It almost feels like you are in a garden center, which you’d expect resonates well with their audience.
Screenshot from Hillier, September 2024
17. Tilda Rice
FAQs can work most effectively when part of a wider body of useful community content.
This is where Tilda Rice’s FAQs come into play.
Screenshot from Tilda Rice, September 2024
18. Trent Furniture
The Trent Furniture FAQ section acts as both an FAQ resource and a guide roll-up resource.
This means that users can access top-level information, deeper, more comprehensive buying guides, measurement information, and a whole host of other insights normally only accessible through blogs.
For ecommerce sites, it’s positive to access layers of content depth relevant to your buying decisions – whether you intend to purchase in the same session or are working your way through the buying and information-seeking journey.
Screenshot from Trent Furniture, September 2024
19. Spotify Community
Community sites are, by design, there to facilitate effective knowledge sharing, communication, and access to information.
The Spotify Community FAQs resource enables push and pull information access. As you’d expect, core recurring user needs are segmented for fast FAQ provision, plus core articles are sign-posted.
Screenshot from Spotify Community, September 2024
20. Etsy
It’s interesting to see how ecommerce sites have increasingly prioritized FAQ hubs over the years.
Etsy is a good example of this in action, sharing layers of information and adding a spotlight on cornerstone content that is most frequently engaged with by its user base.
Screenshot from Etsy, September 2024
21. Carbase
FAQs should be purposeful and provide clearly defined problem-solving contributions that are easily accessible.
Carbase FAQ page is a good example of this. There is clarity on the main information topics, supported by prioritized expertise topic areas that enable people to further their journey with minimum clicks.
Screenshot from Carbase, September 2024
22. Wateraid
When you are telling a compelling story and look to encourage people to take action at every interaction, the FAQ hub plays a vital role.
In the Wateraid FAQ example, you can see the catch-all concept in action, looking to maintain interaction, and empower people to support and donate.
The combination of AI with chatbot functionality, and traditional topic-based text information provision works seamlessly.
Screenshot from Wateraid, Sept 2024
23. Airtable
Airtable’s Help Center has changed quite a bit since previously reviewing it a number of months ago. However, it still warrants inclusion in this list of top FAQ resources.
The content segmentation, chatbot support, and clear/simple interface is ideal for FAQ content types.
Screenshot from Airtable, September 2024
24. Reddit
There is a nostalgia for the Reddit FAQs section.
It works and is functional, but somehow takes you back to the early 2000s.
The no-nonsense access to text links of information is a nice reminder that there are many ways to achieve the same goal.
Screenshot from Reddit, September 2024
25. Stephen King
As a lifelong fan of Stephen King, I may be biased, but I love the fact that the FAQs hub on the Stephen King website gives the feeling of a literary experience.
The table of contents and background set a scene of reading a book and being part of the story.
Screenshot from Stephen King, September 2024
Creating An Effective FAQ page
Whether you have an FAQ page in place, believe it can contribute more, or are looking to create a new FAQ resource for your website, it’s essential to consider the next steps.
Remember not to overlook the necessity of gathering data in your FAQ section. Use this to continue adding to it, refine, and expand the ongoing value provision to your audience.
Your FAQ resource needs to be proactively updated to cater to all the new and ever-changing data sets reflecting your existing and new community requirements – offline and online.
1. Decide On The Purpose Of The FAQ Page
Suppose you wish to bring your experts to the foreground and provide ongoing audience support. In that case, your FAQ hub will function very differently than it would if you intend to increase the ease of access to know cornerstone content on your website.
You need to have a clearly defined FAQ section purpose and ensure you support this with business objectives and KPIs.
This helps maintain prioritization and justification to keep investing resources and focus on FAQ development alongside more traditional commercial website pages.
2. Plan In Advance To Maintain And Grow Your FAQ Hub
Your audience questions will change frequently, and you must ensure that your FAQ content reflects this.
Data within Google Search Console (GSC), on-site search behavior, plus broader industry trends will help inform this.
Don’t limit your data gathering to a single source, however.
Look at the competition, consider Google Rich Results (using tools such as Semrush), and look at the completeness of your expertise provision through your FAQ content.
3. Look Outside Of Your Company Data Environment
While your data is fantastic for servicing your existing customer base, there are often multiple layers of FAQs to fulfill.
You can use free tools such as Answer the Public for more general questions, Google Trends, and competitor sites.
The opportunity to answer In-SERP questions grows all the time. You want to be present in these conversations by showcasing your FAQ content and creating compelling content types to target these items correctly.
4. Structuring FAQs
Both your page and individual FAQs (whether a single FAQ page or entire sections of your site specific to FAQ content) need some consideration on how you structure them and make a lot of varied content accessible for the user and search engines alike.
Consider the expandable on-click text at the individual FAQ level to keep answers clean and easy to use.
At the page structure level, take time to prioritize content based on value and demand, plus technical optimization areas such as the use of schema, page speed, and mobile-friendliness.
Remember that people look to digest content in many ways.
FAQ content does not have to be text only. It’s far broader reaching and valuable to people and for search if it’s multi-tiered and varied in content types.
5. Use Data To Refine & Improve: Part Of “Always On” Focus
FAQ pages quickly become outdated, and their value declines over time.
Make sure you are testing page changes and iteratively improving everything from headings and clickable page elements to new data-led content additions and calls to action.
Every month, there will be evidence-led chances to improve, and this mentality is key to maximizing business and user impact.
6. Don’t Forget The People Element
The most successful FAQ pages and help center hubs often stem from a deeper understanding of the people they are intended to help.
Data and evidence are always important, but you must balance this with real-world insights and offline experiences.
The best people to help with this are the front-line staff, who actively engage with your audience daily and truly understand how online and offline FAQs can support and enrich your problem-solving offering.
Your FAQ section supports your staff as much as it’s present to help educate and inform your community.
Think about your recurring conversations and how they can be served equally well online.
Don’t forget mixed content types to replicate the offline experience online, plus the need to gather feedback from your users directly.
As a final quick tip: Every FAQ resource, however complete it may appear, will have new ways to leverage the value received from it and areas to grow.
You can often reposition existing content for new search opportunities, bolster and expand its depth and value, plus create unique visual content from a text-only provision for many short-term and ongoing gains.
Summary
An FAQ resource can become one of your website’s greatest assets.
It can solve people’s problems, support quicker conversions, and shine a light on the experience of your team and business within your digital niche.
Your FAQ hub should be ever-evolving, using the latest data sets to enhance and refine existing content, plus continuously expanding the topics covered based on your audience’s needs.
This type of approach enables your website to practically be present when your user base needs you the most.
It can drive volumes of people directly to your site for solutions rather than external resources, which may have varying degrees of effectiveness or authority within that niche.
If an FAQ approach is new to you, start small and expand over time. It’s better to have complete coverage on a smaller volume of user queries than it is to be shallow in the experience you provide.
More resources:
Featured Image: Ilusiku Studio/Shutterstock