Posted by on June 22nd, 2010 View Comments
Posted in SEO - Search Engine Optimization |
If you log into one website, more often than not, you will see a Frequently Asked Question link that will direct you to the website’s FAQ page. FAQ pages have been one of the most common features that websites today have. Traditional web developers have put up Frequently Asked Questions pages to be able to address the concerns of their viewers.
The main point of having the FAQ page is to minimize the time that web developers will be spending in trying to answer each and every question that their customers may have. Imagine if you or your company’s web developers spend the bulk of their time reading and replying to customer letters? That would be inefficiency at its finest.
But the FAQ page is more than just a page that answers customer queries, it has been used lately by many web developers as an SEO tool that can drive traffic to a website and help in increasing a web page’s search engine rankings.
Benefits of a Frequently Asked Question Page for Your Website
Aside from the time saved in answering your customer’s questions with regards to your website, company or the products/services you are offering, there are plenty more reasons why a FAQ page will bring good to your web page.
1) It helps increase traffic to your website
As was said earlier, many SEO experts and web developers have utilized the FAQ pages to eventually drive more traffic to their web pages. How can this be? This is because many Internet users have become more specific with regards to their searches. So instead of searching for just “computer shops,” many users search for more specific topics like computer shops in a certain state or a certain city. They can push this further by searching for computer shops in a particular city that sells a particular brand and model of a product.
Hitwise, an Internet statistic site, reported that length at which online users have been searching has increased over the past few months. For the period dating January ’08 to January ’09, Hitwise revealed that an average query in a search engine would be more than five words in length. This development in searches has increased the chances that a particular keyword in your FAQ may be searched for directly by potential customers.
2) It provides fresh and relevant content to your site
A FAQ page can be updated regularly. This means that it is one place which web developers can use to put fresh content into their website. Clever web developers use this page as an additional weapon in their quest for search engine supremacy.
When posting FAQ contents, you should consider putting relevant keywords. Remember that a FAQ page is still an integral part of your website. This means that search engines will be checking up on these when they do their searches for a particular subject matter. It is advantageous to put up a well-developed FAQ page, rich in keywords and original content without any duplication, since search engines turn a favorable eye on anything fresh and keyword-rich.
Also, consider setting up a FAQ page that would be easily found by search engines. Put a link to your homepage that would direct web crawlers to your FAQ pages and vice versa. This also serves a double purpose since each customer brought to your web pages will have an easier time locating your homepage and other pages from within your site.
3) FAQ pages can be used as a way to market your site to customers
Whether you are working for a big company or owning your own start-up business, the website is a very important tool in enticing and reaching out to your customers. You can use your FAQ pages as an indirect selling tool that can convince your customers to try out whatever it may be that you are offering.
As a sales tool, the FAQ page can answer particular questions with regards to your products. It can explain how certain processes work. It can also explain existing deals that your company may be having that very moment.
For customers, the FAQ page may make or break a deal for you. If your FAQ pages are interesting and informative enough, visitors might be enticed to try out whatever you are offering translating into sales and income for you.
Some things to consider when putting up a FAQ page
If ever you decide that the advantages of having a FAQ page are too great to pass up, you may want to consider these things first in setting up this particular page.
• Interactive FAQ pages
If you can, consider an interactive FAQ page. You do not have to shoulder all the burden of having to answer questions one by one. Have your visitors have a say on the issues. Consider setting up a FAQ page where not only you can post content but also your visitors as well.
Give your frequent visitors the chance to comment on certain questions and provide some answers themselves. In this way, your visitors can feel more empowered and your workload can be significantly lessened. This can also be a way of discovering new ideas that you may have never thought of before.
• Avoid setting up ONE LONG FAQ page
Aside from the act that this is boring, setting up one page of answers to different questions will have the tendency to confuse your visitors. They may find your FAQ page annoying instead of helpful.
One thing you can do is to divide the pages by topics. You can group similar topics into one group and provide answers for them in one page. Then you can answer a different topic in another page. In this way, your page will be more organized and your visitors will have an easier time browsing through and finding the answers on your FAQ page.
• Add relevant links to your FAQ pages
Since you are also using the FAQ pages as a tool for search engine optimization, make sure that you will post links that are relevant from within your FAQ pages that will direct you visitors and search engine crawlers to your site’s homepage. A back button that will direct visitors back to any pages within your website is also highly recommended.
• Be sure to update you FAQ page regularly
Follow recent developments in your industry and address them in your FAQ page. This is one way of posting fresh and relevant content to you FAQ pages that search engine and your loyal customers will definitely love.
What to put in your FAQ pages
A FAQ page mainly serves the purpose of answering your customers frequently asked questions. One thing to put into your FAQ pages is the actual questions that your visitors actually have with regards to your website. It is helpful to compile all these questions and address them in this FAQ page. Review the email messages you have received from your customers throughout. These can be the basis and source of the questions you can put into your FAQ page.
You can also ask friends and family to review your website and formulate questions you yourself may have overlooked in the process. This is especially helpful for start-up businesses that are just new to the whole search engine optimization thing.
AS was said above, it is important to be regularly updater with regards to the recent trends that is happening in the industry you are in. whether you are offering SEO services or selling different products online, it is helpful to always be on the know whether there is something new that you can share to your frequent visitors. This is also a great way to post relevant and new stuff on your website.
Expounding further on the sales part of having an FAQ page, it can be used to eliminate any doubts about the product or service you are offering. Being very detailed with regards to your posts in the FAQ page will encourage customers to try out whatever it is you are offering. You can address issues like quality, durability, price, and over-all performance and explain all of these in detail in you FAQ pages.
Considering all of these, you should be able to post content and links that are relevant and keyword-rich. In the SEO business, these two things are always considered the most important.
Other Means of Addressing FAQ questions
Many web developers today have started going away from the traditional FAQ page. They have considered answering their customers’ queries from within the pages themselves and not on a separate FAQ page to make it look and feel more natural.
Hardcore web developers have veered away from the FAQ page by developing their pages in a way that visitors can log into and be able to get the help and explanations that they needed. This may be added work but it will make your website stand out and be more professional in the eyes of your visitors and potential customers.
