunitiestoownthePAAsnippets Internallylinking fromFAQpagestorelevantcontentonyoursitecanhelpincreasekeywordrankings,CVRandtransactions Optimizingthetitletagandmetadescriptionsofeachpagewithtopic-specifickeywordscanhelpimprovetheirorganicrankings FAQPagesAsaPartofYourSEOStrategy So,nowyouknowthatawell-optimizedFAQpagecancontributetoyourorganicsearchstrategyandsuccess.However,it’sonesmallpieceofamuchlargerpuzzle.TostayuptodateonthelatestSEOtipsandtricks,signupforournewsletterbelow!Ifyou’relookingforadata-drivenpartnertohelpwithyourorganicstrategyandperformance,checkoutSeer’sSEOservices! Signupforournewsletterformorepostslikethis–deliveredstraighttoyourinbox! RelatedPosts SEO• May19,2022 WhatisSearchIntent? 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