How FAQ pages and FAQ schema get you into the answer box

What an FAQ page and FAQ schema are

An FAQ page is a page of questions and answers. FAQ schema is a block of code that lists the same pairs in a form written for machines, so Google knows where each question starts and each answer ends. Most WordPress SEO plugins add it with a block or a setting.

Until August 2023, that code earned a visible reward. Google showed the questions as dropdowns under the page’s listing, which took up more of the screen. Google then limited that display to government and health sites, so for a builder or a clinic the dropdowns are gone and adding the code will not bring them back.

What the questions still do is win featured snippets and People Also Ask boxes, because each one is a short heading with a direct answer under it, which is exactly the shape those boxes are filled from. The schema is a courtesy to the crawler. The writing does the work.

What a wasted FAQ page looks like on a home builder website

A home builder’s site nearly always has the same FAQ page. Thirty or forty questions, gathered over years from the sales office, sit in one long list at /faq/. The questions cover financing, lot selection, build time, warranty and HOA rules, all under an H1 that says Frequently Asked Questions.

Google reads that page and finds forty topics with no main one. It cannot rank the page for how long does it take to build a house in Idaho, because the page is equally about warranties and earnest money. Meanwhile the Process page, which is about build time, never states the number, because the number went on the FAQ page. Each topic is split across two pages and neither wins.

The answers are also written for the sales office, not for search. A question like Can I pick my own lot gets an answer saying the sales team would love to walk you through the available lots, which holds no fact a snippet could use. The builder in the next town, whose Process page says a home takes seven to nine months from contract to keys, holds the box.

A worked example: moving 13 FAQ questions onto the right pages for a Kuna builder

Foothill Ridge Homes builds in Kuna on lots from $410,000 and had a 31-question FAQ page. The first step was to search each question in a private window and record whether a People Also Ask box or snippet existed for it, and which page on the builder’s site should hold the answer.

Thirteen questions moved, and the FAQ page kept the eighteen that only a buyer already under contract would ask. Here is the build-time answer as it stood on the old FAQ page.

Every home is different and build times can vary depending on the floor plan you select, the time of year, weather conditions, permit timing with the City of Kuna, and the availability of materials and trades. Your sales consultant will give you a detailed timeline once your selections are finalized, and we will keep you updated at every stage of the process.

Here it is on the Process page, as the first section under a heading that reads How long it takes to build a Foothill Ridge home.

A Foothill Ridge home in Kuna takes seven to nine months from signed contract to keys. Permits with the City of Kuna take four to six weeks of that, framing starts about eight weeks after permit, and the final walkthrough is scheduled two weeks before closing. Winter starts add three to four weeks for foundation work.

Forty-nine words, the number first, and the exceptions given as numbers rather than as reasons not to answer. FAQ schema was added to each page for its own questions only, so the Process page’s code lists the two build-time questions, not all thirteen.

How to check your own FAQ page and FAQ schema

1. Type each question on your FAQ page into Google in a private window and note whether a snippet or a People Also Ask box appears. Questions with neither are not searched, and can stay where they are.
2. For every searched question, find the page on your site that is about that topic. Use site:yourbuilder.com plus a keyword from the question. If the topic page exists and does not answer the question, that is where the answer belongs.
3. Read each answer’s first sentence. If it does not contain a number, a yes, a no, or a plain fact, it will not be lifted into a box.
4. Paste any page’s URL into Google’s Rich Results Test at search.google.com/test/rich-results. It will report whether FAQ schema is present and valid. Expect no rich result preview even when it is valid, since Google no longer shows one for businesses.
5. Check that the schema matches the visible page, since Google treats questions in the code that are not on the page as spam.

If the FAQ page has more than ten searched questions on it, it is holding back the pages that should rank for them.

What we do about FAQ pages and FAQ schema

You get every question on your FAQ page checked against live search results, sorted into the ones people search and the ones they do not. Searched questions are moved to the page about that topic and rewritten so the answer is complete in the first sentence, with the facts confirmed by you. FAQ schema is added to each page for the questions on that page, matched to the visible text, and validated, alongside the LocalBusiness schema the site already carries. The FAQ page keeps the questions that belong to buyers already under contract. This is included in every Hazer search plan, and it starts with the audit of the questions.

Questions people ask about AEO: how FAQ pages and FAQ schema get you into the answer box