Short answer

A useful FAQ for AI (and for people) answers the questions someone asks before deciding, not after buying. Each question is written the way a customer would write it, each answer is complete on its own (three or four sentences with the fact, the condition and the limit), the text is visible in the HTML and, if you add FAQPage markup, it describes exactly what is on the page. No empty accordions, and no one-line answers that send people to “contact us”.

Buying questions, not support questions

“How do I change my password?” is a support question. “Is it safe to file VAT through an online accountant?” is a buying question. The second is the one someone asks ChatGPT before choosing, and the one almost nobody has on their website.

To find yours, ask sales and support what people ask them before signing up. Measure with six unbranded questions on two platforms and write down the ones that come up. And use the three stages: discovery (“what options are there for…”), comparison (“difference between…”, “alternatives to…”) and decision (“how much does it cost”, “how long does it take”, “what do I need”, “who is it not for”).

How to write each answer

  • Complete on its own. Someone who reads only that answer should understand it without opening another page. Fact, condition and limit.
  • Specific. Numbers, timeframes, requirements. “Fast” is not an answer; “within 5 business days of receiving your documents” is.
  • Honest about limits. “Who it is not for” and “what it does not include” are answers that build trust and that AI can reproduce as they are.
  • No links as answers. “See our pricing page” does not answer anything. Give the range, then link.

Where to put it

On the page of the service or product it belongs to, not on a general “FAQ” page nobody finds. Three or four buying questions at the bottom of each service page work better than forty on a separate page.

FAQPage markup, with conditions

You can add FAQPage structured data. Two rules: the markup describes questions and answers that are visible on the page, and you do not promise a rich result because of it. Google has restricted when it shows FAQ rich results in search; the markup is still a legitimate way to describe your content, not a trick.

Common mistakes

  1. Writing the questions as keywords (“online accountant price”) instead of as questions.
  2. One-line answers that point to the contact form.
  3. Accordions whose content only appears on click and is not in the initial HTML.
  4. Marking up with FAQPage questions that are not on the page.
  5. Copying a competitor’s FAQ. Your customers will notice, and it adds nothing the other website does not already say.