Written by Fani Sánchez
Índice
When developing the architecture of our online store and nurturing it with content, we take special care to distribute our product families well, link the most profitable or most popular ones, clearly stipulate the terms of sale or choose a visible site and a convincing text that explains who we are. However, we tend to overlook a regularly undervalued element. This is the Frequently Asked Questions. In this article we are going to break a lance in favor of this somewhat “retro” element and to unravel the benefits it can bring us.
What are Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)?
Frequently asked questions for an online store are the list of doubts that very often arise in potential customers when they are using your site or before acquiring one of your products or services. These questions are always accompanied by answers, the more complete the better. As consumers, we all know that one of the biggest barriers to making a purchase is the doubts that assail us: does the fabric of the garment shrink? Can I charge my device in the car? Is this case water resistant? What is the size equivalence?. Frequently asked questions generate confidence in the customer at the time of purchase, since they see the doubts that acted as a barrier to conversion resolved.
Keyword research and frequently asked questions
During the SEO keyword research stage you probably found many search formulas that, although not directly related to your content, could be used to attract an audience. These words are not usually included in a monthly monitoring list nor are they the focus of our search engine optimization strategy, but they are very valuable when it comes to capturing traffic for related terms. For example, if I have a mattress website, it will be very recurrent that our customers will ask themselves
what is a viscoelastic mattress
o
which pillow top mattress is better for people who suffer from cervical pain.
.
Frequently asked questions and web architecture
Frequently asked questions can be distributed in various ways throughout the web architecture.
- In an exclusive section. The first one we all think of, the most regular one, consists of an exclusive section that gathers an index with all the frequently asked questions that a user would ask on a particular site. This modality is the most frequent in sites that sell a more closed line of products such as facial cosmetics or, following the previous example, mattresses and pillows.
- In the product sheets. The second consists of including a series of frequently asked questions on each product sheet. This modality is more frequent in sites that present a very wide and/or varied catalog of products or services and therefore it is more difficult to specify a type of questions that can be used for a wide range of products or services. In this type of websites, the FAQs in a particular section, if any, are usually focused on questions about how the site works: how to buy, how to register, etc. For example, this is the case of Pc Componentes.
Frequently asked questions should be linked at a glance from the home page. Some websites do it from the menu itself (in the last or penultimate place) but it is more usual to find them at the bottom of the page. Each online store can choose its option according to different parameters (number of items in the menu, importance on the site…) but we generally recommend the latter.
Regarding the distribution of frequently asked questions in the architecture, we recommend creating a page for each FAQ as long as we can write a generous amount of information, for example, about 400 words. Otherwise, it is better to agglutinate several closely related questions on the same page so that we nourish the URL with a good amount of terms related to our keyword.
Benefits
The benefits of creating such a section in your store are not limited to search engine optimization. Here we review some of the best reasons to make this section part of your e-commerce.
Increase user confidence
Mistrust is an emotion that is often used as a means, that is, as a preventive measure in the face of possible dangers. In 2014 data, 58% of Spaniards did not trust online shopping, firstly because of the payment methods and secondly because of having to provide their data. This is a barrier that can be broken in many ways: by clearly including the multiple ways to contact the online store and explaining the ins and outs of your store with frequently asked questions. In them you can answer what would happen if we had problems with the shipment, why to choose one product and not another (showing the experience we have in the sector), how the payment is made, the different guarantees of the products or the costs and procedures for a return. With all this information at his disposal, the user will be able to decide with much greater security and confidence.
Improve search engine positioning
As we have previously mentioned in other articles and also in the keyword consulting course, during this phase we will find keywords that, due to their traffic potential, will be interesting to use in our online store as a secondary positioning target. With them, we will capture quality traffic since users will come for searches related to the products and services we sell, which suggests that they are already interested in our stock and therefore are potential customers.
For example, I have transferred to my online mattress store the questions that my customers ask me every day in my physical store or through my customer service phone. We have also added questions that contain terms that have traffic potential. Thus, I gather more questions such as:
- What types of mattresses are there?
- What are the most common mattress sizes?
- What is the best mattress for different age groups?
- What is the firmness of a mattress?
- What steps should I take to maintain a mattress?
Practically all the questions are focused on a user who is looking to buy or renew his mattress and needs to solve his doubts. If, thanks to the fact that we solve them, he knows us and we are positioned in his mind as experts in the field, we will be taking a step further in the attainment of new customers. On the other hand, we will increase the range of terms for which we position ourselves, increasing the overall visibility of the site.
On the other hand, if the contents we publish are useful (which is the purpose of the FAQ), they will be potentially exposed to natural linking by users, which will increase the popularity of the site.
Improve bounce rate
As we attract quality traffic to the site, and if we also have a good content interlinking and a good usability, the customer will want to know more and will continue browsing our website, decreasing the average bounce rate and increasing the time of the visit. This indicator is one of the main KPIs that indicate that the average site visit is gaining in quality. And quality visitors convert better than unqualified traffic.
Improve conversion
Conversion is the next step to getting quality traffic. All of the above facts will help bring the customer closer to a sale: 1) the user knows about us through one of the FAQ pages positioned for his search. 2) The user, due to the quality and clarity of our contents, assumes and recognizes our expertise in the subject or product we deal with and increases his confidence in us and 3) the user buys.
As you can see, having a FAQ section will only enrich your e-commerce. What are you waiting for to create one?
