Building FAQ Schemas to Improve SEO

Schema makeup, also known as structure data, is a special code that websites use to help search engines understand the conext of their web pages. Well-implemented schema can help you improve your site’s visibility on SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages) as Google understands your website content and displays it for the most relevant search queries. FAQ schema, which is one of the many schema markups of Google, not only helps you improve your website’s visibility but also improves the user experience. But in order to make the most out of it, you must understand what FAQ schema is, how you can implement it, and how it works in the favor of SEO: 

What is FAQ Schema?

Schema markup is a special type of code that is used to make search engines better understand the content of a website. FAQ schema is used by website owners to turn relevant questions and their answers into structured data in order to improve their visibility in SERP’s rich snippets. Users can get instant clarifications to their queries with FAQ schemas without even leaving the search result pages. 

When you implement FAQ schema to your website, you are informing search engines that your web pages contain a section with

FAQs and their respective answers. As a result, Google may display your content in FAQ-rich snippets directly on the SERPs. This is beneficial for the websites as well as the users as it improves a website’s visibility on search engines and helps users find answers to their queries on SERP itself.

Importance of FAQ Schema in SEO

FAQ schemas are not only used to improve user experience but can also improve your site’s visibility in the search engine result pages. This is why web pages with an FAQ schema usually have higher CTR (Click Through Rates) than the ones that do not have a FAQ schema. As it helps Google better understand the content of your web page, it delivers better results to the searchers. You can turn your search results into rich snippets and establish a better brand authority using the FAQ schema. Here are some most significant reasons to use FAQ Schema for SEO of your website:

1. Expand The Size of Your Listings

If your listing contains FAQ schema, it is more likely to catch users’ attention. It doesn't only improve your site’s visibility on SERPs but also improves CTR for your web pages. Even if your competitors rank higher, you can manage to attract more users by incorporating FAQ schemas in your web pages. 

2. Make Your Site More Accessible to Voice Search

With FAQ schemas, you can also improve the visibility of your website content in voice search results. And clickable FAQ-rich snippets attract more users as they know they can get the required information without even entering the web page. It’s like a test drive of your site for the users before they actually trust its credibility. If they like the content, they will most probably return to your website for relevant information in the future. 

How To Implement FAQ Schema Markup?

Here is your step-by-step guide to implementing FAQ schema to your web pages. You can do it using Microdata or JSON-LD. Just make sure that you choose one of them and stick to it. You can follow these steps:

1. Preparing FAQs

You can start by preparing a list of FAQs that are relevant to your website content and make sure that your content contains answers to these questions. Make sure that the answer has the information that your audience is looking for. The content of the answer should add value to your target audience.

2. Determining Pages Where You Want to Implement FAQ Schema

The next step in the process is to determine webpages that contain questions that can be answered in 1-2 sentences. The answer should be written in a way that encourages readers to click on your page’s URL to learn more. If it completely answers the users’ query, they will leave the SERp without entering your webpage, but your goal must be to improve CTRs through FAQ schema. However, that doesn’t mean the answer should not be informative. You must be wise enough to create an answer that provides value to the user while prompting them to click through at the same time. 

3. Check if The Target Pages are optimized for Conversions

Before you implement FAQ schema to your pages, make sure that the target pages are well-optimized for conversions. Put yourself in the place of the website visitor and think of what it would feel like when you enter your webpage through a rich snippet. The page’s layout as well as information should be well optimized for a good user experience. Make sure that the page has an interactive layout and a good loading speed.

4. Build Your FAQ Schema Code

Here comes the most important step, i.e. building the FAQ schema code. You can choose any of the two, i.e. Microdata or JSON-LD, to build your FAQ schema code and add structured data to your web pages. For the best results, you must ensure that the code is free from any errors and is built as per schema guidelines. 

5. Test and Validate The Code

Before you finally add this code to your web pages, you can use tools like  Google’s Rich Text Results tool or the Schema Markup Validator tool to test and validate the code. It will help you understand if your code is accurate enough and that your FAQ schema is visible on Google. Regular testing is one of the best FAQ schema practices. 

6. Add The Code to Your Website

Once you are done with the testing and validation of your FAQ schema code, you can directly copy and paste it into your CMS (Content Management System). You can either include the code directly into the HTML of your pages or install plugins like Yoast that facilitate schema implementation. As per Google’s guidelines, you should implement FAQ schema near the relevant content to avoid potential issues.

FAQ Schema Markup Best Practices

Here are a few FAQ schema best practices that website owners are advised to follow:

1. Add Only One Answer Per Question

You can add an FAQ schema to any page, be it blog posts, service pages, product pages, or anything that has FAQs with their answers. As per Google’s guidelines, you should use FAQ schema only when there is just a single answer to each question. Now you might wonder what Google wants to convey here. Having a single answer to each question is obvious, right? Yes, but what about web forums where any site visitor can put an answer to a single question? FAQ schema shouldn’t be used for such pages. A QAPage schema is a better option for this.

2. Don’t Use it For ‘How To’ Content

Using FAQ schemas for ‘How To’ content is against Google’s guidelines. And you might be aware of the fact that your site may get penalized if it doesn’t adhere to these guidelines. Instead of implementing FAQ schema to such content, use the recommended schema, i.e. "HowTo" schema, for How-To content. It helps Google better understand your content type and display the most relevant results to the users.

3. Avoid Repetitive FAQs

If you have added the same questions and answers on multiple pages, it is advisable to implement the FAQ schema only once for your entire website. Google recommends avoiding repetitive FAQs for implementing FAQ schema makeup. You can spot such duplicate questions using a web crawler.

4. Never Use Hateful Language

Google strictly restricts content that is obscene, profane, sexually explicit, graphically violent, promotion of dangerous or illegal activities, hateful or harassing, etc, from being displayed in the rich snippets. So, before implementing FAQ schema on a particular page, just make sure that the page’s content is written in a nice tone and doesn’t contain any hateful language.

5. Don’t Use FAQ Schema for Advertising Purposes

FAQ schemas are not supposed to be used for advertising purposes. These are aimed at providing users with the valuable information that they are looking for without leaving SERPs. Using FAQ schema for advertising purposes is also against the guidelines of Google and may impact your website’s SEO negatively. 

Additional Tips From MadHawks’ SEO Experts

Now that you have understood the basics of FAQ schema markup, you might be planning to implement it on your website. Before that, let us mention some additional tips given by our SEO professionals. Just keep in mind that you follow Google structured data guidelines so that it doesn’t impact your website negatively. Also, the FAQs should be user-centric and your website content must have the relevant answers to them. 

Keep your FAQ schema updated and error-free for the best results. Our SEO experts also recommend not misusing FAQ schema for advertising or promotional purposes as it is against Google’s guidelines. If you are looking for an SEO agency to strengthen your SEO efforts with schema markup, contact MadHawks today!

FAQs

1. Is the FAQ schema still valid?

Ans. To check if your site’s FAQ schema is still valid, you can use tools like Schema Markup Validator (SMV).

2. What is the benefit of FAQ schema?

Ans. FAQ schema offers multiple benefits as listed below:

• Helps improve your website’s visibility on search engines.
• Provides you with better accessibility to voice search results.
• Improves user experience as they can get answers to their queries even without leaving SERPs.

3. Is schema still used?

Ans. Yes, schema is still used by many websites. More than one-third of Google’s search results display rich results that use schema makeup. However, less than one-third of sites use schema markup, as per a recent study.

4. Why use FAQ schema markup?

Ans. Using FAQ schema markup can get your website content displayed on the rich snippets of SERPs. It also improves user experience and helps increase your site’s visibility.

5. Where do I put the FAQ schema on my website?

Ans. To implement FAQ schema on your website, you can use any of the two, i.e. Microdata or JSON-LD, to build your FAQ schema code.